Theater Games

The first day of almost any introduction to acting class will inevitably begin with a game; and, clearly labeled as “games”, these activities are often subject to a large amount of disrespect in the thespian world. Many professors of acting believe they are a waste of valuable time, while many students feel they are pointless and belittling. However, theater games are actually an incredibly useful tool for exploring different experiences that can occur on the stage, and are beneficial for eventual scene work and character development.

Some theater games are used as warm up exercises. One game in particular, usually called “walking the gird”, is an excellent way to allow a class of new students, or a recently formed ensemble cast to bond. This game simply has participants walk around the room and attempt to freeze, and subsequently start walking again, at the exact same moment. The objective is for actors to be able to sense a group pulse (very useful for actors that will be doing a scene together on stage), or be able to anticipate the inherent impulses of other actors (excellent for learning how to play off of another actor’s movements and emotions in a one-on-one scene). Being able to master these techniques will help make a scene seem effortless to an audience while also feeling completely natural to those on stage.

Another theater game that often goes underappreciated is a game called “human machine”. In this game, one participant will jump into the middle of the circle and create a shape with their body accompanied by some sort of vocalization. Next, the other actors will run into the middle of the circle as well, trying to make their shape work with what's already there, joining in with the group to make a huge human machine. The goal is to have all the parts working together, all the sounds coinciding, and all the movement attached to someone else in some way, This game is not only a lot of fun (all of the eccentric sounds together sometimes end up creating a catchy beat) but it teaches participants how to work with the choices of their fellow actors, no matter how obscure, and also how to create low or high status for a character based on movement and vocalizations. For example, if you walk into the middle of the circle and create the tallest and loudest aspect of the machine during the exercise, you would be able to take that feeling of dominance and use it to walk into the middle of a scene and create a tall and proud aura for a particular character.

A great piece concerning the significance of theater games is a play currently running in New York City. Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation is a play set in a creative drama class, and it explores the power and influence of these unusual games. Many of the play’s characters wonder aloud when they will be doing “real acting” in the class, others get to know themselves and their peers on a deeper level than ever expected. Perhaps the most significant factor however, is the fact that this play achieves what the preceding detailed explanation of these games strives to, it shows the masses how seemingly insignificant, wacky and often underappreciated “games” are actually exercises of the upmost importance in teaching students and actors some of the most fundamental and indispensable techniques that compose the foundation of the art of acting. The NYTimes review of Circle Mirror Transformation can be read at the following link: http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/theater/reviews/16circle.html