Improvisation can be used for many purposes. Typically, we think of improv comedy, where performers make up dialogue and situations on the spot to entertain an audience. But the art form can also be used to explore sincerity and truth in any acting style, especially in the classroom.
Improv prompts are scenes and situations for any number of actors to improvise within. They can be helpful for the performer who’s making too many over-dramatic “choices”; instead, the prompts encourage them to just live within the given circumstances.
Once this naturalistic style of play has been established, a teacher or performer can add modifiers to it; for instance, one way to play comically is to start in a truthful place until just one absurd element is added. But the ultimate goal of the improv prompt is to remind the performer that being a human is enough.
So, here are 30 of the best improv scenarios to get you started. But no matter the prompt, remember: Be real.
We’ve categorized these prompts broadly into three categories: familiar real-world, which are situations just about every person will have experienced; unfamiliar real-world, which are scenarios rare for the average person to experience but still feasible; and supernatural, which are experiences heightened to the point of impossibility.
Familiar real-world improv scenarios
- You’re breaking up with your romantic partner.
- You’re meeting your college roommate for the first time.
- You’re telling a parent disappointing news.
- You’re undergoing a routine checkup at a doctor’s office.
- You’re debating the merits of a movie with your friends at a bar.
- You’re setting up a birthday party at work.
- You’re changing a tire in the freezing cold.
- You’re making small talk with someone you have a crush on.
- You’re trying to return a shirt but you forgot your receipt.
- You’re playing cards with friends you haven’t seen in a while.
Unfamiliar real-world improv scenarios
- You’re interrogating a suspect in a serial killer case.
- You’re informing a parent that their child died in a military conflict.
- You’re negotiating the merger of two successful companies.
- You’re asking the president for a favor.
- You’re planning a robbery with a crew.
- You’re trying to impress a member of royalty.
- You’re testifying in a high-profile court case.
- You’re waking up from a plane crash and realizing you’re stranded on a deserted island.
- You have the proof that someone you thought was a friend was conning you.
- You’re giving a post-game interview after losing a professional sports championship.
Supernatural improv scenarios
- You’re a superhero convincing your archenemy not to go through with their evil plan.
- You’re speaking to the ghost of a loved one.
- You’ve just discovered the secret to eternal life.
- You’re a god who has come to earth to grant an interview.
- You’re a medieval knight planning how to slay a dragon.
- You’re exorcising a young child possessed by a demon.
- You’re tempted by a magical but dangerous item.
- You and a person you don’t get along with are realizing you’ve swapped bodies.
- You’re advising a government council how to best deal with an incoming alien invasion.
- You’re a vampire trying desperately not to bite a loved one.
