The Bag
The Bag is a short-form game in which performers draw random objects from a bag and must immediately incorporate each item into an ongoing scene, finding justification for the object's presence within the established narrative. The objects are typically collected from audience members' pockets and belongings before the show, giving the game an element of authentic surprise. The game trains rapid object integration and the improvisational habit of treating unexpected material as an offer.
Structure
Setup
Before the game begins, objects are collected from audience members: items from pockets, bags, or purses. These are placed in a bag or container held offstage. Two or more performers receive a scene suggestion and begin an ordinary scene.
Gameplay
At intervals during the scene (determined by the host, a third player, or the performers themselves), an object is drawn from the bag and introduced into the scene. The performers must immediately incorporate the object as though it belongs in the scene, without pausing to discuss or explain it. An object pulled out at the wrong moment or treated as a disruption breaks the game's logic; an object smoothly absorbed into the scene's world demonstrates the core skill.
Graeme Belt in Acting Through Improv, Improv Through Theatresports documents a variant in which audience members not only contribute objects but also choose which actors perform and what scene is played. In Belt's version, the audience member who contributed an object selects actors and the actors interview the object's owner before beginning the scene, giving the scene a personal connection to the object's real world. The actors then incorporate the object into the scene they devise.
The game ends when all objects have been incorporated, or when the host signals the scene to conclude.
Debrief
After the game, players discuss the moments when objects arrived as gifts (suggesting an immediate, useful justification) versus moments when objects felt like obstacles (requiring more work to incorporate). The debrief develops players' understanding of how to make unexpected material generative rather than interruptive.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"You are in the middle of a scene. Someone is going to pull an object out of this bag and hand it to you. Your job is to take that object and immediately find a reason for it to be in your scene. Accept it and justify it. Whatever it is, it belongs in the scene."
Objectives
The Bag develops object integration: the ability to receive an unexpected physical element and incorporate it into the scene's logic without losing momentum. This is a practical application of the yes-and principle at the level of physical objects rather than verbal offers.
The game also trains improvisers to treat all unexpected material as potentially useful. A practitioner who sees an unfamiliar object and immediately begins searching for its scene application develops a reflex that transfers to any unexpected offer: a word, a sound, an action by a partner.
Scaffolding
Begin with exercises in which players pass objects around a circle, assigning each object a new identity as they receive it. This develops facility with rapid recontextualization without the pressure of a running scene.
Once players can quickly recontextualize objects, add a running scene. Start with objects that are pre-selected by the facilitator to be moderately incongruous with the scene, then move to genuinely random audience objects.
For advanced groups, increase the frequency of object introductions or require that each new object be connected to the previous one within the scene's logic.
Common Coaching Notes
- "Don't pause. The object just arrived. Tell us why."
- "Use the object. Don't just hold it and keep talking."
- "The object is not a problem to solve. It's a gift to accept."
- "What does the scene need right now? Can this object provide it?"
How to Perform It
The game's entertainment value lies in the contrast between the ongoing scene and the unexpected object. An object that is wildly incongruous with the established scene creates maximum comic tension; the performer who can bridge that incongruity without hesitation or visible effort generates the strongest audience response.
The key failure mode is over-explanation: a performer who stops the scene to announce what the object is and why it makes sense loses the game's energy. Integration should be seamless and confident, as though the object was always going to appear at this moment.
Audience members enjoy recognizing their own objects in the scene. When a performer uses a real object in a way that honors its actual provenance (referencing the person who contributed it, or implying the object's real-world use), the game gains an additional layer of audience delight that pure prop games cannot provide.
History
Graeme Belt documents a structured bag-of-objects format in Acting Through Improv, Improv Through Theatresports, presenting it as part of a Theatresports-style competition format in which audience participation extends to object contribution, actor selection, and scene direction. Belt's version integrates the bag mechanic within a competitive improvisational framework, reflecting the Theatresports tradition of using audience-generated material to drive scenes.
The game's broader logic connects to foundational improv principles about treating props as offers rather than obstacles. Bill Lynn in Improvisation for Actors and Writers articulates a related principle: rather than asking what is in a bag, a performer endows the bag by telling the audience what is in it, assigning attributes and advancing the scene. The Bag game externalizes this as a constraint, requiring performers to endow and integrate real objects they did not choose.
Worth Reading
See all books →
The Young Actor's Book of Improvisation
Dramatic Situations
Sandra Caruso; Susan Kosoff
Improv Yourself
Business Spontaneity at the Speed of Thought
Joseph A. Keefe
Mask Improvisation for Actor Training and Performance
the compelling image
Sears A. Eldredge
The Improv Handbook
The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond
Tom Salinsky; Deborah Frances-White
Impro
Improvisation and the Theatre
Keith Johnstone
Improvisations in Creative Drama
A Program of Workshops
Betty Keller
Related Games
Pockets
Pockets is a short-form game in which a performer reaches into their pockets, draws out real or mimed objects, and must immediately justify each item as meaningful to their character or the scene in progress. The game operates as a character monologue vehicle or a scene-redirecting mechanism. Each item found becomes evidence of who this person is, where they have been, and what they carry through the world.
Bucket
Bucket is a short-form game in which scene suggestions, character traits, or constraints are written on slips of paper and placed in a bucket before the show. During scenes, performers draw slips at designated moments and must immediately incorporate whatever is written into the ongoing action. The random elements inject controlled unpredictability, forcing performers to accept and justify offers that could not be anticipated. The game rewards flexibility, quick thinking, and the ability to absorb any suggestion without hesitation. Bucket demonstrates the core improv principle that accepting external offers, no matter how disruptive, produces stronger and more surprising scene work than relying solely on performer-generated choices.
Props
Props is a short-form game in which teams of performers are given unusual objects and must quickly create as many comedic uses for them as possible. Each use is presented as a brief sketch or visual gag. The game was a signature element of Whose Line Is It Anyway and rewards speed, creativity, and physical commitment to absurd transformations.
Written Lines
Written Lines is a scene game in which performers hold slips of paper with pre-written lines that they must incorporate naturally into an improvised scene at opportune moments. The challenge lies in finding the right context to deliver each unrelated line without breaking the scene's logic. The game rewards smooth justification and the ability to steer a scene toward unexpected material.
Human Props
Human Props is a short-form game in which audience volunteers are used as physical props within a scene, shaped and positioned by the performers to serve as furniture, doors, vehicles, or other objects. The game creates comedy through the awkwardness and absurdity of using real people as inanimate objects. It is a staple of audience-participation shows.
What Happens Next
What Happens Next is a game in which performers build an improvised story or scene through a series of offers, with a coach or host prompting each new development by asking "What happens next?" Each offer is accepted, echoed, and built upon before the next prompt arrives. The game trains offer acceptance, narrative momentum, and the collective instinct to advance rather than stall a story.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). The Bag. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/the-bag
The Improv Archive. "The Bag." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/the-bag.
The Improv Archive. "The Bag." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/the-bag. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.