I don’t profess to be an expert in improvisational acting. To be honest, I thought signing up for acting classes meant what you see actors doing in movies and live performances The more I dig into it, I am surprised at how much of what I am learning is applicable to “real life”. Correction- not just applicable but amplifies and improves it.
Take the phrase “Yes and” for example. “Yes and” invites conversation and encourages sharing. So much better than “but” , “what if” and “No that’s not right”. When an improv scene starts someone says something and the response should be one that invites further dialogue and advances the scene
Imagine I say, “Today is a great day for pizza.” What is the first reply that comes to your mind? if you thought to reply with “Yes and I hope we can get one with pepperonis on it” you can now start building the conversation in any direction. If you reply with something along the lines of “But I hate pizza” or “But I’m on a diet” you have just put up roadblocks that will most likely stunt the conversation and – if you are in an actual improv scene—slow the scene.
I must admit when I was first alerted to the “Yes and” approach I thought to myself “Yeah, duh!” and then proceeded to sprinkle “but” into my dialogue. Sensible Robin would insert herself and before I knew it I was correcting my scene partner where I was a fashion mogul and he was my arm candy that in fact, he wouldn’t be gorging himself at the gala’s buffet because true galas don’t have buffets. Instant scene killer. No buffets at galas might have technically been true however negating my scene partner’s declaration did nothing to engage the audience, move the scene forward and really just made me look like a Negative Nancy.
And there’s the real learning for real life: Do we build others up or are we busy correcting, judging, etc.? The “yes and” of scene development is a great reminder to encourage, support and promote others in our “real life.”
Speak your mind, kindly—What gets the laughs in improv is the sheer honesty of it.