What's better than that?

This is a game in which the group builds an idea by accepting and adding to the previous idea (yes, and...).

The Flow:
In a circle, small or large group.

  • Joker asks the group to think of something good.
  • When a player has an idea, they start the play by naming their good thing -- e.g. "A cup of hot coffee."
  • Next player adds to it, to make it better -- "A cup of hot coffee on a cold morning."
  • Third player adds -- "A cup of hot coffee on a cold morning in the mountains."
  • And so on. Continue adding as long as the energy is good.

Roles and Positions

Take the checklist of actions and think about who does what? Then think about roles -- which actions are grouped to form roles? And positions -- how do positions and roles overlap (or not)? E.g., as a teacher, I have an institutional position that is material and ideological. Some roles are built into that position, others are assumed but can be removed or redistributed. The point is not to drop the roles or powers, but to redistribute them, to reconfigure the relationships.

How is protagonism a gathering of roles? What roles are needed to constitute protagonism?

Thinking out loud (for someone else)

I'm sure this has been done before, but it occurred to me as well. (It's like the Kani Club activity "Words from the Heart" where the players add side commentary, sharing their true feelings out loud as if only the audience could hear them.)

Four people improvisation game.

Two people are the players, the other two are their shadows.

The two people meet each other for the first time. (The audience can choose a place beforehand.) They improvise a conversation, starting with a greeting.

Drawing for the audience

Adapted from the judging technique used in the Kani Club performances.

Using the same procedure as in One line drawing, teams compete. However, instead of pleasing the judge, they have to please an audience. And, instead of waiting to the end to get the feedback, the audience votes each round. After each vote, one audience member tells the artists what s/he wants to see next. This way, each round should make the drawings incorporate the desires or ideas of the audience as well as the artists.

One word to a hundred

Joker asks participants to write a sentence using just one word.

Compare results. (No need to split hairs over the definition of a sentence, the purpose is to play with language.)

Joker then asks for two-word sentences.

Compare results.

And so on, one, two three, five, ten words, then jump to twenty, fifty, one hundred-word sentences.

Have people find examples of each, feeling free to use poetry, lyrics, any text.

Variations:
Play the same game additively, start with one word, add another, and another.

Maria is a teacher

In this chain story-telling game the joker starts off the story with this sentence:
"[Maria] is a teacher." [Any name]

Each participant adds something to the story, either describing Maria or building a narrative.

Like the game "Juan y Juana" in Tecnicas Participativas, the game should produce some interesting elements, a kind of rough image what what we take a teacher to be. This can be made clearer by following with another story, this time starting with "[Maria] is a student."

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