Games

Scene surgery

Coach's drills that isolate one skill at a time — relationship, emotion, space, escalation.

Suggested sets Suggested warm-ups Crowd favorites Great for beginners Listening clinic Scene surgery Harold night

Filter All Warm-ups Agreement and listening Scene work Short-form games Group and opening games

Sort By category A–Z Shortest first Fewest players

Run them in this order.

  • 1. 2 at a time players · 15–20 minutes

    Three-Line Scenes

    Scenes exactly three lines long, run in rapid succession, to isolate the moment a scene becomes about something.

  • 2. 2 players · 10–12 minutes

    Emotional Replay

    The same scene, with identical dialogue, replayed under different dominant emotions.

  • 3. 4 or more players · 15 minutes

    Status Cards

    Players wear an unseen playing card on their forehead and are treated by everyone else according to its value.

  • 4. 1 at a time players · 10 minutes

    Building the Room

    A single performer establishes an entire room through object work alone, with no dialogue, and the group afterwards describes what they saw.

  • 5. 5 or more players · 12–15 minutes

    Tag Run Drill

    A pattern is established in a two-person scene, then tagged repeatedly to produce eight or more escalating instances of the same idea.

  • 6. 2 plus a coach players · 12–15 minutes

    The Ding

    A coach rings a bell on any weak, hedged or evasive line, and the player must instantly replace it.