Improv Games for Small Groups

Why do we do improv?  For most of us, the answer is either for fun and entertainment and/or to practice the art form of acting.  They also work well as ice breakers and ensemble building activities, as well as warm ups before rehearsals and performances.

Simply said, the number one rule of improv is to agree with your partner and say “Yes, and…”.  Applying this rule is what keeps the improv moving forward.  But what do you do when you need something to help motivate your improv? 

This is where improv games come in handy.  The number of actors present may help to determine which improv game will work best.  Many small group improv games can work well for large groups, but other games only seem to work with larger groups. 

If you’re looking for small group improv games, you’re in the right place. If you have a group of 4-5 players, the following games will work well for you.  They can work with larger group as well by rotating out the players, while everyone else enjoys watching.  Here are some of my favorite small group improv games.  

1. Taxi 

Place two rows of two chairs to represent the front and back seat of a taxi.  Actors sit in the four chairs, 1 playing the driver and the three passengers choose a quirk, habit, or personality to represent.  The person in the rear passenger side, talks to/bugs the person in the rear driver side seat.  The person in the rear driver side seat bothers the person in the front passenger seat, and the person in the front passenger seat bothers the person in the driver seat.  

In the case of just four players, the driver attempts to determine passenger’s quirks, habits, or personalities.  When they identify one or more, everyone rotates (driver to rear passenger, rear passenger to rear driver side, rear driver side to front passenger, and front passenger to driver).   

If you have a larger group, audience members identify quirks, habits and personalities and the first audience member that guesses correctly rotates in to the rear passenger seat while everyone else rotates as before, with the driver rotating out.  

Each time someone moves or joins, everyone chooses a new quirk, habit, or personality trait.

2. Bus Stop/Park Bench

Two actors sit in chairs side by side representing a bus stop or park bench.  One remains normal and the other takes on an annoying trait, habit, or personality quirk and begins to communicate with the other person, at the same time subtly acting out their trait, habit, or quirk to annoy the other person.  When an audience member identifies the trait, habit, or quirk, they take that person’s place and that person becomes a normal person on the park bench, who will then be annoyed by the newcomer’s chosen trait, habit or quirk.  

3. Listen to Me/Monkey in the Middle

Two storytellers sit on either side of an observer who will attempt to listen as the storytellers simultaneously tell a story with the objective to gain and hold the listener’s attention.  Each person must remain seated, and the storytellers must not touch or yell at the listener. I maintain a strict rule that the stories must remain PG and contain no bathroom talk.

4. You’re Fired

You’ll need four performers to portray the following: a boss, a late worker, and two workers who are not late.  The late worker steps out of the performance space for 1 minute as the other two workers tell the boss an elaborate story as to why the third worker is late.  After 1 minute, the late worker is brought in and sits in front of the boss, who then asks “Why are you late?” 

While standing behind the boss the two workers pantomime to the late worker why he/she was late.  As the late worker watches the pantomime, he/she attempts to tell the boss why he/she was late.  After 1 minute, the boss determines if the stories match up. If it does, he tells the worker to get to work, and if it doesn’t, he says “You’re fired.”  

You can play again either with new players or by rotating roles.

5. Action Figures

Two performers stand onstage as action figures while two other performers are onstage beside or behind them to move their arms, legs, and head to act out a story that they voice over as they move their “action figures.”  If you have enough people, you can add in a narrator.

6. What Are You Doing

Performers divide into two groups that line up so that the first person in each of the two groups are facing each other.  One person asks the other “What are you doing?”  To this, they are to respond with something silly which the other person will then begin acting out.  After making a suggestion, they go to the end of their group’s line. 

When the next person steps up, they ask the person who is currently acting out the last person’s suggestion “What are you doing?”  who in return gives them a silly suggestion which they then begin acting out, as the other person now heads to the back of their line… and so the game continues.  

7. Change

Two performers are given a scenario, and as they are acting it out, an audience member calls “Change.”  When this happens, the actor must do or say the opposite of the last thing they said.  You will want to swap out performers after a designated amount of time for larger groups so that everyone gets a turn.  You can designate a person to be the director who calls “Change” if no one seems to be calling “Change” or if too many people are calling “Change.”

8. Freeze

Two performers are given a scenario, and as they are acting it out, an audience member calls “Freeze.”  Whoever called freeze then taps out one of the actors, takes their place and position and begins acting out a new scenario.  The other actor must then play along with whatever the new scenario is until someone new calls “Freeze.”

9. Questions Only

Performers are given a scenario to act out, however they may only speak in questions.  If they say anything that is not a question (or if they repeat a question that has already been said), they are out and someone new takes their place and continues the scene.  The topic can be changed if/when the current one gets stale.

10. Genres

Actors (either two or as many as you would like to include) are given a scenario to act out along with a genre.  The genre could be western, musical, Lifetime movie, documentary, etc.  You can either give each group a set time to perform, or simply change out the scenario and genre when the current one goes stale.

In Conclusion

So many great improv games exist, that it can be overwhelming to remember them all.  Whether for fun, entertainment, warm ups, practice, or ensemble building., having access to a list of improv games handy is a good go-to for performers, directors, and theatre teachers.  If you’ve found this list helpful, you may enjoy checking out my article Improv Games for Medium to Large Groups.