Rethinking Your Self-Image Through Improv

Step beyond your usual self through improvisational games.

Overview

Through improvisational games, this workshop invites you to try ways of acting and responding that differ from your usual habits. You may discover new sides of yourself and new possibilities for how you act. The aim is not to perform well. What matters is going with the flow and trying something before you overthink it.

📂 Category	Initiative
📌 Keywords	Improv games
🎯 Objective	Discover sides of yourself and possibilities for action through spontaneous self-expression. Notice how fixed ideas about “the kind of person I am” may have limited what you allow yourself to try.
🌐 Language	Japanese and English
👥 Target Participants	Graduate and undergraduate students
🗓 Format	Single session（2-hour in-person）
✅ Past & Upcoming Sessions	Wednesday, December 23, 2026, 18:00-20:00 (Scheduled)
📍 Venue	S6-309A, South Building 6, 3rd Floor, Ookayama Campus
🌟 Recommended for	• People who hold back from trying something because they think, “That is just not me” • People who are unsure how they see themselves • People who want to discover a different side of themselves • People who tend to overthink things before taking action • People who feel uneasy about theater or expressing themselves in front of others • People interested in trying improv
📊 Points	2 points (Points to be awarded to students enrolled in the courses for credits. Please refer to the syllabus for details.)
🎟️ Capacity	12 participants

Main Content

(Tentative)

1. Get comfortable with improvisation

Through games such as Gift Giving and One Word, practice accepting someone else’s ideas and finding words in the moment.

2. Notice your usual self

In pairs, improvise a conversation with only the setting specified, such as an interview or an everyday chat.

With no personality or character assigned, act as you wish and notice the speaking style, role, and actions you choose without thinking about them.

3. Reflect

Consider questions such as “Why did I respond that way?” and “What felt familiar about how I acted?” Notice your assumptions about yourself and your habitual ways of acting.

4. Step beyond your usual self

Improvise another conversation in pairs. This time, try one action you would not normally choose.

If you usually listen, try making a suggestion. If you tend to hold back, try responding a little more openly. The idea is to expand your options for how to act, without forcing yourself to play a completely different person.

5. Express yourself physically

Try activities such as “I Am a Tree” and explore improvisation through movement as well as words.

6. Experiment with a new response

Take part in several short scenes, mainly in pairs, and try acting a little differently from the “usual self” you noticed earlier in the workshop.

7. Final reflection

Reflect on questions such as “What surprised me about myself today?” and “What was I able to do that I thought I could not?”

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Facilitator

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Contact Faculty

Yuri Matsuzaki
📩 matsuzaki.y.77a9 [at] m.isct.ac.jp