Who What Where
Who What Where is a foundational scene exercise in which performers must establish the who (characters and relationship), what (activity), and where (location) within the first few lines of a scene. The exercise trains the habit of front-loading essential scene information and ensures every scene begins with a clear foundation.
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Related Exercises
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.
Canadian Who What Where
Canadian Who What Where is a variation on the classic Who What Where scene-building exercise, typically played with an apologetic or overly polite Canadian sensibility. Players establish character, activity, and location within the opening moments of a scene. The exercise reinforces the foundational skill of grounding scenes quickly with specific information.
Anyone Who
Anyone Who is a high-energy chair-based warm-up exercise in which players sit in a circle with one fewer seat than participants. The person left standing moves to the center and calls out a statement beginning with "Anyone who..." followed by a trait, experience, or preference. Everyone to whom the statement applies must leave their seat and find a new one, while the caller also scrambles for a seat. The last player left standing becomes the new caller. The exercise energizes the room, breaks down social barriers, and reveals shared experiences across the group. It functions as both a physical warm-up and a group-bonding exercise, making it particularly effective at the start of rehearsals, workshops, and applied improv sessions where participants may not know each other well.
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.
Where Do the Fingers Go
Where Do the Fingers Go is a physical presence exercise in which participants become aware of and deliberately place their hands and fingers in specific, intentional positions during scenes and exercises, training the elimination of unfocused hand behavior and the expressive use of the body's extremities.
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.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Who What Where. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/who-what-where
The Improv Archive. "Who What Where." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/who-what-where.
The Improv Archive. "Who What Where." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/who-what-where. Accessed September 29, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.