Improv Armando
A monologist — often a guest — tells a true, personal story sparked by the audience suggestion. The team then improvises scenes inspired by the story's themes and feelings, not by re-enacting its events. After a few scenes, the monologist speaks again, and the pattern repeats. Honesty in, invention out. It teaches the hardest listening in improv: pulling the emotional essence from a real story rather than its plot. Players learn to mine a monologue for a theme — regret, pride, a small humiliation — and build something new around it. It's a masterclass in inspiration over imitation, and it rewards genuine, un-jokey storytelling.
🎓 Tips
Play the theme, never the plot. If the monologue is about a lost dog, don't do a lost-dog scene — find the feeling underneath and dramatise that. The monologist must be honest, not funny. Coach real stories with specific detail — the comedy comes from the team, the truth comes from them. Use the whole monologue over the set, not just the first line. Later scenes can reach back to an earlier story's theme, weaving the piece together.
Spotted a mistake, a missing variant, a better way to run it? Change it.