THEATRE GAME: POISON PEEPERS

Instructions

"Poison Peepers" is a variation of "Down/Up" and "Scream." All participants stand in a circle.

For "Down/Up," the leader calls "down" and everyone looks down at the floor; then "up" and everyone looks up at just one other person in the circle. The leader repeats this until all are eliminated. If the person you choose to look at is looking elsewhere (i.e., at someone else), you are still in the game. If, when you look up, the person you choose to look at is looking directly back at you, you both sit out, and the game continues until all are eliminated. The leader should remind everyone to look at a different person each time they look up. For "Scream," the only difference is that, if the person you choose to look at is looking directly back at you, you both scream (for a very brief moment) and then sit out.

For "Poison Peepers," the most important difference is that no one is eliminated. Start by playing "Scream," but do not eliminate any pairs; if there is a brief scream, the leader just says "down" again and the game continues, with the commands of "down" and "up" being repeated. What you are waiting for is the moment when no one screams (because no one is looking directly back at anyone else). In that quiet moment, everyone is to think of the first word that comes to mind and then put up a hand. The leader calls on one of the participants, whose hand is up, to say their word in a very dramatic way and employ an interesting gesture or body movement to accompany that word. Then, clockwise around the circle, each participant says his or her word, dramatically and with a gesture—creating a sort of unique and strangely beautiful tone poem. After the last word is spoken, everyone says "Ah!" together—clearly impressed by the combined effect of their words. Comedy may arise from the speaking of sometimes very mundane words in a very expressive way. And it’s fun to demonstrate that you are incredibly impressed ("Ah!") with something so very simple!