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.
Structure
The Setup
Participants stand or move through the space individually or in pairs. Each participant is given or selects an imaginary object to handle.
The Handling
Participants interact with their object as specifically as possible: the object has weight, texture, temperature, and shape that affect how it is held, moved, and used. Observers attempt to identify the object from the physical information alone.
The Reveal
After a set period, observers name what they saw. Discrepancies between the object intended and the object perceived point to specific physical habits to correct.
How to Teach It
Objectives
What's the Object trains object permanence: the ability to maintain a consistent imaginary object through a full interaction without its size, weight, or position shifting. Most participants unconsciously transform their object mid-interaction.
Facilitation Notes
Begin with simple, familiar objects before introducing unusual shapes. The goal is precision, not complexity.
Common Pitfalls
Participants perform the idea of handling an object rather than actually handling the specific object. Encourage them to feel the weight and texture before demonstrating it to observers.
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Related Exercises
Where's the Object?
Where's the Object is an object permanence exercise in which participants establish imaginary objects in a shared performance space and then hold those objects in consistent spatial locations throughout the scene, training the ensemble's collective memory of the fictional environment and the physical discipline required to maintain it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Be Specific
Participants silently exchange imaginary objects in a circle, then trace how objects transformed, illustrating the importance of specific communication.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from What's the Object?.
112 Acting Games (Levy)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). What's the Object?. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/whats-the-object
The Improv Archive. "What's the Object?." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/whats-the-object.
The Improv Archive. "What's the Object?." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/whats-the-object. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.