The Power of Play - Playing with a Purpose
An interactive and dynamic fusion of experiential games, theatre impro and lateral thinking exercises to practise your creativity purposefully.
The Power of Play is a high-energy, upbeat sequence of games and exercises that integrates body, mind, heart and soul. The Power of Play doesn't require any previous experience with theatre or alike, it is not role-playing, it rather invites the participants to step into the process as themselves and to surrender to their creative potential.
The Purpose of a typical Power of Play session is to start building community with a group of people, colleagues, partners, etc in a fun, playful and informal manner and to get ready for creative thinking and problem-solving. The Power of Play also enables participants to take home with them some of the simple and short exercises and apply these themselves in their own context.
The Games and Exercises in a Power of Play sequence are inspired by a variety of 'lateral thinking' exercises and built on the thirteen maxims of Improv Wisdom, as discovered and described by Patricia Ryan Madson:
Say Yes, Don't Prepare, Just Show Up, Start Anywhere,
Be Average, Pay Attention, Face the Facts, Stay on Course,
Wake Up to the Gifts, Make Mistakes Please,
Act Now, Take Care of Each Other and
Enjoy the Ride!
Recurring elements of the Power of Play process are:
1) A variety of theatre improvisation games that require participants to think and act out of the box. Games that activate all of our senses.
2) Experiential exercises that in a playful manner explore participants' relationship to each other and to themes such as trust, communication leadership and community.
As an opening session for a longer conference or training course, the Power of Play enables participants to carry some of their personal insights and ideas from the session into the remainders of the conference: a playful and meaningful shift into a creative state of being.
3) Exercises and puzzles that activate and sharpen people's ability to practise creative, lateral and divergent thinking techniques
