🤹What Are You Doing?

Setup and Launch

• Have the group form two lines facing each other at opposite ends of the room. Players meet in the center one at a time, forming brief pairs.
• Explain the goal: the exercise splits your brain between words and actions, training you out of the habit of narrating what you do in a scene.
• The first player from one line steps into the center and starts miming a clear, recognizable physical action (for example, digging a hole).

Flow

1. The first player from the opposite line walks up and asks: "What are you doing?"
2. Without stopping or hesitating, the miming player calls out a completely different action — one that has nothing to do with what they are physically doing (for example, instead of "digging" — "chopping onions").
3. The questioner immediately begins miming the named action. The first player steps out; the next player from the other line enters the center and asks the same question.
4. The cycle continues at the pace of the group. Each answer must be a new action, sharply different from the current mime. Play until everyone has both mimed and answered at least once.

The most common mistake — especially early on — is blurting out exactly what you are doing. That is the whole point of the exercise: hold the gap between what your body is doing and what your mouth is saying. Do not stop the physical action while you answer.

When someone stumbles (names what they are doing, hesitates too long, or repeats a previous answer), celebrate the mistake. Applaud them, send them off as a hero, and bring the next player in. Mistakes are the fun part — treating them that way keeps the energy up and the stakes low.

Tips

• Commit physically. Big, readable mimes sell the dissociation better than small, vague gestures.
• If the group starts playing it safe with predictable answers ("washing dishes," "reading a book"), push for weirder, more specific actions — "filleting a soul," "teaching a cat to parallel park."
• This is a dissociation exercise at its core. The skill it builds — doing one thing while saying another — directly transfers to scene work where you need to act naturally without narrating your every move.