THE WORLD OF THEATRE SPORTS
Theatre Sports is a team based improvisation competition. Teams are told what "challenge"
or event they will be competing in and any other information they will need to complete
their improv literally seconds before they will perform. Using this information, it is the team's responsibility to come up with a scenario and perform a well
organized scene. Teams are judged on a 1-10 scale by 3 judges on 3 basic criteria.
Those criteria are that all required "variables" were used, that the scene was well
organized with a beginning, middle, and end, and that all members of the team worked well
together in the performance.
"Variables" are characteristics given to the team members that must be used at some
point in the scene. Examples are Occupation, Location, Action, a Word, or anything
specifically called for in the challenge.
PENALTIES
are given to teams that break Theatre Sport guidelines. Penalties include:
Red Flag
- if for some reason the scene is going nowhere the referee can throw a red flag
into the playing area. The audience can also request that a red flag be thrown with
a simple gesture. Once a red flag has been thrown, the team has 30 seconds to bring
the scene to a logical conclusion. A point deduction is made by the judges when a red
flag is thrown.
Brown Bag
- if a team member makes a comment that is rude, disrespectful, or hurtful to a specific
individual, race, gender, or is otherwise offensive to the audience, the player must
complete the scene with a large, brown paper bag on his/her head. A point deduction is made by the judges. If the comment is especially rude, the team may be disqualified
from competition.
Groaner
- if a team member makes a particularly bad joke (a groaner) prompting the audience
to groan in response, the referee may stop the scene and make the team member beg
for the audience's forgiveness. The scene can not resume until the audience has
forgiven the offending player.
Other penalties, including leaving out parts of a challenge, are punishable merely
by a deduction of points by the judges.
Just so you know, Smoking Bob, the Beatnik has submitted this page for approval by the American Dental Association. It has been shown in studies to reduce plaque and tartar and has also been sanitized for your protection. It's effect on periodontis has not been established.
Challenges
(some are challenges from Vancouver Theatre Sports - 6/81, some are from
the BBC TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyway", recently adapted for ABC's fall lineup staring Drew Carey to rousing success I might add, some have just evolved from who knows where)The list is kinda long. Whenever I find a new one I just tack it on.
Freeze Tag
- Two team members begin a challenge. Once the scene has been established, another
team member yells "freeze" and those performing freeze in their positions. The team
member who yelled "freeze" then replaces one of the members performing and begins
a new scene. This process repeats until a logical ending is reached.
Space Jump
- One player begins a scene. Second player freezes it and starts a 2nd scene. Third
player freezes it and starts a 3rd scene. Fourth player freezes it and starts a
fourth scene, then once the scene is established, finds a reason to leave. The players
then revert to the 3rd scene. The 3rd player finds a reason to leave and they revert
to the 2nd scene, and so on until the first player is left to complete the original
scene. New body positions are justified. Can have as many players as desired.
Life in a Minute
- During a one minute, something must come to life.
Death in a Minute
- During a one minute scene, something must die.
Life/Death in a Minute Variation
- Scene begins. Referee blows whistle and team then has one minute to stage a death
or life.
Arms
- One player provides the arms for another. Can be a monologue or scene.
One Word Scene
- One word is obtained from the audience and this is the only word used in the scene.
Alphabet Scene
- Starting with 'A', each line spoken in the scene must start with the next letter
of the alphabet. Scene must come to a logical conclusion when the team reaches 'Z'.
Alliteration
- Players ask for a letter, usually a consonant, and incorporate into the scene as
many words beginning with that letter as possible. Variation
- Each player can have their own letter.
The Purloined Letter
- One letter of the alphabet, chosen by a member of the audience, no longer exists.
It is replaced by a different letter chosen by a different audience member.
Experts
- One player becomes an expert on a topic or two selected by the audience. Another
player then interviews the first player in a talk show like format about the subject.
Boris
- Boris is an invisible torturer in an interrogation scene.
Superheros
- The audience decides on a "crisis" that the players must avert through their scene
as well as what the first player is a superhero of (SpandexMan, Bicycle Repair Man,
etc.). One by one the other players arrive on the scene to aid in solving the "crisis." As they do, the first player assigns them their superpowers. (ie - Thank you
for joining us, Thumb Sucking Man)
Endowments/Party Quirks
- One player goes offstage. The remaining players are given occupations or another
distinguishing characteristic by the audience. The first player then has to guess
what the others are in the context of a scene. Time: 2 minutes.
Hat Game
- Each player wears a hat. A scene begins in which no reference is made to the hats.
The winner is the first person to get the other's hat. A missed grab is a loss.
A very good elimination scene.
Hat Game Blind
- Each actor wears a hat and a blindfold.
Statues
- Two actors are molded by the audience. A scene begins in which they justify their
positions.
(variation 1)
- Two players must end their scene in the positions they were molded to by the audience.
(variation 2)
- they must begin and end their scene in the positions.
Status Transfer
- Two players begin a scene, one of high status, one of low status. Over the course
of the scene, they switch.
Dubbing
- Two players act out a scene onstage. Two other players are their voices offstage.
Double Talk
- One player does the voices for all of the other players in a scene.
One on One Love Scene
- One player from each team. Winner is judged by who plays the scene most realistically
as well as who appears to be the most in love.
Typewriter Scene
- One player acts as the typist/narrator. The others act out the story he is writing.
Scene Beyond Words
- a silent scene.
Moving People
- Two players are moved around by two or more team members. They may not initiate
movement on their own.
Verse
- a scene that rhymes.
Styles
- Opera, Ballet, Shakespeare, Radio Play, Horror film, Western, Soap Opera, etc.
Or a combination (Ballet Western). Members start a scene normally and adjust it's
style when the referee calls it out.
Solo Scene
- One player performs a scene on a suggestion from the audiences. Other team members
may contribute from offstage only.
Sentence Scenes
A.
Team creates a scene around one sentence taken from the audience or picked out of
a hat. Scene usually ends with this sentence. B.
Each team member gets a sentence that he must use during the scene.
Headline News
- The team picks a newspaper headline out of a hat. The scene must revolve around
the headline, or the scene must end by saying the headline.
Gibberish
- Scene using only gibberish, an unintelligible language.
Sounds
- A scene built around a collection of sound effects that can change from moment
to moment.
Tag Team
- Two players must remain onstage. If one wishes to switch with a person offstage,
he must tag that person before they can switch places. The tagging process must
be constant throughout the scene.
Karamazov
- The team is given three props they must use during the scene.
Props
- Two members from each team must come up with as many uses of a prop as possible.
Phobias
- At least one member of the team must be afraid of a variable.
Clashing Environments
- Players ask for two environments during the scene. One environment must clash with
the other.
Sideways Scene
- Scene in which the floor of the stage is used as a wall and an imaginary floor
& ceiling are established in mid air.
Animal Scene
- Each player is given an animal by the audience and plays the scene as a human with
the characteristics of the animal.
Authors
- Each member is given or chooses a writing style to tell a story in. The story
switches from person to person. (Earnest Hemingway, Comic Book, Travel Guide, Dave
Berry)
World's Worst
- Each member lines up and says one sentence as the world's worst person to be at
_____ .
The Hitchhiker
- The point of this one is to develop a character quickly. A driver picks up a hitchhiker
who is a stereotypical character (ie old man, stoner, etc.). As the hitchhiker speaks
and shows his character, the driver slowly begins to take on the attributes of the hitchhiker. Eventually the driver figures out a reason to pull over and exits
the car. The hitchhiker (still in character) then slides over and becomes the driver
ready to pick up a new hitchhiker. The scene continues indefinitely.
Sit, Stand, Lean
- The audience provides a standard set of three variables or a situation that
that the team of 3 must use. On stage are positioned two stools.
Using those stools, the team must create a scene based on the variables in which
one member of the team is sitting, one is standing, and one is leaning at all times.
In other words, when somebody moves, everyone else has to compensate. (A LOT of fun!)
A Day in the Life
- The audience provides a color & object, then three things that happen to the object.
The team must show those three things happening to the object (ie green toothbrush).
Guess the Scene (a variation on Gibberish or One Word Scene) ?- two players leaves the room. A third player is given a scene by the audience. The first player returns and watches the third player act out the scene without words, using gibberish. The second player is then brought in to watch the first player act out the scene, and then tries to guess what the scene is about.
Two Heads ?- two pairs of players each act as a single person. Each member of the pair may speak only one word at a time, but the pair must speak in sentences.
The Die Game
(usually a tie breaker or end of competition revelry) - All participants (usually
many) form a line across the stage. The referee gets a story style from the audience.
The group in the line must make up a story in that style one at a time, the referee
switching the person who has to talk every paragraph or so. The next person must
begin right where the previous left off. If someone does this in a manner that is
less than perfect, they must die in a manner of the audience's choosing (ie death
by vacuum cleaner, death by chocolate, etc.)
Variation
- The referee gets a question from a member of the audience (ie Why is the sky blue?,
What's in a McNugget?, etc.) and those in the line must answer the question, each
person contributing only one word at a time. If the sentence does not flow well,
the person hesitates, repeats a word or says more than one, then they must die in a manner
of the audience's choosing.
Others are constantly evolving.
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Be sure to visit the Homepage of Alter High School Thespians (where I teach). You can see photos from Dayton's First Inter-School TheatreSports Competition, as well as past production photos and current events. Be sure to watch for future competitions!