Tag Archives: improv

Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

Posted by Nick Armstrong on June 26, 2018

When we started the National Improv Network in April of 2012 Bill Binder and I set out to connect the improv world like never before. Drawing inspiration from Kevin Mullaney’s Improv Resource Center, we created what is now The Improv Network, a non-profit worldwide site dedicated to the art of improvisation. Our mission has always been to give any theater, festival and improviser a chance to grow no matter what city they were in. That they didn’t have to go to Chicago, LA or New York to get great improv, that they could create it in there own backyard. I’m proud to say, I think our mission has been accomplished. We of course can’t take all the credit, thats the hard work of all the creators out there.

There’s a new generation of improviser coming up that can help see where improv needs to go next and what this site can do to help them get there. Improv faces many new challenges and some more serious issues today. I believe it’s my time to make space and let someone else come in. Someone who has the vision for what the Improv Network looks like in this new improv world. I’m very excited about the prospect of handing this over to the next generation of improviser. Bill and I always said, we should only be its guardians for a bit and let it go. So, for now I’m letting it go, passing the baton.

THE NITTY GRITTY

I will take my leave in December of this year as we try to locate a new person(s) to take my spot. Bill will remain on for now and I will remain on the board with myself, Bill Binder and Jeff Thompson. I will be on only as a consultant going forward. Not day to day operations.

I’M NOT GOING AWAY 

You’ll see me around. I’m going to focus on running Camp Improv Utopia, with a similar mission as The Improv Network, just in real life form, and continue to be M.I.’s Westside Comedy Theater’s Artistic Director, love the community here. I may even write a blog from time to time. Hope you read it. I plan to travel to festivals, theaters and continue to be inspired by the art I love and dedicated most of my adult life to. Time to free up the brain to create new ideas and new things. 🙂

THANK YOU

I want to thank my partner in crime Bill Binder, the Spock to my Capt. Kirk. Bill truly loves improv so much and has done so much for the worldwide community. If you saw the work he puts into the site, the free hours, you’d be shocked. How could someone put all this free time and energy into this? Because they love it. And Bill does. He is the man behind the curtain. If you see him, give him a big hug. He’s also an amazing improviser and teacher and you should never hesitate to have him out to your community. He is truly a visionary. In improv history books, you’ll hear about Viola Spolin, Del Close, but you should be hearing this mans name as well, he belongs in there.

Jeff Thompson – For keeping us on task and coming in and helping us when we needed it most. He’s TIN’s spirit animal. Jeff will continue on and help where needed and we couldn’t be happier with his help and guidance.

To all the Producers, improvisers, creators that have used the site. We made this for you, I hope you like it and keep using it. Thank you for making your festivals, your theaters, your teachers, your students all successful. Thank you for sharing your stories of successes and failures. Information is power and you have all been amazing in helping each other out. To that I say thank you.

GOODBYE, FAREWELL and AMEN…

So I say Goodbye, Farewell and Amen. It’s been a great honor and privilege to help create this resource. I firmly think that sometimes you have to move on in order for something to grow. For my part, I think I grew this as much as I could and am now looking forward to the next improv generation to take over and grow it to where it needs to be today. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and the communities I’ve helped. But it’s time to leave The Improv Network behind and hand the keys over. So whoever you are, please take care of it, have passion and love the art of improv first. Take this site and make it help people however they need to be helped. Let it live in the spirit of what our art form gives. The power of yes, the power of support, the power to change lives.

If you’re interested in taking my role in The Improv Network please e-mail me an essay on what makes you the best candidate and a resume to nick@theimprovnetwork.org and bill@theimprovnetwork.com

What we are looking for:

  1. Must have passion for the art and integrity of improvisation
  2. Must be an improviser (Duh)
  3. VISION: Have a vision, is there a hole in improv? Help fill it. What does improv need? Get it and throw it out to the masses. Find the resources and provide it.
  4. SUPPORT- Have a vision on how to support theaters and festivals in the modern improv era.
  5. Must be okay with working for free – This job does not pay. It’s been my honor to give back more to improv then it has given me.
  6. LEADER – Be someone that leads by example in your community. Someone who goes above and beyond.
  7. Technical stuff – Business Finances with Bill, Report to the Board in monthly meetings, blogging a few times a month or finding bloggers, coming up with new ideas to implement into the site. Answering e-mails to people with questions.

So that’s it. Is that you? Hit us up!

Signing off,

Nick Armstrong

Co-Founder

The Improv Network

 

How to Make Your Improv Theater More Trans Friendly

Posted by Charlie James on June 14, 2018

In improv, we aim to create an all-inclusive community of diverse people who come together to create something that disappears as quickly as it was created. It’s beautiful and by its very nature, those diverse voices are essential to creating unique and dynamic work. I want to talk about ways we can make our community safer for transgender and gender non-conforming people.

I’m a trans and non-binary person, but I’ve been improvising since before I had the language to describe my experience of gender. My understanding of myself has shifted, but in the years I’ve been improvising, few changes have been made in the community to make our theaters easier to navigate for trans people. Most of the changes I’m suggesting are cheap and easy to adopt, but could significantly improve the climate of our theaters. Check cosmetic surgeon specializing in ear surgery in Minneapolis when you want cheap and quality surgery.

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

One way to make your theater safer for transgender people is to do away with “men’s” and “women’s” restrooms and opt for gender-neutral ones instead. A survey conducted in 2015 by the National Center for Transgender Equality showed that 59% of transgender people had avoided using a public restroom in the past year, and that 24% had been verbally harassed or had their gender challenged. That study doesn’t even begin to touch on the experiences of restroom related violence that is all too familiar to trans people. Public restrooms are one of the most unsafe places for transgender people, largely because they are broken down into men’s and women’s – a binary system that best protects those who adhere most strongly to gender roles.

You can instead opt for gender-neutral signs on your restrooms. Some cities already require a single-occupant, gender-neutral restroom in all businesses, but it’s not widely mandated. Instead of men’s and women’s signs, you can replace both with a sign that says “Unisex” or “Both” or “We don’t care. Just wash your hands.” This option works especially well for theaters that have single occupancy restrooms.

For restrooms with multiple stalls, it’s slightly trickier. In some states, it’s required that theaters have both a men’s and a women’s restroom. Heck, some buildings are just built that way. In this case, you could use a small sign near your restrooms to indicate that your patrons should use whichever space makes them most comfortable. Something like: “Presently, our restrooms are labeled men’s and women’s, but we encourage you to use whichever restroom makes you feel most comfortable. If you experience any problems, please talk to our staff. Thank you.” It’s short, sweet, and lets trans and gender non-conforming people know the theater’s management is there to support them, despite unfavorable laws. Avoid language like, “use whichever restroom fits your gender identity” because it ignores gender non-conforming and non-binary identities who don’t identify with either the men’s or women’s option.

Share Pronouns

When you’re all learning each other’s names at the beginning of a new improv class, ask for pronouns as well! Pronouns are just words we use in place of names, so it only makes sense that we would share them with each other as part of introductions. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you could add a place to give your pronouns in your online class sign-up forms – that way they show up on rosters automatically. Just be sure that if someone gives you a different pronoun from the one they listed in their signup sheet, you honor the ones they shared with the class.

Names and pronouns should be relearned at the beginning of every new class or level. This allows people the opportunity to share new pronouns they might be using. Identities change and the words we use to describe ourselves change along with them! All of this advice goes for the formation of new house teams, new staff members, etc. – names and pronouns once again! It’s a good habit to get into.

In my experience, when you ask a class to share their pronouns, at least one person won’t know what that means. That’s ok! I like to say, “Pronouns are the words we could use instead of your name. Like, she, or he, or they.” There are more pronouns than just those three, but that usually gets the point across quickly. If not, you can give an example in a sentence. It’s ok if someone doesn’t understand pronouns or why it’s important. We’re all adjusting to a new culture surrounding gender! It’s rewarding to lend a hand to improvisers who are feeling a little left behind.

Lastly, people will make pronoun mistakes. Teachers, students, staff, audience members. It happens. In my experience, the best way to fix it is to correct them in the moment and move on immediately. No one should be shamed for making a mistake, but it’s also important not to make trans people feel guilty for insisting that everyone honor their pronouns. I once had an improv teacher who stopped referring to me or giving me feedback in class because she was too caught up in trying to get my pronouns correct. I’d rather that she mess up than have my identity impact my experience of the class.

Pronouns Should Be Listed on Staff Name Badges

If your staff and teachers wear name badges, their pronouns should be listed below their name. This prevents people from being misgendered while working and shows your theater’s commitment to gender inclusivity.

Ditch Gendered Terms

Replace “guys” with “folks” or “friends.” Replace “ladies and gentlemen” with “everybody.” A lot of times, especially with English, we’re forced to use gendered language that excludes some groups. This isn’t just for transgender and gender non-conforming people; I’d bet cis* women have felt alienated by these words, too!

Sounds nitpicky? I get it! I grew up in southern California, where it’s routine to call everyone dude, so this one was a little hard for me. Language is inherently gendered. If this switch feels tough to do, it’s because you’ve spent your entire life using language that alienates certain genders. The only way to change it is to start with the words we opt for on a daily basis. It’s tough, but at the end of the day, making your community feel included should matter more to you than cool slang you picked up as a kid.

Sell Gender-Neutral Merchandise

This one’s small, but if your theater sells shirts you don’t need to label them men’s and women’s. Instead, opt for “crew neck” and “scoop neck” or “t-shirt” and “fitted shirt.” Small, but everything counts.

Have a Clearcut Discrimination Policy

When a student signs up for a class or a new staff member is brought on board, they should be asked to sign a discrimination policy and a sexual harassment policy. These policies should be zero tolerance, and should detail the consequences for harassment and discrimination of any kind. You can have a lawyer draft this policy, but if you’re looking for some inspiration, I like HUGE Theater’s. You can find it on their website, and I especially like theirs because they’ve made a clear protocol that allows students and staff to report harassment and transphobia to a third party for investigation.

These are just a handful of ways improv theaters can be better toward their transgender students, patrons, and staff. I haven’t even touched on the world of inclusion initiatives and scholarships. There are a million things to be done, but it’s a start. Thank you for reading and valuing the safety and diversity of our community.

Thanks,

Laurel Posakony

they/them

(See? It’s that easy!)

*Cis is short for cisgender, which refers to anyone who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Detroit Creativity Project Needs Help

Posted by Greg Maughan on February 8, 2017

Detroit Creativity ProjectFor the past several years The Improv Network has made donations to the Detroit Creativity Project as part of their ongoing mission. This program, which places improv classes into the schools of Detroit is an amazing opportunity for children who might otherwise not have access to any arts education, but it is also much more than that. Any member of an improv community knows the power of the work we do on stage and the lessons we learn in class to change our lives for the better. Maybe we learned to be better listeners when we were part of a small college group in the Midwest or went to a big state school in the South. Perhaps we learned to support others as students in a bustling scene like those in Austin, Philadelphia, and North Carolina. If we’re lucky we might even be active in an entertainment capital like New York, Toronto, or London and make a living putting ourselves in the shoes of another character to see things from their point of view and writing or acting that out.

So today, I’m writing to ask members of The Improv Network to consider opening their wallets (or their iPhones depending on how high-tech you are) and consider making a personal donation to The Improv Project’s Generosity Campaign to ​Help Us Grow The Improv Project​ in 2017 by using the best IT experts help.

For the past several years I have served on the board of The Detroit Creativity Project, which is close to my heart because I grew up just outside Detroit and first learned to improvise from one of the DCP’s Founders, Marc Evan Jackson. The Improv Project has taught thousands of students since it began – and the power of improv could not be more clear than it is when you look at it’s impact on the kids this program has transformed. Recently, the University of Michigan studied the effect learning to improvise had on students in The Improv Project and the board were simultaneously thrilled and amazed by what they found. Although the research has not reached the point of publication, researchers found that participating in just ten weeks of The Improv Project led to statistically significant reductions in social phobia and depression – issues that more than half of the students in the program screened positive for at the outset of their participation.

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As we work to expand The Improv Project to reach more students in 2017 by raising $15,000 online we have been offered a generous challenge grant – an anonymous donor is willing to match any contributions made through Generosity until we hit our goal. As of the start of February, we’re just over halfway there and could not be more excited about the momentum we have.

If each member of The Improv Network would c​ontribute $20 today​ we’d easily blow past this goal (and each of your donations would actually turn into $40 thanks to our match).

I often meet students at PHIT Comedy here in Philadelphia who pull me aside to thank me for starting the theater and creating a place that has changed their lives. The stories almost inevitably end with them saying “I wish I had learned to improvise sooner. I wonder how much better my life would be now if I had!” or “I’m one of the older students in my class, and I’m telling you – there college students don’t know how good starting now is going to be for them.”

I understand where these people are coming from, and it always reminds me how lucky I was to learn to improvise in high school, I was able to assist to the Ontario secondary school literacy course, and I think this was one of the things that helped me out the most. When I was 16 and living just outside Detroit I was lucky enough to work with performers from the local Second City franchise as part of my school’s sketch & improv comedy troupe. Learning to improvise gave me a group of friends to goof off with, an outlet to write and perform material about my frustrations with high school, and a set of skills that made me more outgoing in adult life. As an added bonus it gave me something I loved and led me to eventually open the and run my own improv theater near Sacramento.

Who knows – maybe there’s a version of yourself somewhere in downtown Detroit right now just waiting to learn to improvise and have it change the course of their life. Wouldn’t you like to find out? Wouldn’t you like to help? ​Join The Improv Project today​ and let’s see what The Improv Network can do together! To donate please click HERE. Any bit helps the cause.

Spotlight on Improv Fest Oklahoma

Posted by Nick Armstrong on June 23, 2016

The Improv Festival Oklahoma is celebrating its 8th year. I was able to interview them about what their festival is all about.

You’re celebrating your 8th Improv Festival Oklahoma this year. Tell us a little about the history of your festival.

Red Dirt Improv created Improv Festival Oklahoma in the summer of 2009. A handful of improv troupes were active in the Oklahoma City area, and we all decided to put on a coordinated weekend of shows with great improvisors visiting from out of town. We really wanted to raise awareness of improv in Oklahoma as well as meet other cool improvisers.

Over the course of eight years, Improv Festival Oklahoma has grown. Last year, OKC Improv began co-producing the festival with Red Dirt Improv. This partnership has infused a lot of passion and momentum into Improv Festival Oklahoma.

What do you look for in submissions?

Quality improv is number one. Everything about an improv act doesn’t translate perfectly into submission forms and videos, but that may be all we have to review! Ideally, troupe submission forms and videos will give us a good idea of what would be performed at IFO. Usually, a complete submission will give us what we need to decide.

We are also looking to showcase improv that is new to OKC audiences. Short form, long form, musical, duos, solos, ensemble groups, we like to see it all!

What will a team get if accepted?

Each accepted group will get 25 minutes of stage time and a week of early access to sign up for workshops. If seats are available, performers will be able to watch performances for free.

Improv Festival Oklahoma will host an after party each night of the festival. These after parties will be very close to the venue. These will be a great opportunity to eat, drink, and socialize. We love to show visiting improvisors a great time.

Tell us about what it’s like to visit Oklahoma City. What are some great highlights from the city?

Oklahoma City has a lot of great restaurants in Bricktown (very close to the venue), a nice zoo, casinos, and a variety of museums. We’d love to set up some early arrival / late departure group outings to some cool spots.

Will you be doing workshops at this festival and if so who can improvisors look forward to taking?

This year we have a number of great improv instructors including Rob Belushi and Jon Barinholtz.

Tell us about the venue that IFO has

IFO workshops and performances and will be held at the Paramount Theatre in Oklahoma City. This is a nice 50-seat theater near downtown OKC, so there is plenty to do before and after shows. OKC Improv has had great success hosting its recent shows in the venue and has been developing regular improv crowds.

For someone who has never heard or seen the OK improv scene. Tell us what you’re all about

The improv scene around Oklahoma City is full of fun, friendly, and passionate improvisors. On IFO weekend, that is amplified. It’s always fun seeing IFO’s regular return visitors and new faces. With IFO’s single venue and workshop space, we are certain participants will make lifelong improv friends over the course of the weekend.

Submissions are open until July 31st. Instantly submit HERE today!

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West as well as a teacher an alum of The Sunday Company at The Groundlings. He has also taught many workshops around the country.

Festival Spotlight – West Coast Musical Festival

Posted by Nick Armstrong on May 13, 2016

The West Coast has it’s first dedicated festival to the musical improv arts and it’s in San Francisco, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I had a chance to interview the Executive Producer of the festival Gemma Bulos here is what she had to say:

Tell what inspired you to create The West Coast Musical Improv Festival

As far as the Bay Area community, in recent years, musical improv started to get more popular and we just hit that tipping point and all of a sudden it exploded! Where only a few improv troupes were doing musical improv, now every Bay Area improv dojo is offering their own unique voice to the genre.

As far as Un-Scripted Theater Company, musical improv has always been part of the fabric of Un-Scripted. Every year we would have at least 2 musical shows and they were often the most popular. We’ve even done an all-musical season, and have created many original styles of musical improv, focusing on full-length improvised musicals in a variety of genres. Some favorites included A Tale of Two Genres (improvised Dickens genre mashup), Shakespeare: The Musical, and The Great Puppet Bollywood Musical. We’d performed at musical festivals in NY with the Magnet, at the SF Improv Festival, and it felt like the time was ripe to start celebrating our rich musical improv community in the Bay Area and around the country!

What can improvisors who submit expect from the festival?

It’s our first year, so we’ll have lots of local talent, since this may be the first time we all come together as a Bay Area community to celebrate musical improv. And of course we’ll invite musical improv pioneers and welcome national talent so we can share the love!

Will there be any workshops?

Yes, all the workshops will be musical improv. We’ll have national and local talent! Stay tuned! Also, we’re accepting submissions for workshop leaders.

What are you looking for in a musical improv group that submits?

Again, this is our first year, it’s been exciting to start exploring what we want our festival to feel like. We’ve been getting great advice from other festival producers who have been so generous with their wisdom. We’re looking for variety, uniqueness, playfulness, innovation, and fun fun fun! (Not in that order and not all at the same time!)

Tell us about the venue you’re performing in.

The venue is the Un-Scripted Theater just blocks from Union Square! For out of towners, it’s just minutes from the BART, right on the trolley line, and easy access to all the wonderful things our City by the Bay has to offer.

San Francisco is such a wonderful city. What are some things you recommend improvisors do while they’re there?

They should absolutely check out the active improv scene in SF, like our sister theaters BATS, Leela, and Endgames. There are tons of fun touristy things to do, like taking a cable car (leaving from Market St. near the theater and heading to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39), riding a bike across the Golden Gate Bridge, and learning about S.F. history via free walking tours all over the city! Some local websites that can help you find offbeat activities include Broke-Ass Stuart, FunCheap SF, 7×7, and The Bold Italic.

If you’re a musical improv troupe you can submit HERE.

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California, Yosemite and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West and The Groundlings. He has also taught many workshops at theaters and festivals around the world.

Review of the Improvamonium in Rochester, NY

Posted by Nick Armstrong on May 11, 2016

We reached out to our community to get some feedback on festivals. Here is a review of Improvamonium in Rochester, NY by attendee Ron Williams:

This festival was awesome! First, it was free to register. All you had to do was find a way to get to RIT. They put you on the poster for the event, so it makes your team feel super official. After arriving and finding the building (it started to snow on the way up), we were very happy to get 26 minutes to perform a set. A lot of the talent was local, and we were the only team from NYC. The college crowds are very receptive, and it was easily one of the best shows we’ve ever done.

Where to Stay: There is a hotel right next to RIT.

Where to eat: Plenty of bars right next to campus with burgers.

Overall, I’d do it again if the rest of my team wanted to. It was well run and the auditorium was huge (had to be over 200 seats).

 

Consider Teacher Workshops at Your Theater or Festivals

Posted by Nick Armstrong on January 6, 2016

NIN’s year of the teacher was amazing. We created the Teacher Tool which will allow you to submit yourself, for free, as a teacher to a festival and let theaters know when you’re in town so they can hire you if you in the neighborhood…NEATO!  With that said, I’d like to chat with our readers about hiring veteran teachers to come to your festival and/or theater to do teaching or coaching workshops. There is huge value in this. I think we have a responsibility as theaters and festivals to start training the next generation of improvisors to become great teachers and have the tools and knowledge they need to succeed.

A lot of theaters, festivals and communities are still young. I’d say about 80 percent of the theaters and festivals I go to  fit in this category. For theaters, a lot of communities are growing pretty fast and we are basically making teachers out of students or recent alums. I get it, the demand is there from incoming students and you want your business to push forward, but what about the teachers? Teaching is a different art all together. Especially teaching something like improv. Just like improvisors who need training, so do teachers. Sure, you may have to shell out a few dollars to get a master teacher to come out, but your return on investment is going to be huge. The better the teacher, the better the business, and the more chance to have returning students. The better the student, the better the performer, the better your audiences will get because of the quality of work – Trickle-down Improv-nomics. You may not see the money right away, but invest in your theater it will be worth it in the long run. I know some theaters are doing this already and to you guys! YAY! You’re ahead of the game and I’d be interested to hear about the experience. You have to think big picture. I know it’s hard to think that as we try to figure out how to pay our rent for next month or buy more paper towels for the bathroom, but the long game is where it is at and it’s worth it.

For festivals, what a great opportunity to offer this course to your community and improvisors coming into town. We are so focused on the teaching of improv skills and forms, we are forgetting that a lot of these improvisors are going to become coaches or teachers eventually. If you’re inviting a master teacher to come to your festival, have them do an improv workshop, but also have them add an instructor workshop. Why not? You have them there. Again, may cost more, but I feel this is something that would do really well. After all these people are the best in the business and have years of experience in teaching. They know what works with students and what doesn’t.

I want to take a second to thank all the teachers and coaches out there for doing the work and committing to our art form. You’re paving the way for the future of improv. Right now we may not get paid as much as we deserve but I do see a day where that will change and it’s all because of the blood, sweat and tears coming from your passion. So, thank you!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California, Yosemite and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West and The Groundlings. He has also taught many workshops at theaters and festivals around the world.

Guest Blog: Improv is My Therapy Part 1

Posted by Nick Armstrong on December 8, 2015

There is a fair amount of anecdotal evidence on how improvisation helps people. Many of us have firsthand experience on how improvisation has changed our lives and have probably heard similar stories from others in the community. Improvisation is also used in corporate workshops and in drama therapy as a way of teaching skills that are useful for increasing workplace effectiveness or dealing with mental illness. As an individual who teaches psychology and does improv, sometimes I wonder why improvisation seems such an effective tool for improving the lives of individuals. In what I hope to be the beginning of a series of articles (note my optimistic “Part I” in the title), I will begin by discussing why “Yes, And” is therapeutic by drawing comparisons with similar psychotherapeutic concepts.

For many, the rule of “Yes, And” is the first tenet of improvisation that they learn. This phrase reminds us to first say yes, to agree with what the other person in the scene has said, and then show that we are agreeing by adding to that. While the temptation is often to go “No, But”, we learn over time that by saying yes and building something together, we create a much more enjoyable experience for ourselves and the audience.

Our desire to say “No, But” is usually related to control. Studies in social psychology tell us, we are fearful of things that we perceive to be foreign to us (such as the thoughts in someone else’s head), and trusting of the things that we perceive to be from us or similar to us (such as the thoughts in our own head). Improvisation is a frightening experience (as we often forget) in that we are coming to the stage with nothing prepared; this activates our fight-or-flight response and causes us to want to default to our primal settings. Our simple, anxious minds want to stick to what we tend to perceive as good, which is anything that we can control (i.e. the thoughts in our own head). Instead of trying to trust another person, we try to save ourselves. Improvisation teaches us to embrace and acknowledge our fear, but not to be controlled by it.

In psychology, we often refer to people’s perceptions of the amount of control they exert over their lives as their locus of control. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that they have control over their life, while those with an external locus of control believe that their lives are controlled by external forces. To be healthy, an individual should be somewhere in the middle; it is important to be comfortable with not always controlling everything, but also to be aware of what one can control. Individuals with an internal locus of control benefit from Yes-Anding because they learn to accept what they can’t control (by saying “yes”); individuals with an external locus of control benefit because they learn that they have some control over their environment (by saying “and”).

Agreement is not a one-way street; not only are we agreeing with what our partner is saying, but they are agreeing with what we are saying. Carl Rogers, an influential American psychologist, developed the idea of unconditional positive regard. According to Rogers, a therapist should show unconditional positive regard to a patient, that is to say, no matter what a patient shares with their therapist, the therapist should show acceptance without negative judgment of the basic worth of the individual. On stage, we are asked to show unconditional positive regard to our teammates, and that can be very therapeutic. We base our self-esteem partially on how we are viewed by others, and when our thoughts and ideas are supported and elevated to the level of comedy gold, we feel great about ourselves; we learn to trust our ideas. Being yes-anded reminds us that we are valuable, worthy, and wanted. Yes, And teaches us how to relinquish some of our need to control the world around us, to thrive even when we are fearful and uncertain, and to remember that we are individuals of worth and brilliance.

Guest Blogger and NIN Member Jeff Thompson

Jeff has been an improviser since 2002 and has studied at iO West, ComedySportz LA, Second City Hollywood, The Groundlings, Nerdist, and UCB LA.  He is also one of the producers of the Hollywood Improv Festival.

When not on-stage, he can be found teaching psychology, coaching teams, consulting for businesses, or playing video games.