The Improv Wiki

Expand Or Contract Exercise

This Exercise hones your judgement of whether the scene needs new elements added to create potential, or whether there's enough already there to make connections.

Making a bigger mess is "expanding"; cleaning up the mess by tying things together is "contracting".

Perhaps a better name is "Goldilocks Exercise".

Too much or not enough?

One player + "audience" of fellow improvisers + spanker. The Player tells a story. At the beginning, you just toss words and phrases out. After your first "too much", then you start talking in complete sentences.

1. Player Asks For a suggestion. The suggestion becomes the current material so far.

2. Spanker asks, "Too much or not enough?"

3. Player answers "enough" if he's got enough current material to move the scene forward by just Yes Anding, "not enough" if the current material doesn't give him enough to play with, or "too much" if there's so much material that he's overwhelmed by it.

4. If "enough", then the player advances the scene by just continuing the premises already established in the current material--keeping within the limits of the reality established so far. If "not enough", then the player adds something new, from out of the blue, going out of the current box (perhaps via Double Word Association). If "too much", then the player Reincorporates earlier material, probably resulting in a Closer.

5. Back to step 2. Repeat until you get a complete story.

Example

Player: "Could someone please tell me the name of a movie that's never been made?"

Audience: "Bobby."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Not enough." (Player doesn't see much fun in just being Bobby.)

Player adds: "Bowling."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Not enough." (Player doesn't see much fun in just being Bobby bowling.)

Player adds: "Capitalism".

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Enough." (Yes, Bobby + bowling + capitalism feels rich enough to lead somewhere.)

Player: "Bobby needed a loan to start his dream business: a bowling alley."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Not enough." (With Bobby's dream spelled out, we don't know where to go.)

Player thinks "Sigmund Freud" and says, "Since Bobby didn't have enough money and the banks wouldn't listen to him, he decided to see a psychiatrist."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Not enough." (No obvious connections to form, better toss something more into the pot.)

Player thinks "potato" and says, "When Dr. Melkinovich greeted Bobby, he had some potato soup cooking on the stove."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Enough" (The scene seems to have momentum, just keep going.)

Player: "Bobby said, I love potato soup. Are you from Russia?" (Something got added naturally, from the material without the player having to deliberately expand.)

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Enough." (We still seem to have momentum, no need to shatter it.)

Player: "Dr. Melkinovich said, Yes, I am from Moscow." (A straightforward Yes And.)

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Not enough." (Ok, now the scene is starting to bog down.)

Player thinks "spiritual" and says, "In Moscow, I learned Negro spirituals, which made me want to come to the U.S."

Spanker: "Too much or not enough?"

Player: "Too much." (It's hard to see where this is leading, but now there is so much material on the table, it's time to contract.)

Player: "Bobby said, Negroes can't get loans in this country, either, not even for simple white folks' recreation. Dammit, I want to run the business, not shine people's bowling shoes. What can I do?"

That's enough of a Reincorporation to end the story. The exercise is done.

Notice how much reality emerged from only the suggestion of "Bobby."