Stories from Grandpa

Stories from Grandpa is a short-form game in which a performer plays an elderly storyteller recounting tales to an audience, while other players act out the events being described. The narrator's unreliable memory and embellishments create opportunities for physical comedy and narrative surprises. The game rewards warm character work and the ability to generate comedy from the gap between narration and action.

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Voices from Heaven

Voices from Heaven is a short-form monologue game in which performers deliver eulogies or testimonials for a character who has just died, each speaker revealing a different facet of the departed's life. The testimonials build a composite portrait through contrasting perspectives. The game is a shorter variation of the Spoon River format.

My Vacation

My Vacation is a storytelling game in which a performer recounts an imaginary holiday using audience suggestions for destinations, mishaps, and encounters. The storyteller must weave each new detail into a coherent and entertaining narrative. The game exercises spontaneous narrative construction and audience interaction.

He Said While She

He Said While She (also called Two-Headed Expert or Narration Game) is a scene game in which narration and action interweave: one performer narrates what a character says while the other physically performs and voices the character's actions. The split between narrator and performer creates a dual-track reality in which the narration and the physical performance can align, diverge, or generate irony through contrast. The game rewards physical specificity and the narrator's ability to use the performer's choices.

Narrator

Narrator is a short-form game in which one performer serves as an omniscient narrator who describes and directs the action while other players act out whatever is narrated. The performers must physicalize the narrator's words instantly, even when the descriptions become absurd, contradictory, or physically challenging. The game generates comedy from the tension between what is narrated and what the performers can actually do, and from the narrator's power to control the scene's reality with a single sentence. The game rewards quick physical commitment from the actors and creative, descriptive language from the narrator.

Funeral Service

Funeral Service is a scene game in which performers deliver eulogies, reminiscences, and tributes for a fictitious or audience-named deceased character. Each speaker builds the dead character's biography through their eulogy, often revealing contradictory or absurd details. The game rewards character commitment and the ability to build a shared history collaboratively.

Glamour Story

Glamour Story is a storytelling game in which performers narrate and act out a story with exaggerated elegance, sophistication, or dramatic flair. The heightened style transforms mundane content into something theatrical and entertaining. The game builds confidence in bold delivery and trains the ability to elevate any material through commitment to tone.

How to Reference This Page

APA

The Improv Archive. (2026). Stories from Grandpa. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/stories-from-grandpa

Chicago

The Improv Archive. "Stories from Grandpa." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/stories-from-grandpa.

MLA

The Improv Archive. "Stories from Grandpa." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/stories-from-grandpa. Accessed March 17, 2026.

The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.