Pan Left Pan Right
Pan Left Pan Right is a short-form performance game in which four to six performers stand in a formation and rotate positions on the host's command, cycling between two or more simultaneous scenes. Each pair of downstage performers plays a different scene based on a separate audience suggestion. The host calls "Pan Left" or "Pan Right" to shift between channels, and each scene progresses across several short visits until all storylines reach a conclusion. The game trains quick establishment, scene memory, and the ability to maintain character through interruptions.
Structure
Setup
Four to six performers stand in a square or rectangular formation, with two performers positioned downstage facing the audience and the remaining performers lined up along the back. Before play begins, each pair of performers receives a different suggestion from the audience. Suggestions can be TV show genres, movie titles, relationship types, or any premise that gives each pair a distinct starting point.
Progression
The first pair of downstage performers begins their scene. After fifteen to thirty seconds, the host calls "Pan Left" or "Pan Right." All performers rotate one position in the called direction, bringing a new pair to the downstage position. This new pair immediately begins their scene based on their own suggestion.
The host continues calling direction changes, cycling through all the scenes. Each time a pair returns to the downstage position, they pick up their scene with an assumption that time has passed since their last visit. They do not resume from the exact moment they left. Instead, they jump ahead in the story, showing the audience a new piece of the narrative.
Each scene typically receives three to four visits across the game, progressing from an establishing scene to a middle development to a conclusion. The host controls pacing by choosing when to pan and how long to let each scene breathe.
Advanced Variation
Each new scene opens by reusing or recontextualizing the final line from the previous scene, creating comedic connections across the different storylines.
Conclusion
The host pans to each remaining scene one final time, allowing each pair to deliver a conclusion. The game ends when all scenes have resolved.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Pan Left Pan Right builds multiple performance skills simultaneously. Performers practice quick establishment, since each scene has only seconds to define its world. They practice scene memory, maintaining character and narrative across interruptions. And they practice the discipline of advancing a story through time jumps rather than plodding through continuous action.
How to Explain It
"Each pair of you has a different suggestion and a different scene. When I say Pan Left, everyone rotates one spot to the left. The new pair downstage starts or continues their scene. When your scene comes back, do not pick up exactly where you left off. Jump ahead in time. Show us the next important moment in the story. You have about four visits total to tell a complete beginning, middle, and end."
Scaffolding
Start with four performers and two scenes. This gives performers fewer scenes to track and more time in each visit. Once the group is comfortable with the rotation mechanic and time-jump convention, add a third or fourth pair. For beginners, assign concrete suggestions (a specific TV show genre, a clear relationship) rather than abstract ones.
Common Pitfalls
The most common issue is performers who resume exactly where they left off rather than jumping ahead in time. This produces scenes that barely advance across four visits. Coach performers to ask themselves "What happens next in this story?" rather than "What was my last line?"
A second issue is performers who lose their character between visits. Encourage them to lock in a physical choice, a voice, or a specific attitude during their first visit that they can snap back into when their scene returns.
The host must avoid panning too frequently. If scenes never get more than ten seconds, performers cannot establish anything meaningful and the game becomes chaotic rather than structured.
How to Perform It
Audience Introduction
"Our performers are going to act out several different scenes at the same time. Think of it like a television with multiple channels. When I call Pan Left or Pan Right, we change the channel. Each time we come back to a channel, the story has jumped forward. We need a different suggestion for each pair of performers."
Staging
The formation should be clear enough that the audience can track which pair is currently performing. Downstage performers face the audience directly. Performers rotating to the back turn away or step upstage to create a visual distinction between active and waiting positions.
Performance Pacing
The host acts as conductor. Let the first scene establish long enough for the audience to become invested before the first pan. Early visits should be longer (twenty to thirty seconds) to let scenes build foundations. As the game progresses, visits can become shorter, increasing the pace and comedy of the channel-switching format. The final round should give each scene enough time for a satisfying conclusion.
Performers must establish character, relationship, and location within three to five lines during their first visit. Use CROW (Character, Relationship, Objective, Where) as a rapid-establishment framework.
Wrap-Up
End with the strongest scene or the one with the most satisfying payoff potential. The host can choose the order of final visits strategically.
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Pan Left
Pan Left is a short-form game in which the stage is divided into multiple locations, and a host calls camera directions to shift the audience's attention from one scene to another. Each scene freezes when the camera pans away and resumes when it returns. The game trains performers to maintain continuity across interrupted scenes and rewards strong callbacks.
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Conducted Story is a performance game and exercise in which a conductor points to different performers in a line, each of whom must continue a collaborative story from exactly where the previous speaker stopped. The conductor controls pacing, speaker changes, and dramatic rhythm by pointing rapidly or slowly between performers. Switches can occur mid-sentence, mid-word, or at natural pauses, forcing performers to listen with total attention and maintain narrative coherence under pressure. As noted in Truth in Comedy, Conducted Story is one of the foundational exercises for developing the ability to stay in the moment rather than planning ahead.
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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.
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Space Jump is a short-form game in which one performer begins a scene alone. At the call of "space jump," a new performer enters and initiates a completely different scene. When "space jump" is called again, a third performer enters with yet another scene. Eventually the scenes are unwound in reverse order, returning to each previous scene where it left off.
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.
Sit Stand Lie Lean
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Pan Left Pan Right. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/pan-left-pan-right
The Improv Archive. "Pan Left Pan Right." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/pan-left-pan-right.
The Improv Archive. "Pan Left Pan Right." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/pan-left-pan-right. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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