Play out a scene where parts of the dialogue are completely unexpected.
Setup and Format
- 2-3 players.
- Prior to the game, collect short sentences from the audience on slips of paper. Things like quotes, song lyrics, short snippets of dialogue. Players have the right to ignore offensive suggestions, but should otherwise use whatever was given.
The 2 players take the stage, collecting a few paper slips without looking at them. They then start a scene (perhaps from a prompt). Their aim is to work in opportunities for themselves or the other player to read aloud one of the slips of paper as though it was part of the scene. They do not get to read the paper beforehand, they just create an opportunity to speak unexpected dialogue. For example: "My mother always had this one piece of advice that I live my life by: ..."
Whatever was said, both players accept it as truth and should justify it within the scene.
Repeat this for 2-3 slips each, until the scene has a clean ending.
Learning Objectives
Justification and incorporation are the name of the game here. The lines of dialogue will be completely unknown, and it is up to the players of the scene to justify how they relate. Be sure to react to the line - don't just fire it out and ignore the ramifications of what you said.
Tips
- Always be looking for places to insert the line naturally, or setting up your scene partner to do so. For example: "my mother always gave me one piece of advice...", "oh that's a cool new tattoo on your arm. It says...", "I swear my cat said to me this morning..."
Variations
- Instead of dialogue, audience can instead write things that someone would confess to, and each player only reads out 1. E.g. "I murdered my pet rock."