Yes, and...

Description:
Students will improvise short scenes, complementing and building off each other's ideas. Students should have some knowledge or experience with improvisation.

Duration:
10-15 minutes.

Procedure:

1. Introduce the activity with a volunteer. You may choose to ask the other participants for a topic or scenario for the scene, or offer one yourself.

2. Begin the scene, and encourage your partner to jump into the 'conversation.'

3. Explain the idea of this activity is that if someone offers something in the scene, the other actor should pick that up, move forward with it, and offer something else. For instance, if the scene is right after a baseball game, and one actor says, “I can't believe we lost that baseball game.” The other actor might say, “I can't believe it either, how could I have struck out in the last inning.” The second actor honors what is offered, then takes it to the next level, introducing new information ( that the actors were players in the game) that his/her partner can keep building on.

4. You may want to give examples of a “No” response. If the second actor's response had been, “We didn't lose it, we won it," he would have discounted what the other actor offered, selfishly positing a new reality.

5. Encourage students to accept the truth of the situation their partner offers and to always keep the scene moving forward.

6. Continue the activity with new volunteers and new scenarios, experimenting with where improv can take a scene.