Improvised Duet Acting

Improvised Duet Acting (IDA)

Section 1. Improvised Duet Acting be defined as an improvised acting exercise composed of two students who portray an original scene created after drawing the subject. The scene should establish two characters, a situation or problems and a solution to the conflict.

Section 2. Topics:

a.      Drawing: Each IDA team shall draw three (3) topics from EACH of the following areas: character, situation and location. The drawing sequence may be in any order, but only one area (3 topics) may be drawn at a time. All three areas (9 topics) shall not be drawn at one time.

  • Each IDA team shall draw 3 characters, select 2 characters and return 1 character.
  • Each IDA team shall draw 3 situations, select 1 situation and return 2 situations.
  • Each IDA team shall draw 3 locations, select 1 location and return 2 locations,

b.      Each area (character, situation, location) should be on a different colored paper. The area name and ONE topic shall be on each slip of paper. Topics should be ’generic’ in nature, which require improvisation and not impersonation. For example, proper nouns would not be appropriate topics.

c.       Preparation: The drawings for topics shall be held in a room apart from the preparation room. The chairperson of the preparation room shall be instructed to allow no visitors (or coaches) and to keep students from discussing their topic with others. Actors may not consult either printed matter, notes, manuscripts or other media.

d.      Time Limit: Each IDA team shall have 30 minutes to prepare.

Section 3. Improvised Duet Acting shall not be more than seven (7) minutes in length with a minimum of four minutes. This shall include the introduction. If an official timekeeper is assigned, participants shall be penalized if the time limits are not observed.

Section 4. An actor may portray only one character throughout the seven (7) minutes presentation. No additional characters can be used for the introduction.

Section 5. A brief narrated introduction shall be used in establishing the setting and the characters in the scene.

Section 6. All dialogue must be the original work of the contestants.

Section 7. Stage properties or costumes shall be prohibited with the exception of two (2) chairs and a table.

Section 8. Students shall not repeat nor copy any scene they have previously performed at that tournament. A repeated scene is defined as a repetition of dialogue, characters and conflict structure (This means an IDA team must repeat all three elements to be in violation of this rule).

Section 9. Any schools wishing to experiment with various formats in this event may do so as long as the tournament invitation expresses the regulations governing this experimentation. No students entered in this experimental event may qualify for state festival or state championship competition.