Primary Focus: Overcoming Conflict, Deep Listening, and Positive Justification.
Game Overview
Agreement Scenes is a targeted scenic exercise designed to break the common habit of relying on arguments, bickering, and conflict to drive a scene’s plot. By taking a premise or relationship that traditionally invites immediate disagreement, players are challenged to hyper-focus on their partner’s subtext, actively find common ground, and uncover a supportive relationship within a high-stakes scenario.
Setup
- Players: 2 actors.
- Materials: None.
- The Ask: A suggestion or premise that naturally implies conflict, tension, or a heated argument (e.g., a car accident, a political debate, a divorce lawyer’s office, or catching a teenager sneaking out).
How to Play
- The Loaded Initiation: The actors begin the scene by establishing the high-tension premise provided by the audience or facilitator.
- The Pivot to Alignment: Rather than escalation or defensive blocking, the characters must actively choose to listen, validate each other’s emotional reality, and seek mutual understanding or agreement.
- The Shared Reality: The players explore how two people in a traditionally hostile situation can actually cooperate, bond, or share the exact same perspective on the problem.
- The Resolution: The scene concludes when the characters have fully resolved the situational tension through a unified, collaborative point of view.
Example of Play:
- Premise: Two drivers immediately after a fender bender.
- Player 1: “Look at my bumper! You completely slammed right into me!”
- Player 2: “You are totally right, I was completely distracted looking at the sunset. I am so incredibly sorry. Let me make this right.”
- Player 1: “Honestly, it is a gorgeous sunset. Don’t even worry about it, my car was already a piece of junk anyway. Let’s go get a coffee and exchange insurance info.”
Execution Notes
- Agreement is Not Passive: Agreeing does not mean stripping the scene of stakes or energy. The comedy and compelling nature of the exercise come from the surprise of radical, unexpected maturity and cooperation in a situation where people usually scream at each other.
- Listen to Validate: Listen to what your partner is actually saying rather than preparing a defense. If they accuse your character of a mistake, fully lean into the accusation, accept the reality, and justify why your character did it with absolute sincerity.
- Find the “We”: Shift the perspective from an “I vs. You” dynamic to a “We vs. The Problem” dynamic as early in the scene as possible.
Technical Variations
| Variation | Description |
| The Radical Fanatics | The two characters start on completely opposite sides of an extreme debate (e.g., a sports rivalry) but systematically uncover bizarre, highly specific personal similarities until they are best friends. |
| The Compliment Battle | A situation that should be an argument (like a performance review or a breakup) is played where both characters aggressively fight to take 100% of the blame and shower the other person with compliments. |
| The Silent Handshake | The players are given a conflict premise but cannot speak for the first 45 seconds. They must use purely physical offers and eye contact to reach an unspoken truce before delivering their first lines. |
