Improv(e)

"To me YES, AND means don't be afraid to contribute. It's your responsibility to contribute. Always make sure you're adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile." -Tina Fey, Bossypants

Yes, I am brazenly initiating this blog with a post about Improv and how it has changed my life. I am falling victim to so many cliches right now.
I started taking Improv classes at Chicago's historic iO theater a year ago. My interest was piqued and I was eventually roped in by my good friend, Mike, who had been taking classes there and doing comedy for quite some time.

In Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, she says that Improv changed the way she looked at her life and the world. I can't help but agree with her on this as Improv has done this for me.

"Start with a YES and see where that takes you." -Tina Fey, Bossypants

I feel that my confidence is higher now than it ever has been. A central component to this is the following Improv principle -- there are no mistakes. When a "mistake" is made in a scene, it's up to the players to find a way for this to be true in the world they're creating. Where previously I considered life to be a series of careful footings and brilliance in planning, now such precautions and expectations are completely unnecessary. Mistakes are no longer allowed to be road blocks. They simply get woven into yourself like the rest of your story. The end result is even more beautiful because of this.

Amy Poehler's book, Yes Please, is also incredible. There are so many goddamn nuggets of wisdom and applicability. One that has been ruminating inside me over the last couple months is this:

“You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing.” -Amy Poehler, Yes Please

This can be so hard to remember. It can be so easy to feel like thinking, talking, writing, conversing, debating, and ruminating your feelings about things is doing the thing. It's not. Like my good friend Brandon has said {altered and not verbatim], "Of course your brain wants to keep thinking, that's its job." It's our body's job to force action and momentum.

Almost everyone knows the "Yes, and..." principle of Improv. When a detail is added by your scene partner, you respond with the spirit of "Yes, and also this ______." By contributing and not just agreeing, you are helping build momentum into your scene. There is no room for "No, but..." Once something is said, it cannot be denied. What a way to approach everything! What a place of acceptance! I have found there is more room for me when I'm less concerned with trying to repel the things I am not. I have found there is more room for me when I'm less concerned with trying to repel the things I am not. I am also allowed more room to accept others when I permit them the same privileges I have -- Room. Space. Listening. Agreement.
One of the founders of iO, Del Close, used to drive home that if you treat each person like they're a genius, poet, and artist, often they will become that.

This spirit of agreement, acceptance and fun falls neatly into another area of my life-- through my dad's diagnose of early onset Alzheimer's disease. My mom posted this picture on Facebook today and it was ultimately what drove me to writing this post.

So many principles of Improv are present here. These aren't rules to help deal with the real shitty hand your loved one or yourself was dealt. These are guiding principles for a joy-filled, authentic, and encouraging life. May we all find ways to insert these into our daily interactions.