Synonyms
Front Desk. Group Environment.
Introduction
This exercise will work on creating settings.
Description
This is a silent exercise. An environment is called out at the beginning of the exercise. A player comes on stage and mimes one object in the environment. The following players will engage with every mime object in the environment before adding one object herself. So the first player gets it easy. However the fifth player would have to use engage all four of the previously mimed objects in before adding her one object.
Environment Build helps with mime, visual listening and attention to detail. Commitment is an important component of this exercise as well. There will be times when the player does not understand what one of the mime objects was. They must commit to their best guess.
It can be a useful process to have each player discuss their mime object from the environment. Often what seemed clear at the time is something else completely.
Gimmicks
- Endow the environment with an emotion or epoch.
Variations
- Environment Shift – change to a new environment.
- No offer – Have players create an environment spontaneously from their mime objects.
Credits
None.