Possible outcomes:
• Develop story telling skills
• Use for needs assessment.
• Use for reviewing after a workshop.
• Getting new perspective on an issue.
Overview:
In pairs participants tell stories in which one player tells the story and the other guides by saying colour or advance to instruct the teller to focus on detail or action.
Time: 5 – 15 min
Number of participants: 2 – 200
Game flow:
Let everyone pair up with another person. Ask them to choose a story teller and a guide. The story teller starts to tell a story. At any time the guide can say “colour the…” instructing the teller to embellish on some detail. Colour can include any description such as physical details, mood and inner thoughts or feelings of the characters. When the guide is satisfied he says “advance” and the teller continues with the action of the story. When the story ends or the time is finished let them switch roles.
Debrief questions;
• How did you decide to say colour or advance?
• How did it feel to be led in telling the story?
• How did the description and action influence each other?
• How do you feel about the stories that you told?
I got this game from the book Training to Imagine: Practical Improvisational Theatre Techniques to Enhance Creativity, Teamwork, Leadership, and Learning by Kat Koppett and Joel Goodman