Gather props that suggest certain character traits or individual hobbies and ask students to develop their own storyline with everyone staying true to their characters. Ideas for character propos include hats, such as nurse’s caps, pilot caps, military caps, berets and baseball caps or other items such as cigars, bracelets, paintbrushes or running shoes. The dramatic situation can involve any location where a wide assortment of people would be present--airports, train stations or department stores for instance. For improvisational work, ask the students to switch props and characters at a moment’s notice.
Use an assortment of props that pertain to a specific setting, such as items in a home or office, items at a sporting event or items at a construction site. Assign an emotion to each prop as well by writing the emotion on a piece of tape stuck to the prop. Present the students with a certain scenario and characters or let them develop a scene of their own based on the props and the emotions. At some point during the action, ask the students to switch props and emotions.
Use patient charts, pill bottles, needles, a locked cabinet, the cabinet key, heart monitors and other medical equipment as well as mops, brooms, paper records, budget sheets and other nonmedical equipment that you might find in a hospital. Create a scenario involving a medical ethical dilemma for the students to develop. Ideas include drugs missing from a listing in a locked cabinet, family members who want to keep a patient’s medical condition a secret from the patient, or an envelope of money suggesting that someone plans to pay a bribe for medicine to use in a impoverished developing country.
Set up a scenario based on a good-cop, bad-cop situation where a suspect is being interrogated for a crime involving props such as a piece of clothing, a knife, a ring and a key. Other props include coffee cups, a clipboard, the detectives’ guns and a two-way mirror. Students take turns acting as the good cop, the bad cop, the suspect and the people outside the mirror such as a higher-ranking office and a witness to the crime.