Script Tease
Script Tease is a short-form game in which performers hold actual scripts or random text and must incorporate the written lines into their improvised scene, reading from the page at key moments while making the pre-written text fit naturally within the context of the scene.
Structure
Setup
Each performer receives a script, book, magazine, or other printed text. The text is typically unrelated to the scene: a manual for a blender, a romance novel, a legal document, or a children's book. Performers can hold the text openly. The audience knows the performers are reading from random material.
The host takes a suggestion for a scene premise, and the performers begin.
Playing the Game
Performers improvise a scene normally but must periodically glance down at their script and read a line from the text, incorporating it into the scene as if it were natural dialogue. The comedy comes from the collision between the improvised context and the absurd pre-written text.
A domestic argument might suddenly include the line "allow six to eight weeks for delivery." The performer delivers it with full emotional commitment, and the scene partner must justify or respond to it as if it makes perfect sense in context. The justification creates the comedy.
Timing and Selection
Performers choose when to read from their scripts, selecting moments where the interruption will create maximum comedic contrast. They can scan the text for a line that has comedic potential in the current context or read the next line blindly for pure surprise. Both approaches work, and most performers mix the two.
Variations
A single-script version has all performers sharing one text. A swap version has performers exchange scripts mid-scene. A poetry version uses only poetry collections, creating an elevated language register that clashes with mundane scenes.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Script Tease develops justification skills, emotional commitment, and the ability to incorporate unexpected offers. It trains performers to accept and build on material they did not choose, which mirrors the core improv skill of working with what your partner gives you.
How to Explain It
"Play a scene, but you each have a random script. Every so often, read a line from your script and make it fit the scene. Your partner treats whatever you read as if it is exactly what your character would say."
Scaffolding
Begin with short, simple texts that have clear, punchy lines. Instruction manuals work well for beginners because the sentences are short and direct. Move to denser texts once performers are comfortable with the justification challenge.
Common Pitfalls
Performers sometimes read too frequently, turning the scene into a string of random lines with no improvised connective tissue. The game needs breathing room between scripted lines for the scene to develop and for the audience to anticipate the next interruption. Other performers avoid reading entirely because they are enjoying the scene. The facilitator should remind them that the scripted lines are the game.
How to Perform It
Audience Appeal
Script Tease is highly accessible because the audience can see that the text is genuinely random. The visible scripts reassure the audience that the performers are not working from prepared material, heightening appreciation for the improvised justifications.
Commitment to the Lines
The game falls flat when performers read scripted lines with a wink or a pause that signals "this is the random part." The strongest performances deliver the written text with the same emotional investment as the improvised dialogue, forcing the audience to experience the absurdity without being guided toward it.
Text Selection
Instructional manuals, legal disclaimers, and technical writing tend to produce the strongest results because their language is furthest from natural conversation. Novels and plays can work but sometimes blend too smoothly with the scene, reducing the comedic contrast.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Improvisation for Actors and Writers
A Guidebook for Improv Lessons in Comedy
Bill Lynn
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
The Improv Handbook
The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond
Tom Salinsky; Deborah Frances-White
The Playbook
Improv Games for Performers
William Hall
Improvisation Starters
A Collection of 900 Improvisation Situations for the Theater
Philip Bernardi
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Script Tease. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/script-tease
The Improv Archive. "Script Tease." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/script-tease.
The Improv Archive. "Script Tease." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/script-tease. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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