Street Interview

Ask the audience for a news-related theme – perhaps a modern-day issue that concerns them, or a big news item from the past week.

One player is a roving reporter doing street interviews about the suggested theme. The reporter spots and describes an interviewee, inventing interesting details. Players immediately step up as the described characters. The reporter then interviews them.

REPORTER: I see a couple of very young children here – why, they can’t be more than four years old. Kids, can I ask you what you think about the American’s dependency on oil.

SMALL BOY: My daddy put oil on my bike to stop the squeak but then later it broke.

REPORTER: You’re suggesting then that oil is harmful.

SMALL GIRL: If you eat it, you will be all dead and your mom and little brother will cry.

The reporter can spot people of different ages, with various different occupations. The traits don’t have to match the player – it can be fun to endow a large man as a tiny old woman.

The reporter can also have some prior some knowledge of their opinions.

REPORTER: And over here, I see Bill Cherry, head of the local business assocation. Mr Cherry, I understand that you are opposed to the use of oil in all its forms…

You can also identify celebrities (“Well, if it isn’t Donald Trump…”), forcing players into an impromptu impression.

This format comes from Viola Spolin’s Improvisation for the Theatre. (She calls it “Man on the Street.”) It’s a natural way of introducing a range of random characters. Spolin even suggests introducing non-human charactrs. “And here’s a squirrel. Let’s get her opinion on the state of modern music.”