game of the scene
game of the scene is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- One of my coaches routinely drilled us on “beating the shit out of the game.” Rehearsal after rehearsal, two people would start a scene, then others would tag in when they found the game. Afterwards, we were critiqued.
- Let’s say Player A had a stutter, then someone tagged in and made a game out of forcing him to stutter. If Player A was also an alcoholic, then beating the shit out of stuttering, versus putting him in situations where he’d be tempted to drink, was deemed “less smart.”
- While I understood the value in seeing patterns, few things put me in my head like trying to find the game, never mind finding the “right” game.
- When I asked Susan Messing about it, she said that there can be many games within a scene; that each player might have their own game, as well as games that they play together.
- The more I watched and performed improv, the more I found myself gravitating towards the kind of scenes where game just wasn’t as important as discovery.
- What I learned, eventually, was that game can happen without effort. And that “finding the game” doesn’t always guarantee a great scene.
- How many times have you seen improvisers find a game on stage, only to beat it so relentlessly that the scene loses any point, or dissolves into endless repetition?
Run this exercise live
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Materials:
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Prompts to use +
One of my coaches routinely drilled us on “beating the shit out of the game.” Rehearsal after rehearsal, two people would start a scene, then others would tag in when they found the game. Afterwards, we were critiqued.
When I asked Susan Messing about it, she said that there can be many games within a scene; that each player might have their own game, as well as games that they play together.
How many times have you seen improvisers find a game on stage, only to beat it so relentlessly that the scene loses any point, or dissolves into endless repetition?
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: game of the scene. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: One of my coaches routinely drilled us on “beating the shit out of the game.” Rehearsal after rehearsal, two people would start a scene, then others would tag in when they found the game. Afterwards, we were critiqued.; When I asked Susan Messing about it, she said that there can be many games within a scene; that each player might have their own game, as well as games that they play together.; How many times have you seen improvisers find a game on stage, only to beat it so relentlessly that the scene loses any point, or dissolves into endless repetition?. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from People and Chairs; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including People and Chairs.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.