Collect a cardboard carton full of props. They can be anything used in everyday life, including kitchen utensils, tools, ornaments, building materials and even unfamiliar objects. One cast member takes a prop out of the box at random and acts out a function for the prop that is different from its typical use---a potato masher becomes a shortwave radio antenna, for instance. That actor then hands the prop to another and she must think of and demonstrate a different function for the prop. The prop is passed along to each performer until everyone has a chance to redefine the object.
Encourage audience participation by asking them to play a guessing game with the cast. The actors work with two stacks of prepared cards. One stack has cards with a different occupation or profession written on each. The other stack has a feeling, emotion or a physical ailment written on each. Actors must randomly choose a card from each stack and then try to convey the occupation and the emotion or feeling that they chose. The audience is asked to guess what each performer's cards said.
Set up three bowls. Fill one with slips of paper that have a type of character, such as an occupation, written on them. In another bowl, put slips with emotions written on them. In the third bowl, place slips of paper on which you've pasted a complete sentence from a newspaper or magazine---one sentence to each slip. Actors must draw a slip from each bowl. They must convey the character and emotion that they draw and must use the sentence as either the first or last line in the scene they perform. Pair two actors together and let them discover a conflict that arises between them because of the kind of character each is, their emotions and the words they speak.
Allow audience members to call out which prop each cast member must use, such as a frying pan or a roll of toilet paper, a line of dialog, such as "There's no one in here but us chickens," and an action, such as hopping up and down on one leg. Each cast member must perform the three elements the audience designates. Allow two or three actors to interact using their audience-contributed suggestions and let them each find a conflict with the others, as well as a resolution to their problems.