I AM A TREE, KEEP TREE VERSION: 5-8 minutes

• Instructions:
  • Player 1 declares “I am a tree!” and mimes a tree.
  • Player 2 jumps in and adds to the scene, such as “I am a squirrel in the tree” and mimes a squirrel.
  • Player 3 jumps in and adds another object, such as “I am a bird on the tree branch” and mimes a bird.
  • Player 1 of the group then says “Keep the (object they want to keep)”
    • Continue from the beginning: two new players jump in to create a new scene based on that object.
    • For example: Keep squirrel. Now all clear except the squirrel who once again repeats “I am a squirrel” and player 2 and 3 join.
• Notes:
  • For the first few, talk through the steps until the game runs itself.
  • Facilitator will encourage to play faster
  • Encourage more unusual choices.

I AM A TREE, OOPS ALL CHARACTERS VERSION: 5-8 minutes

• Round 2:
  • Facilitator will encourage people to add more details of a CHARACTER
  • Encourage more grounded choices
  • Purpose: to ease our transition to scene work:
  • Example:
    • Player 1 declares “I am a tree”
    • Player 2 declares “I’m a person walking in the woods”
    • Player 3 declares “I’m the hunter in the woods”
    • Player 1: “Keep the HUNTER”
    • Player 3: “I’m the hunter in the woods”, etc

I AM A TREE, Scene Initiation / Characters (three person scenes) 5-8 mins

• Round 3:
  • Now tell them to speak as the characters (naturally, not robots).
    • Give an example of this “The woods sure like nice today” (to initiate being a person who wants in the wood.
    • “It’s okay to be clunky! We’re just practicing how to make up improv dialog.” Example
      • Player 1 goes in the center acting like a “Sure is great being a teacher” (for example)
      • Player 2 joins acting like a different character: “As your student I agree”
      • Player 3 acting like a third kind of character: “As the principal, I can’t say I care”
      • First person says “Keep the [choose X or Y]” and everyone else leaves.