Maestro
The Maestro controls a series of scenes with a baton, freezing, replacing and redirecting players at will. Players compete to stay on stage by keeping the audience engaged.
About
Maestro is a hybrid short-form game and audience-participation format in which one player acts as a theatrical conductor. The Maestro can freeze scenes, remove players who are not delivering, swap in new ones, change the genre or speed, and redirect the entire scene with a gesture. It is simultaneously a performance game and a game about performance.
How to Play
- 1
One player is elected Maestro and stands to the side holding an imaginary or real baton.
- 2
Two players begin a scene from a suggestion. The Maestro may call changes at any time.
- 3
Freeze: everything stops. The Maestro removes one player by tapping them with the baton and replacing them with someone new.
- 4
The Maestro can also change genre, speed, or emotional register by calling it aloud.
- 5
Players voted off by the Maestro wait at the side. The most compelling player at the end wins the title of Maestro for the next round.
Variations
- -Audience Maestro: the audience holds cards and votes on when to freeze and who to replace. Democratic Maestro: any player on stage can call a freeze.