Environment build is an exercise where the players create an environment using themselves as mime objects, environment props and bystanders to flesh out an environment. For example, if the leader calls out for the players to environment build an airport players will leap on stage and turn themselves in to baggage, security scanners, tables, planes, plants, or other things that one would find in an airport.
The players in the scene are encouraged to imagine that the floor of the room is balancing on a fulcrum in the center of the room. If a scene involves one player, they can only stand in the center of the floor. The leader may mark the center of the stage with a safe prop. If the player were to move away from the center of the stage the stage would tip, and she would fall off the stage. If the first player in the scene moves across the stage another player must jump into the scene to keep the stage balanced. The players must keep a balanced distance away from each other.
At anytime during the scene the leader can call out “Meanwhile!” With this cue the players freeze their scene and one of the audience players gives an offer creating an entirely new setting and exploration. For example, “meanwhile at the city limit Jim is chasing a cow.”