Chain-O-Links, an improv exercise
Creating a story as a group bonds an ensemble, helps us stay in the moment, and encourages us to let go of perfection, all while laughing together. This is one of my favorite storytelling/group bonding exercises. To start, three participants volunteer for the “easiest jobs” of this exercise. For player one I get a suggestion of an occupation (plumber) and an object (apple). Player one’s line is: “Once there was…
“Is he allowed to do that?” – Improv gives us a rare environment where there are no wrong answers
Before an idea is a good idea or a bad idea, it is a new idea. To write a book, start a business or simply change up a go-to dinner recipe, we have to test out a new idea. But with every new idea put into action we take a risk; many businesses don’t succeed and sometimes the new ingredient we try out ruins the dish. For so many of…
Empathy and Storytelling
Improv is often explained as theater that you “make up on the fly.” Indeed, improvisational theater in a performance setting features entire stories and characters invented on the spot entirely from imagination. But improv in a therapeutic setting is deeply rooted in exploring personal stories through drama, and thus requires us to be able to share such stories. Telling personal stories in a group setting fosters empathy between the group…