Character Questions
A warmup for character work and active listening: five performers in character answer the audience's questions so they can guess who they are. Characters may debate with each other.
Players
5
Full description
Setup and Launch
Set five chairs in a line facing the audience and invite five participants to take them. Ask each to take on a character different from themselves, drawing on the skill practiced in the previous exercise. Explain to the group that the coach and audience will ask questions, and the goal is to figure out from the answers who is in front of them.
How It Works
Work through a series of questions and answers until the final reveal.
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Questions from the audience and coach The coach and audience take turns asking questions to each character.
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Answers in character Improvisers answer strictly in character, so that the responses can be used to deduce who the character is.
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Character interaction Characters may enter into discussion and debate with each other during the answers.
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Finale All participants are invited to state their guesses, after which the improvisers reveal the original concept of their characters.
Key rules
Seat five participants in a row of chairs facing the audience and have them adopt characters different from themselves.
Remind them to answer only from within the role and to add details from which conclusions about the character can be drawn.
Allow characters brief discussions with each other if it helps reveal the characters.
At the end, first gather the audience's guesses, then ask the performers to reveal their intended characters.
Context
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