What Are You Doing
What Are You Doing is a classic warm-up game in which performers name an action they are doing that is entirely different from what they are physically doing. The game trains performers to generate disconnected ideas simultaneously, warming up the ability to hold multiple realities at once.
Structure
The Mime
One performer begins miming a simple, clear action: washing dishes, painting a wall, playing guitar.
The Question
Another performer asks: "What are you doing?"
The Contradiction
The performing answers with any action except the one they are doing: "I'm flying a kite." They do not stop their current mime.
The Transfer
The questioner begins miming the action just named (flying a kite). The original performer asks: "What are you doing?" The cycle continues.
Speed Round
Once the group has the pattern, speed is added. The game becomes a rapid-fire chain of contradictions.
How to Teach It
Objectives
What Are You Doing develops the ability to hold one reality while generating another. This split attention is foundational to improvisation, where performers must simultaneously act and be aware of the scene, their partner, and the audience.
How to Explain It
"Mime an action. When asked what you are doing, name any action except the one you are doing. Do not stop miming. The person asking starts miming your named action and we continue."
Common Pitfalls
Participants often name actions similar to what they are doing, especially under pressure. The more different the actions, the better the game.
How to Perform It
The Mime Rule
The mime must be clear and sustained. If the performer stops miming when asked, the game loses its comic logic. The humor comes from the gap between the visible and the named.
The Speed
In the fast version, the game becomes about not thinking. The goal is to name something, anything, that is not the thing being mimed. Self-editing kills the rhythm.
Worth Reading
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Related Games
What’s Going On?
What's Going On is a short-form game in which one performer leaves the stage while the remaining performers establish a unusual or specific activity. When the absent performer returns, they must identify what the group is doing through context, observation, and questions, with the group answering truthfully but not giving the activity away directly.
Helping Hands
Helping Hands is a short-form game in which one performer stands in front of another and extends their arms through the front performer's sleeves or from behind, so that the back performer's hands serve as the front performer's arms. The front performer speaks and reacts while the back performer's hands gesture, handle props, and physically enact whatever the scene requires. The dissonance between speech and gesture -- and the unpredictable behavior of the "helping hands" -- generates the game's comedy.
Action Charades
Action Charades is a timed team guessing game in which one player mimes a short list of verbs while teammates try to identify all of them before time runs out. The actor can choose the order of the verbs, so the game is not just about mime skill. It also trains quick tactics, persistence, and team problem-solving under pressure.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from What Are You Doing.
112 Acting Games (Levy)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). What Are You Doing. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/what-are-you-doing
The Improv Archive. "What Are You Doing." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/what-are-you-doing.
The Improv Archive. "What Are You Doing." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/what-are-you-doing. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.