“yes, and”

old-people-sitting-on-bench-looking-at-h20-1 Our friend Lauren works at a dementia organization and she developed an improv workshop for the folks who walked through the door. Through trial and error, she set up a scenes where two people began on a bench and riffed off an idea they pulled from a hat. She would sit in front of them with that piece of paper so they wouldn’t forget. One pair chose “proud,” which Lauren second-guessed, she thought, ugh, too complex of a concept for these peeps, etc. The “yes, and” rule is basically, you must agree with what your partner says and add to it. It is incredibly difficult to do (at least when I’ve practiced.) It’s one of my favorite things about improv, even more than the jokes, because you’re making something out of nothing. You are kind of wading and plumbing the depths of the unconscious, which I so totally dig and find so moving.

Dementia Woman 1: I really enjoyed that movie.
Dementia Woman 2: I did too.
Dementia Woman 1: Can you believe we raised the lead actor?
Dementia Woman 2: I still remember him as a baby.
Dementia Woman 1: I’m just so proud of him.

That’s it. Lauren’s patients followed the rule, and the next day, they had no memory of it the next day.

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