Assassins
Assassins is a group awareness exercise in which each player secretly watches one specific person in the space. When the facilitator gives a signal, every player simultaneously points to the person they have been watching. The exercise reveals the web of attention in the room and is used to discuss group dynamics, observation, and the experience of being seen.
Structure
Setup
All players walk freely through the space. The facilitator asks each player to silently choose one other person to watch, without revealing their choice.
Progression
Players continue moving normally while secretly tracking their chosen person. The facilitator may sustain this phase for sixty to ninety seconds to let tension build.
On signal (a clap or word), every player simultaneously points to the person they have been watching and freezes. No player should move or speak once frozen; the stillness creates the picture that makes chains and clusters visible.
Conclusion
The group observes the resulting network of pointing. The facilitator draws attention to chains (A watches B who watches C who watches A) and isolated figures. A brief discussion follows about what it felt like to watch, to move while being watched, and to see the whole network revealed.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Walk through the space. Pick one person to watch secretly: don't let them know. Keep moving. When I clap, freeze and point at them."
Objectives
This exercise makes the invisible visible: it shows that attention flows constantly in a group and that every player is simultaneously a watcher and the watched.
Common Notes
"Keep walking naturally. Don't stare. Watch the way you'd watch someone across a room without wanting them to notice."
Common Pitfalls
Players often choose the most obvious or nearest person rather than making a deliberate choice. Encourage players to pick someone across the space.
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Related Exercises
Alliances
Alliances is a spatial awareness exercise in which each player secretly selects one person in the group as their ally and another as their enemy, then moves through the space trying to keep the ally positioned between themselves and the enemy at all times. No one announces their choices, so the resulting group movement becomes complex, organic, and unpredictable as every participant simultaneously pursues their own spatial objective. The exercise produces a constantly shifting formation that resembles flocking behavior, with sudden accelerations, direction changes, and clusters forming and dissolving. Alliances develops spatial awareness, peripheral vision, and the ability to read and respond to group movement patterns without verbal communication. It also demonstrates how simple individual rules can generate complex group behavior, a principle that applies directly to ensemble scene work.
Blind Stalker
Blind Stalker is an awareness exercise in which one blindfolded player moves through the space while others attempt to approach without being detected. The blindfolded player points toward any sound they hear, and detected players are eliminated. The exercise sharpens auditory awareness and develops the ability to move with control and intentionality.
Follow the Leaver
Follow the Leaver is a group movement exercise in which players move freely through the space and, when one player decides to leave the room or move to a specific location, all other players notice and follow -- without verbal communication or explicit announcement. The exercise develops peripheral awareness, ensemble attunement, and the ability to read and respond to a subtle behavioral cue rather than waiting for an explicit instruction.
Vampire
Vampire is a warm-up and awareness exercise in which one player is secretly designated as a vampire and eliminates others through a subtle gesture (typically a wink or sustained eye contact) while moving through the group. Players mill about or stand in a circle, attempting to identify the vampire before being eliminated. The exercise builds alertness, peripheral awareness, and the ability to read nonverbal signals while remaining in natural social interaction.
Triangles
Triangles is a movement exercise in which each player secretly selects two other people in the space and attempts to maintain an equilateral triangle with them as all players move simultaneously. Because everyone's target pairs are different and unknown to others, the formation shifts continuously with no fixed resolution. The exercise demonstrates how invisible individual choices produce complex collective patterns, and builds sustained spatial awareness and attention to others.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Assassins. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/assassins
The Improv Archive. "Assassins." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/assassins.
The Improv Archive. "Assassins." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/assassins. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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