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Yes, and… says I hear you, I see you, and we will move forward together. We will build upon one another.
Yes, and… is about welcoming what the other person has offered (known as “an offering” in improv) and working with it rather than trying to change it into what we think it should be.
Yes, and… asks for humility from the recipient and the acceptance of the unexpected.
Yes, and… challenges us to be in it together regardless of the discomfort of divergent perspectives.
Yes, and… is, for many, a way of living in harmony with what is and what comes into play.
Yes, and… it is no surprise that this deeply human and lovingly sustained art form has Jewish roots in Viola Spolin, the Russian Jewish immigrant considered by most people to be the originator of modern improv. In 2021, the Forward published a story about Spolin in which her son speaks to the Jewish nature of the work:
The values of improv itself can be seen as inherently Jewish: welcoming the stranger, trust, respect, fairness, equality and loving your neighbor. Sills recalls his mother’s sayings in the introduction to “Improvisation for the Theater” — “Theater games do not inspire ‘proper’ moral behavior (good/bad), but rather seek to free each person to feel his or her own true nature, out of which a felt, experienced, actual love of neighbor will appear.”
(Forward, December 12, 2021)
For more than 40 years, I’ve carried a copy of one of her books with me around the world. Reflecting on her words about education – We learn through experience and experiencing, and no one teaches anyone anything – and on the power of improv that I’ve witnessed and shared, I’m delighted to be reminded that, yet again, so much good in the world has a direct connection with Jewish culture, teachings, values, and people.
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