TOOLS TO HELP SCENE WORK 
Developed by Dan Castelanetta and Gary Schwartz 

BEGINNING
Setting up a scene is very important. Be very clear, even if it takes
a little time, on all the elements that start things you must fill in
all the rest.

ELEMENTS - WHO, WHAT or C.R.O.W. (Character, Relationship, Objective, Where)

WHO: Not only is it important to know who you are but how are you
different from the other person. If the suggestion is a two Catholic
school and you pick a "who", try to avoid picking nuns. Make one player
the Nun and the other a parent of one of the students. Now if the audience
suggests two nuns, one should be a the mother superior and the other
a novice. Make that decision with the other player at the beginning
instead of just using stage time to discover it. Of course the person
introducing the game can do this as well.

WHAT: Always start the scene with an activity. The Mother Superior could
be showing the novice around the school. It doesn't have to be physically
active.  It can even be a simple as an interview or waiting. But again,
it's important that the players be involved in something and know it
before they go into the scene.

SOME BASIC GUIDELINES
These are some things to remember and some pitfalls to avoid. 

TRY TO START THE SCENE IN THE MIDDLE
Try to avoid, "Hello, how are you?" or walking into the office for the
first time.  Be in the middle of the conversation.

NEVER REFER TO AN INVISIBLE PERSON ON STAGE
Whether it's an invisible bartender or waiter, it takes your focus away
from the other player and screws with the reality of the scene. Try to
stay away from invisible people.

ALWAYS STAY WITH WHATEVER IS OFFERED TO YOU
Because...what else is there? There is where you find the gold. If you
negate a beat or an offer, then you've got to waste time initiating a
new beat and who's to say that's any better.

DROP WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU'RE PLANNING
and only deal with what your fellow player has offered you and go from there. 

MORE TOOLS TO HELP YOU GET OUT OF TROUBLE IF YOU'RE FLOUNDERING.
The basis of these improv tools is to create a connection between players. 

BUILD OFF EACH OTHER AND ADD SOMETHING EXTRA:
In simplest terms it means, adding to what has been offered to you. If
you're a shoe salesman with a customer and the customer asks, "Do you have
anything on sale?" You can say, "Yes." or "No." but add something to that
like, "Yes, if you brought the ad that we had in the paper today." The
customer can produce the paper or not, but could add "Yes, and I must
say this picture of you doesn't do you any justice." The salesman can
look at the paper and add "Oh my God, I'm naked!" By building off each
other and adding something extra you give the scene some interest,
some reality and what we would hope for - the unexpected.

INTERRUPT THE ROUTINE:
Interrupt the routine. See if you can make a different choice other than
the expected. For example: as the shoe salesman you're first impulse is
to measure a customer's foot. Find a way to interrupt that routine by
perhaps being fascinated with the customer's foot. Another extension of
this would be to --

CREATE A LITTLE CONFLICT:
The salesman might be repulsed by the smell of the customer's foot and
must do something to eradicate the smell or cover it up.  The idea in
this case is that both players try to work together to overcome the
conflict and find other conflicts along the way. Perhaps the customer
sprays her foot with perfume but it turns out the shoe salesman is
allergic to perfume. Now the salesman will have to toss the shoes to
the customer to try them on.

What's the next conflict? Certainly the customer could object to this
treatment and walk out. However, that would end the scene or just
turn into an argument between the salesman and the customer. Again,
try to connect. If you can't create a new conflict or interrupt the
routine try...

LYING:
Tell a lie and stick to it. The customer can lie and say she's secretly
in love with the shoe salesman. Then the shoes salesman can either try
to challenge the lie - "But I never even saw you before." The customer
has to justify this by perhaps saying, "I was the little girl you use
to sit behind in third grade."

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES
Everything that happens on stage happens for a reason . It only helps
the scene. It is an opportunity. If someone isn't "doing what you want
them to do" it's because it's an opportunity for you to say, "You're not
doing what I want you to do!" in the context of the scene. If you screw
up it's for a reason.  One of the funniest things I ever saw improvised
was when Jim Stahl in the middle of a scene, in order to get out of some
situation, said he was from Germany except he didn't speak with a German
accent and the other player asked "If you're from Germany, how come you
speak with an American accent?" Jim Stahl answered, "I'm drunk."