Improv-ing to a Win-Win World

by Mary Pat Champeau, IHE's Director of Education

We have started incorporating improvisational comedy into our trainings at the Institute for Humane Education. We usually do quick improv games as warm-ups at our Summer Institutes. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that we have one staff member who takes improv classes regularly and another who is a playwright/actress and they both love the form. Their appreciation has spread to the rest of us. The second reason is our realization that we, as educators, have a lot to learn from improv, and it seems worth practicing some techniques. Good improv requires full and spontaneous cooperation, deep communication, active listening, living in the present moment, a wide range of knowledge on many topics and a great sense of humor and fun from everyone involved. It welcomes lots of input from the audience. It reminds us that we are part of a group with a collective purpose, we must pay attention to those around us, and part of our job is to help make everyone else succeed. We don't compete with our fellow actors, we partner with them, wholeheartedly.

At our Summer Institute, one of the warm-ups we do is called "Yes, and..." It derives from the basic rule in improvisational comedy that no matter what happens on stage, no matter how ridiculous the skit becomes, you keep going with it: internally you say "Yes! And…" For example, if someone says, "Don't you remember me? I'm your brother from Pluto!" You mustn't say "What are you talking about? You're not my brother, and nobody lives on Pluto!" Rather, you must say: "Pluto has been good to you, Bob. You look much taller than the last time I saw you, and mother will be relieved to see you shaved your beard," or something like that. You accept what the person is saying (Yes!) (And) then you add to their story with your own creative idea.

This short improv game can help us think about issues and challenges in a both/and way. We're not looking for a debate, an either/or situation where one side wins and the other side loses. We're looking for teamwork, a cooperative process that results in a win-win.

One of the exercises in our online course, Teaching for a Positive Future, asks participants to approach a contentious issue as an opportunity to practice "Both/And" thinking -- a great opportunity to improvise, cooperate, and work toward a win-win for all.

A student in a previous session of Teaching for a Positive Future shared this quote, which I would like to repeat here: "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." ~ Albert Pike

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