"Yes, and...."

Son-in-law and intergenerational theater advocate Tom was pretty much insistent on our playing the game "Yes, and..." during our week at Esalen. The game, which I found on a website called "Sheer Idiocy," goes like this:


Yes, and...

Number of actors: 2 Not usually a performance game, can get a relationship or setting, but usually start with nothing.

How it works: After the first line, every line of this scene must start with "yes, and". This is an exercise in accepting offers, you should never deny anything in improv and always try to further the scene. By saying yes, and you are forced to accept what the other person said and move on from that point. One rule is that you can't ask questions. Also, never say "yes, and" and then turn around and deny it later in the line.

Tips: Always come up with something new in each line, don't just repeat what the last person said or comment on how you feel about it. "Yes, and I saw you do that and I didn't like it" is not as good as "Yes, and that was my mother you actually ran over. The funeral was yesterday."

Apparently, it's not just a game, but a philosophy, and, for improvisational theater, and life itself, a fundamental one, at that. A philosophy of listening and inclusion spelled out in a book called "Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation"

So central is this concept to the art of improvisation that a website for improvisational actors is called "YESand.com"

Is the idea of "yes, and..." so profound? Yes, and it's as profound for the rest of us as it is for amateur and professional improvisationalists. Yes, and the key is that it always begins where the other person left off. Yes, and that's the key to the heart of any relationship.