A strong point of view underlies an authentic scene. An improviser should be able to fish a good point of view out of any situation, no matter how mundane. This exercise practices that.
Everyone up in a circle. Someone starts by miming an object, saying what it is, and giving it to someone else in the circle.
“Stapler,” they say, and give it to someone.
Whoever receives it does the following to create a POV from the object:
This is OBJECT.
It stands for IDEA.
IDEA is important to me because (say 3–4 sentences as a character who really values IDEA).
Then they cap it by holding up their mimed object and saying IDEA.
They might say this:
This is a STAPLER.
It stands for HOLDING THINGS TOGETHER.
HOLDING THINGS TOGETHER is important to me because, well, I guess I think there’s nothing as important as family. Keep your money, your power, your everything. All I care about is family.
HOLDING THINGS TOGETHER.
For the 3–4 sentences, it should be done in character, and the reasons why the thing is important should refer to the character’s philosophy, not external circumstances. Avoid reasons like, “I believe in holding things together because I was once trapped in a flood.”
Practice the useful tool of taking a mundane detail and inferring a point of view from it