Tell the Truth
Tell the Truth is a game in which a small group of performers privately construct a mix of true personal stories and invented ones, then present them all as true while observers attempt to identify which account is genuine. The game teaches that specificity and conviction make any story believable, and that the most implausible-sounding detail is often the true one. It develops honest performance and the actor's capacity to fully inhabit invented material.
Structure
Setup
Gavin Levy in 112 Acting Games documents exercise 96, Tell the Truth, in his Nonverbal Communication chapter: five students are sent outside the room. While outside, they privately coordinate a set of stories: some true, some invented. All students will present their account as genuine, and the class must determine who is telling the truth.
Gameplay
The five students return and, one at a time or in turn, tell their stories. Each performer commits fully to their account as though it is true, regardless of whether it is. Observers watch and listen for behavioral signals: vocal confidence, physical ease, eye contact, the quality of detail, and the emotional texture of the storytelling.
After all performers have spoken, observers vote on who they believe. The performers then reveal which stories were true.
Variants include the classroom-familiar "Two Truths and a Lie" format, where each individual performer presents three statements (two true, one false) and the group identifies the lie. This individual version is easier to manage than the five-person group version but provides less exposure to the ensemble dynamics of false testimony.
Debrief
The debrief is the game's most instructive moment. Players discuss which performances were convincing and which were not, and why. The conversation typically surfaces several consistent findings: invented stories with very specific, unusual details are more convincing than generic ones; true stories told with obvious self-consciousness are less convincing than false stories told with relaxed confidence; and the behavioral signals of discomfort (breaking eye contact, speeding up the delivery, adding unnecessary disclaimers) are the same regardless of the story's truth value.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Some of you have true stories. Some of you have invented stories. You are all going to tell your stories as if they are true. The audience decides at the end who is telling the truth and who isn't. Commit to the story. Do not telegraph either way."
Objectives
Tell the Truth develops two capacities. The first is conviction: the ability to commit fully to any material, true or invented, without telegraphing the difference through behavioral signals. This is a core acting skill that applies to all character and fiction work. The second is behavioral self-awareness: seeing the specific physical and vocal habits that reveal internal state (hesitation, avoidance, urgency) and developing the ability to consciously manage those signals.
Scaffolding
Begin with the individual Two Truths and a Lie format before the five-person group version. Individual performers face lower social stakes and have more control over their presentation, making the experience less intimidating for beginners.
After the reveal, have performers demonstrate their performance again: this time, invite them to deliver the false story with the same behavioral ease they brought to the true one. The contrast between the two deliveries often reveals the specific habits that gave them away.
Common Coaching Notes
- "The more specific the detail, the more believable the story."
- "Conviction doesn't mean speed. A genuine memory often arrives slowly."
- "If you know it's false, your body might be trying to hide it. Let the false story live in your body the way a true story would."
- "Observers: watch the eyes, the hands, the speed. Not the content."
How to Perform It
In performance contexts, the game functions primarily as an interactive audience engagement piece. The entertainment value lies in the audience's uncertainty and in the reveal: the moment when the actual truth is disclosed and the audience discovers how well (or badly) they read the performers.
The game's most interesting performances often arise from performers whose true stories are more implausible than their false ones. A true story about an improbably strange real event, presented with the casual confidence of someone for whom that event is simply a memory, can be far less convincing than a carefully constructed invention presented with elaborate sincerity. This is the game's central paradox: truth and conviction are independent variables.
Hosts who frame the game well for the audience increase engagement: asking audience members to share their initial impressions of each performer before the reveal creates investment in the outcome and makes the debrief more participatory.
History
Gavin Levy documents Tell the Truth as exercise 96 in 112 Acting Games (2005), placing it in Chapter 17: Nonverbal Communication. Levy's framing of the exercise as a nonverbal communication activity emphasizes its function as a training tool for behavioral self-awareness: the exercise makes visible the physical and vocal signals that communicate truthfulness or deception regardless of the content of the spoken material.
The game's structure is related to the social party game Two Truths and a Lie, which has circulated in social settings and educational contexts across many decades. The improv training version reframes the social game as a performance exercise focused on conviction and commitment.
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Tell the Truth. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/tell-the-truth
The Improv Archive. "Tell the Truth." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/tell-the-truth.
The Improv Archive. "Tell the Truth." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/tell-the-truth. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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