Quick Description
How to Play
A Player starts a scene as a story about an experience where he or she learned many important life lessons.
As he/she tells the beginning of the story …other players come on stage and act it our with the player who started it.
From time to time a bell is rung (or other trigger) and the player turns to the audience and says, “that’s when I learned….” and finishes the sentence with the life lesson.
The player returns to the improvised scene and continues the adventure.
The scene can be stopped as many times as you want to reveal the leaned lessons.
Notes
Consider getting an audience member to suggest the situation. It can be anything from a first date to a family dinner to climbing mount Everest.
I first played this improv game with Kasey Klemm at BATS Improv. The set up was for Kasey to be returning to his village after a long trip. The villagers gathered around to hear the story. Having the other players on stage made the transition into the flash-back very easy. When I said “now” the other players would pause holding their positions, Kasey would turn to the audience and say “That’s when I learned…” It was wildly fun to watch him come up with lessons from the improvised story.
Variations
Lessons learned from everyday chores. … from my family. …from job interviews. This could be a montage based on a theme.
Origin
I created this format based on a format at BATS Improv called Improvised Arabian Nights. Arabian Nights was created by Basel Al-Naffouri