Ordinary Object
Ordinary Object is an exercise in which a player picks up a common item and uses it as if it were something else entirely, without explaining the transformation. The audience or group must recognize the new object through the specificity of the performer's handling. The exercise develops object work versatility and the ability to communicate through physical precision.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Applied Improvisation
Leading, Collaborating, and Creating Beyond the Theatre
Theresa Robbins Dudeck; Caitlin McClure
The Improv Illusionist
Using Object Work, Environment, and Physicality in Performance
David Raitt
Theater Games for the Lone Actor
Viola Spolin
112 Acting Games
Gavin Levy
Business Improv
Experiential Learning Exercises to Train Employees
Val Gee
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Related Exercises
What's the Object?
What's the Object is a physical mime and object-work exercise in which participants handle an imaginary object with sufficient specificity and consistency that observers can identify what it is, training precise physical commitment, object permanence, and the performer's spatial relationship to invented material.
Objects
Objects is an ensemble exercise and short-form game in which players use their bodies to form the physical shape of an audience-suggested object. Players enter one at a time, each adding themselves to the growing sculpture until the group collectively represents the object in physical space. The exercise builds spontaneous physicality, spatial awareness, and the ensemble skill of offering and accepting physical contributions without verbal negotiation.
Twenty Objects
Twenty Objects is an exercise in which a player must mime twenty different objects in rapid succession, making each one physically distinct and recognizable. The speed prevents overthinking and forces players to commit to their first physical impulse. The exercise builds object work fluency and creative stamina.
The Thing
The Thing is an object work exercise in which a player is handed an imaginary object whose identity has not been declared in advance. The player must discover what the object is solely through the physical act of handling it -- registering its weight, texture, shape, and behavior in real time. The exercise teaches that specificity of handling creates the object; the object does not exist prior to the player's physical commitment to it.
Object Circle
Object Circle is a warm-up exercise in which participants stand in a circle and pass physical or mimed objects to each other, transforming each object through imagination as it travels. One participant sends an object with a specific size, weight, and character; the next participant receives it, uses it briefly, then transforms it into something new before passing it on. The exercise develops physical specificity, collaborative imagination, and the habit of accepting and building on what a partner offers.
Infinite Box
Infinite Box is an object work exercise in which a player mimes opening a box, removing an object, using it, and discovering another box inside, which contains another object, and so on. The exercise trains sustained object work, creativity under repetition, and the ability to generate variety from a single premise.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Ordinary Object. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ordinary-object
The Improv Archive. "Ordinary Object." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ordinary-object.
The Improv Archive. "Ordinary Object." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/ordinary-object. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.