Unit(s): Acting/Introduction to the Theatre/Improvisation
Purpose:
To encourage observation of and concentration on scene partners and to encourage alertness in a performance situation
Objective:
The students will identify eccentricities in the characters portrayed by their scene partners and recreate those eccentricities in their own character's movement and dialogue.
Materials:
Three chairs
Procedure:
- Place chairs in the front of the group to suggest a car. Place three volunteers in the chairs as the driver and two passengers with the rear, passenger-side seat empty. These students pretend to be driving down the highway.
- A fourth student joins the action by standing to the side, facing the car, and holding out his thumb.
- The entire group yells "Hitchhiker!" The driver throws on his breaks and passengers yell "Screech!" as they are thrown toward the dash.
- The hitchhiker gets in the backseat and the car once again proceeds down the highway. The hitchhiker begins to display some odd behavior (he cries, he scratches, he speaks with an accent, he laughs hysterically, he says everything twice, etc.). As soon as the others in the vehicle notice this behavior, they adopt it as well.
- At this point another hitchhiker appears, and the car stops as it did before. This time, as the hitchhiker gets in, the driver gets out, the front-seat passenger rotates into the driver's seat, and the back-seat passenger comes to the front passenger seat, and the first hitchhiker moves into the other rear seat.
- Of course, the new hitchhiker exhibits a new behavior and the process repeats itself until everyone in the group has been the hitchhiker.
Note: This is the all time favorite I use in my classes. They want to play it every day.