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Park Bench Of Truth

OVERVIEW

Park Bench of Truth is a simple conversational improv game that asks players to act honestly; to play close to yourself. Players act as themselves under the lightest of fictional circumstances. Useful for workshops focused on:

  • Creativity

  • Listening

  • Self Confidence 

  • Communication

REQUIREMENTS

Number of Participants:

Minimum: 2 participants / Maximum: 16 (But with as many as 16 participants it might take almost an hour.) 


Time Required:

Minimum: 10 minutes / Maximum:  60 minutes


Materials Needed:

Two chairs.

EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS

This exercise has students perform in pairs while the rest of the class watches. Explain that you want the students to perform a fictional scene as truthfully as they can. In order to accomplish this they will perform as themselves (their actual real world identities).


To limit the fiction you will give them a mundane location and set of circumstances for the scene. Tell them they have agreed to meet each other in a nearby park on a park bench, either for lunch or just a conversation. The two players are hanging out together. There is no expectation that the resulting scene will be riotously funny or that big choices (that you might see in a SNL sketch) will be made.


Instead, the two participants should simply have an honest conversation, taking turns sharing honest opinions and facts about themselves, listening to each other and reacting honestly or asking questions about each other's contributions to the conversation.


To help start the conversations off as honestly as possibly, ask the participants to start the conversation by sharing an honest opinion that they hold. That means starting with something like, "I think Wembyana is poised to become the best professional basketball player ever," is great, if that is what a player honestly believes. While starting with something like, "I wish it hadn't rained on these benches earlier today, I'm getting all wet" is wrong, because there are no actual benches and there was no way for rain to fall on them or to make the players wet.


Postion two chairs close to each other in the exercise area so they can approximate a park bench. Then give each duo five or so minutes to hold their conversation. If there is an uneven number of people in the class, have one person go twice.


After each conversation, use your notes to highlight moments you thought were interesting, compelling or funny so that the whole class can reflect on them. From time to time, ask the participants if they thought what they were saying was interesting, compelling or funny, to showcase how we are often unaware of how impactful our contributions can be.


Sometimes it is helpful to enlist the whole class in the discovery of interesting moments. You can do this by asking nonparticipants to raise their hands when they hear something of note in the scene. Once the scene is over you can ask those with their hands up what they found interesting.


When someone makes contributions that feel like exaggerations or attempts to get a laugh, correct them after the scene is over. 


You may also want (need) to encourage people not to share political, religious or cultural opinions. If someone shares something incendiary, stop the exercise, give the correction and start again. It is good to set this expectation at the exercise's outset.



INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION POINTS / LEARNING TAKEAWAYS

CONFIDENCE 


The big lesson in Park Bench of Truth is that you don't need to put on an act yo be compelling in improv: You are enough. In fact you are a powerhouse, way more than enough.


It is common for us to doubt whether others will be interested in what we have to say or cointribute. That is because we liuve with ourselves 100 percent of every day. 


We are not interesting or surprising to ourselves.


But our experiences, opinions, observations and predilections can often be mind blowing to everyone else, who have different experiences, inclinations, thought processes and so on. Sharing yourself in improv, or during a presentation or any collaborative effort is never an act of pomposity, but instead an act of generosity. You are part of a team and your team will benefit from your contributions.


LISTENING


Be sure to note moments when an item is shared, but not reacted to or followed up on by the other person. 


Technically you may have heard what someone said, but did you understand it's full importance if you never explored it? People only share things for a reason, can you be confident you understand those reasons if you failed to react to an offer?


COMMUNICATION


Look to note moments when players fail to react to each other's statements. Communication is a two person activity. You can never fail to communicarte by yourself, nor can you succeed on your own.


What you want to avoid is sending messages simultaneously while never or rarelty receiving them. By reacting to a partner's messages you build confidence that they have been heard and understood. If you fail to react to another player's messages you may build a fear that they haven't been heard or understood. This can lead to them ignoring what you are saying so that they can repeat their earlier message.

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