Quick Description
Limited Genre asks the question, when does a genre become a cliché? Must every Film Noir have a mobster, a femme fatale and cigarettes?
Players choose a genre, ask the audience for 3 clichés. Play a scene in that genre without those things. It’s a limited genre.
How to Play
Players ask the audience for a genre. Then the players ask for three typical elements in that genre.
Example
Genre: Western.
Three typical elements: Sheriff, horse, gun fight.
The players improvise a scene in that genre WITHOUT those three elements.
It can be fun for the audience to watch the players avoid the elements identified. And it can be good for the players to explore other elements in a genre. Bill Irwin taught one of my classes at the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco. During that class he cautioned the young clowns:
“The difference between a groove and a rut is very thin.” ~Bill Irwin
Origin
Where did the limited genre improv game come from? If you know, please contact me if you have any information about it. I first saw it at BATS Improv in San Francisco in 2010 (or thereabouts).
Get the The Playbook so you have hundreds of games in your pocket when you need them.