What Are You Doing?

In this quick-thinking game, players put their bodies in motion trying out a variety of physical activities. Two uses include: a warm-up to stretch creative thinking, an opportunity to explore activities that fit a specific character.

Begin standing.

Player one asks player two, “What are you doing?”

Player two states an action such as “Mopping the floor.” Player one begins that action in mime. Then, player two asks, “What are you doing?”

The game repeats until one player runs out of actions or repeats one that has already been named.

In online mentorships, this game could be played with a focus on activities that can be done while seated.

ONE ON ONE:

In a one-on-one, in-person setting, the mentor has the opportunity to play the game directly with the mentee.

ONE-ON-ONE ONLINE:

In online mentorships, this game can be done standing, or altered to focus on activities that can be done while seated.

ONLINE GROUP:

Instead of playing with only two actors, you could play round-robin until you run out of action possibilities. In this case, if you play for character development, you may want to choose a specific kind of character (such as a giant) who is doing the various activities to make the brainstorming and collaboration more of a creative thinking challenge.

IN-PERSON GROUP:

Often this game is played with two players performing for an audience. Once the players have run out of ideas, a new player is swapped in. You could also play the game in a standing circle, passing the action from one player to the next in quick succession

Players not quite ready to stand up and act may gain confidence by either doing smaller activities sitting at their desks, or by being part of a team. You could play the game with an "A" group and a "B" group online or in person.

Characterization: Players choose actions based on what their characters might do. Players could also play the game as the main character and then as an opposite character (the antagonist, a parent, etc) to explore alternate points of view.

Staging Scenes: Players could work within a specific setting or world to brainstorm ideas of actions that would fit into the world of their story, and then after playing, discuss how they might add action to their scenes.