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.
Structure
The Setup
Performers begin a scene in an imaginary space. As objects are introduced, each performer commits to their location: the table is here, the door is there, the window is at this height.
The Test
As the scene progresses, each interaction with an established object must honor its agreed location. Performers who drift or replace objects are corrected by the ensemble, mid-scene if necessary.
The Debrief
After the scene, participants discuss which objects held consistently and which drifted, identifying the physical habits that cause object drift.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Where's the Object trains the physical and spatial memory required to maintain a shared imaginary environment across a full scene. Drifting objects signal that performers are not fully investing in the shared space.
Facilitation Notes
Begin with few objects and increase complexity as the group improves. Object drift is almost always unconscious; pointing it out in the moment is more effective than discussing it afterward.
Common Pitfalls
Performers establish objects rhetorically by naming them but do not physically anchor them to a specific location. Require full physical engagement with each new object at the moment of establishment.
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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.
Location
Location is the archive label for foundational exercises that train players to establish where a scene takes place through physical behavior, object work, and spatial detail. Across the confirmed source base, the core demand stays consistent: the audience should understand the setting from what the players do in the space, not from a quick verbal label. The exercise develops environmental clarity, specificity, and the habit of treating the setting as an active part of the scene.
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.
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.
Who Where Why Am I
Who Where Why Am I is a solo and ensemble scene-starting exercise in which performers establish the full context of a scene through action and environment rather than dialogue, committing to a specific who, where, and why before the first word is spoken, training physical specificity, environmental grounding, and intentional entry.
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.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Where's the Object?.
112 Acting Games (Levy)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Where's the Object?. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/wheres-the-object
The Improv Archive. "Where's the Object?." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/wheres-the-object.
The Improv Archive. "Where's the Object?." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/wheres-the-object. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.