Flip
Flip is an editing technique and game in which the host or a performer signals a scene to "flip" to a parallel scene, a different time period, or an alternate perspective. The flip creates juxtaposition between contrasting moments. The technique trains performers to hold multiple threads and make clean transitions.
Structure
Setup
- Two or more performers play a scene.
- A host or caller stands outside with the ability to call "flip."
- No specific preparation is required.
The Rule
- When the host calls "flip," the active scene is paused and the performers begin a parallel scene, a scene from a different time period, or an alternate perspective on the same events.
- "Flip" can return to a previous scene that was paused, or establish a new one.
- The host controls the direction of the flip: "flip back" returns to the previous scene, "flip forward" moves to a new one.
Scene Relationships
- The two or more scenes created by flipping may be causally connected (one scene shows the cause, another shows the effect), thematically related, or structurally parallel.
- The juxtaposition between the scenes is where the game's meaning lives: what does Scene A reveal about Scene B, and vice versa?
- Performers must hold both scenes simultaneously in mind, maintaining continuity across flips.
Variations
- The flip technique is used in long-form as a narrative device without a host caller, with performers managing the transitions themselves.
- The flip is used with time: flipping between past and present versions of a relationship or event.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"When I call 'flip,' you pause where you are and immediately begin a different scene or a different point in time for the same scene. When I flip back, you pick up exactly where you left off. Hold both scenes in your body at the same time."
Common Notes
- Performers must remember exactly where they were physically and emotionally when the flip was called. Returning to a scene in a completely different state than where it was left breaks the continuity.
- The power of the technique is in the contrast. Flips that reveal nothing new about either scene waste the structural opportunity.
- As a training exercise, the director should call flips at moments of maximum tension, not at resolution. The unresolved tension carries across the flip and colors the other scene.
Common Pitfalls
- Performers do not hold the physical positions and emotional states from the paused scene. The return should feel like time stopped, not like a reset.
- The two scenes have nothing to say to each other and the flip becomes arbitrary interruption.
- Flips happen too frequently and neither scene accumulates enough content to be meaningful when revisited.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"We are going to play two scenes that cut between each other. When I call 'flip,' the scene you're watching pauses and another one begins. When I flip back, everything picks up exactly where it left off. Give us a suggestion for the first scene."
Cast Size
- Ideal: Two to four performers, split between the two scenes.
- Both scenes should have at least two performers to maintain independent momentum.
Staging
- Each scene occupies a defined area of the playing space so transitions are visually clear.
- Performers freeze in place during a flip and hold until the flip returns.
Wrap Logic
- The host ends both scenes when they have arrived at parallel buttons or when one scene's resolution illuminates the other.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Pirate Robot Ninja
An Improv Fable
Billy Merritt; Will Hines
Group Improvisation
The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games
Peter Campbell Gwinn; Charna Halpern
Improvising Cinema
Gilles Mouëllic
Improvising Now
A Practical Guide to Modern Improv
Rob Norman
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
Matt Besser; Ian Roberts; Matt Walsh
Related Games
Ping Pong
Ping Pong is a two-scene game in which the action alternates between two separate scenes, spending a brief stretch in each before cutting to the other. The scenes may begin without apparent connection and gradually reveal shared themes, words, or situations. The game trains performers to maintain two distinct scene threads simultaneously and rewards moments of unexpected resonance between the two worlds.
Meanwhile
Meanwhile is a short-form game in which multiple scenes run in parallel, connected by the transitional word that gives the game its name. When a player or host calls the transition, the current scene freezes and a new scene begins in a different location, time period, or context. The game trains performers in quick context-switching, scene memory, and the ability to pick up a frozen scene exactly where it left off. Callbacks and connections between the parallel storylines elevate the game from a scene-switching exercise into a web of interlocking narratives.
Backwards Scene
Backwards Scene is a short-form game in which performers play a scene from its final moment to its first. Each exchange must logically precede what the audience has already seen, creating a reverse-engineered narrative that rewards careful physical and verbal continuity.
Rewind
Rewind is a short-form game in which a host calls out during a scene, causing performers to physically and verbally reverse their actions back to an earlier moment, then replay forward with different choices. The game rewards strong physical memory, comedic timing at the point of replay, and the ability to generate distinct alternatives quickly when the scene resumes.
Turntable
Turntable is a scene game in which the stage rotates between two or more scenes that share a physical setup, with the same furniture or blocking serving different purposes in each scene. The transitions between scenes may be called by a host or initiated by the performers. The game rewards inventive reuse of physical space and thematic connections between parallel scenes.
Timeline
Timeline is a scene game in which performers play scenes from different moments across a character's or community's history, jumping forward and backward in time to reveal how past events connect to later ones. The game rewards strong narrative tracking and the ability to find surprising causal or thematic links between scenes separated by years or generations.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Flip. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/flip
The Improv Archive. "Flip." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/flip.
The Improv Archive. "Flip." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/flip. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.