Your brain went blank? Try this scene start instead

Your brain went blank? Try this scene start instead

From Your Improv Brain by Jen deHaan

March 2, 2026 · 8 min · Episode 40

About this episode

This episode discusses techniques for initiating improv scenes, focusing on the question 'where are you?' as a starting point.

Initiating a scene can be stressful at any level, and when your brain goes blank up there, it's easy to panic. In this episode I talk about a simple approach to scene initiations that Will Hines recommends: start by answering the question "where are you?" You can do it physically, verbally, or both, and it gives you and your scene partner something concrete to build on while your brain catches up. Two exercises in this one. The partner version, This Place Has So Much Flavour , has you enter a scene using only physicality and emotion to establish the character of the space before anyone speaks. The solo version, The Garage , has you handling objects in an imagined location and then describing the base reality you just created. This is part of a series on the top of the scene, initiations, and base reality. Resources and downloads: https://improvupdate.com Article for this episode: This episode is part of a four episode series available on YouTube and audio podcast. You can find an article for this episode, and links to the full series on both platforms, here . Newsletter: https://improvupdate.com/newsletter YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/8HXZl0LS7AU Chapters…

People in this episode

Host: Jen deHaan

Topics covered

  • scene initiation
  • improv exercises
  • physicality in improv
  • character establishment
  • base reality

Keywords

  • improv
  • scene initiation
  • Will Hines
  • exercises
  • physicality
  • character
  • base reality

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