Continuing Emotions
Continuing Emotions is a scene game in which performers cycle through a series of emotional states at the direction of a caller. Each emotional shift must be justified within the scene's reality rather than simply displayed, with characters finding a reason to feel the new state given what has just happened. The game trains emotional range, commitment, and the ability to sustain scene logic through rapid change.
Structure
Setup
Two or more performers begin a scene from an audience suggestion. A caller (a separate performer or the host) stands to the side with a list of contrasting emotional states.
The Calls
At any point during the scene, the caller announces a new emotional state. All performers in the scene immediately adopt that emotion and find a justification for it within the scene's reality: their characters discover something, remember something, or respond to something that makes the new emotion specific and motivated. The scene's plot continues; only the emotional layer shifts.
Pacing Options
The caller can work slowly, allowing performers time to develop each emotional state and find its effect on the scene's relationships. Or the caller can work rapidly, forcing performers to make instantaneous emotional transitions that stress-test their range and commitment. Both approaches serve different teaching purposes.
Conclusion
The host wraps the scene when a natural climax is reached or after a sufficient number of emotional cycles have demonstrated the game's mechanics.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Continuing Emotions targets emotional range, commitment to emotional states, and the ability to justify external direction within a scene's internal logic. It also trains performers to let an emotional state live in the body rather than only in the face.
How to Explain It
"You're doing a regular scene, and whenever I call an emotion, everyone in the scene immediately feels that way. You don't have to stop and explain why -- find the reason in the moment. Something in the scene just happened that makes you feel this. The scene keeps going; only the emotion changes."
Scaffolding
With beginners, call states slowly and give performers time to find the physical life of each emotion before calling the next. With advanced performers, call states rapidly to develop range and speed. A useful intermediate step is asking performers to name aloud what in the scene triggered the new emotion; this makes the justification skill explicit before it is internalized.
Common Sidocoaching
- "Let the emotion live in your body before your face."
- "Find why your character feels this right now."
- "What just happened in the scene that makes this make sense?"
- "More specific. What kind of joy? Whose joy?"
Common Pitfalls
Performers who display emotions rather than inhabit them produce technically correct but emotionally hollow transitions. The emotion should change how the character relates to the other characters and to the scene's circumstances, not just how their face looks. A second pitfall is scenes where the emotional shifts become the entire subject, with performers commenting on the changes rather than living inside them.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"Our performers are going to play a scene, but there's a twist: I'm going to call out emotions and they have to switch instantly. Every time I call one, they find a reason to feel it right then. Let's see how many they can handle."
Cast Size
Two to four performers in the scene. One caller (host or separate performer). The host can double as caller if comfortable managing both roles.
Staging
Performers play in the standard scene area. The caller stands clearly to the side, visible to the audience but separated from the scene space.
Pacing
The game benefits from varying the speed of calls: several slow calls allow the audience to appreciate how the emotion changes the scene's meaning, while a rapid burst of calls (four or five in quick succession) creates the comedic chaos the game is also known for. Moving between slow and fast within one scene gives the game structure.
Wrap Logic
The strongest wrap is an emotional state that produces a climactic moment in the scene itself -- performers who find a state-and-scene convergence that lands a genuine beat. The host calls immediately after that peak.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Group Improvisation
The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games
Peter Campbell Gwinn; Charna Halpern
The Playbook
Improv Games for Performers
William Hall
Pirate Robot Ninja
An Improv Fable
Billy Merritt; Will Hines
Improvised Theatre and the Autism Spectrum
A Practical Guide
Gary Kramer; Richie Ploesch
Improvising Real Life
Personal Story in Playback Theatre
Jo Salas
Related Games
Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotional Rollercoaster is a scene game in which performers cycle through a rapid sequence of escalating and de-escalating emotions within a single scene. The extreme shifts test a performer's range and their ability to justify sudden emotional changes within the scene's logic. The game produces high-energy, physically demanding performances.
Emotional Quadrants
Emotional Quadrants is a scene game in which the stage is divided into four zones, each assigned a different emotion. Performers shift emotional state based on their physical position onstage. The spatial constraint externalizes emotional transitions and creates comedy when characters must cross emotional boundaries to interact. The game trains emotional agility and spatial awareness.
Mix Tape
Mix Tape is a short-form game in which performers play scenes that shift between different emotional registers, musical genres, or tonal modes as if a host is rapidly flipping through tracks on a mix tape. Each shift is immediate and total: performers must transition from the warmth of a pop ballad to the intensity of a heavy metal scene to the wistfulness of a folk song without lag or negotiation, creating a fast-paced ensemble exercise in tonal range and rapid transformation.
Wacky Word Wizard
Wacky Word Wizard is a game in which a performer plays a character who has the power to transform the scene whenever they say a specific trigger word. Each utterance of the word changes the genre, setting, or emotional tone. The game rewards creative use of the trigger and the ability to justify sudden transformations within scene logic.
Switch Gibberish
Switch Gibberish is a scene game in which performers alternate between speaking coherent dialogue and gibberish on command. Scene partners must maintain the scene's emotional arc and narrative logic regardless of which mode they are in. The game demonstrates how much communication happens through tone and physicality independent of words.
Dubbed Movie
Dubbed Movie is a scene game in which one set of performers provides the physical action while a separate group supplies all voices from offstage or from the side. The disconnect between bodies and voices generates comedy through mismatched timing, unexpected interpretations, and the challenge of physical performers having to commit fully to words they cannot predict. The game trains both physical storytelling and vocal responsiveness.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Continuing Emotions. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/continuing-emotions
The Improv Archive. "Continuing Emotions." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/continuing-emotions.
The Improv Archive. "Continuing Emotions." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/continuing-emotions. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.