A hand counting to five representing the five things named during this ame

FIVE THINGS

CURTAINS UP ACTING STUDIO

 
 

FIVE THINGS: AN IMPROV DRAMA WARM-UP
For Quick Thinking and Imagination

Build improv skills with this theater warm-up that encourages spontaneity, creative choices, and confidence.

Download printable instructions
 
 


Step-by-Step Instructions

  • Students stand in a circle. The teacher turns to the student on their right and names a category, e.g., Names of Fruits, Types of Pets, Things with Wheels, etc. The student must then name five things that fit that category. 

  • As the student is naming, the other students count from one to five in unison–one number after each item. After the fifth item, the whole group chants, “These are five things! Yeah!” For example:

Teacher: Name five colors. 
Student: Red 
All: One!
Student: Blue
All: Two!
Student: Green
All: Three!
Student: Yellow
All: Four!
Student: Black!
All: Five! These are five things! Yeah! 

  • Stress that there are no wrong answers. It is more important to name something with confidence and without hesitating, even if it doesn’t fit the category. For example, if the category is “colors” and the student says, “Tiger!,” the other students should accept the answer and continue counting. 

  • For younger students, the teacher should probably assign all the categories. For older groups, each student who finishes naming five things can then assign a category to the person on their right as the game moves around the circle. Older actors can also get more creative with their categories, e.g. “Name five flavors of ice cream that haven’t been invented yet,” or “Name five ways to wash a car without water.” 

MORE IMPROV DRAMA GAMES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
FREEZE TAG - Students improvise scenes based on frozen body positions
MAGIC CLOTH - Students use imagination to transform a cloth into a variety of props
STORY CIRCLE - Students improvise a story as a group, one line at a time

© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

 
 
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Curtains Up Acting Studio Curriculum
 
 

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.