Ask Fors

Ask fors are the name given to questions one puts to audience to get a seed for a scene. In essence ask fors are what differentiates improv from all other forms of theatre. When the improviser asks the audience for a suggestion to start the scene it proves to one and all that the scene is improvised, and often challenges the improvisers to work with content they would have never thought of themselves. Ask fors are improv.

Be nice to your audience. Often making a suggestion is the closest anyone will get to performing in theatre. Never put a suggestion down, it is your job to wrangle it into something workable while making the audience member look good (like any other improvising colleague). It is good form to repeat the suggestion back the audience to make you heard it right. Thank the audience member for the suggestion. And then turn to your team and state “this scene will somehow involve [insert ask for here].”

Give me a random ask for.