The "Yes, And" Approach To Theatre Development

A short while ago, I was a member of a TRU panel discussion on Negotiation, Collaboration, Mediation: Minimizing Off-Stage Drama. I found myself opening my presentation with a description of what I call the “Yes, And” approach to theatre development.What is the “Yes, And” approach to theatre development, you ask?It all starts with a quote from Charles Darwin, which I have placed on the home page of my website:“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind), those who have learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”I’ve learned a lot about collaboration and improvisation from the work of Keith Sawyer. In his book Group Genius, Sawyer presents insights from his studies of basketball teams, jazz bands and improvisational acting troupes. While this may seem like an odd group to study, these three pursuits all have one thing in common – in order to succeed, the players have to work with each other in an unscripted manner.For example, improv actors have a rule. You have to take anything another actor gives you. If actor 1 is miming reading a book and actor 2 enters the scene as if both actors are driving cars, actor 1 can’t say “No, I’m reading a book;” instead, actor 1 must say “Yes, I’m driving a car, and . . .”Basketball players don’t get to refuse a ball when it is passed to them. Jazz musicians do not get to ask for a “do-over” if another musician offers an interpretation of a common musical theme which the first musician believes to be off the mark. In both situations, the only option is to accept what is offered, to say “Yes, And.”Now, what does all of this have to do with theater development? All too often, I encounter directors and writers committed to an individual vision of what a piece of theatre should be. I hear writers tell directors that their suggestions are off the mark because they do not coincide with the writers’ intentions. I hear directors tell writers that the writers concerns are too literal, and that the writers need to allow the piece to be interpreted visually if the production is to be successful.In other words, theatre development is mostly about saying “no,” and giving as little as possible on individual visions.How different the world would be if theatre development was about “Yes, And.” If suggestions were considered without concern as to whether or not they will change the original intention of the piece, or create a staging issue, but instead on whether or not the suggestion helped make the piece more accessible to an audience, or more relevant, or just better.A “Yes, And” approach creates the possibility of collaboratively creating a piece of theater greater than any individual could achieve on his or her own.