Youth Improv Podcast: Yes Because

Youth Improv Podcast

Welcome back to the Dearing Acting Studio Kids Podcast. We promised our Youth Improv students a personal podcast to help them practice improv from home during quarantine. As the coronavirus has shaken the nation, we've been forced to move our classes online. In 13 years of operation, we've never closed our doors and we refused to give up now. Our Wednesday online Youth Improv class was a huge fail forward. Navigating different programs, and technical difficulties we fought through and had a fun class, but it was far below our expectations.

What are our expectations?

Our guardian team at Dearing Acting Studio runs on a belief in the 10x rule. We repeat it day in and day out and the concept is simple. You give ten times the value of what the person is paying for or expecting. The key is to do this selflessly seeking nothing in return. We believe that giving is one of the most powerful things you can do in this world, so we seek ways to help every day. Even though the class technically "worked" it wasn't smooth, organized, and seemless yet, and that is what we shoot for.

What is Yes Because?

Yes because is an improv exercise that helps with building your scene. You might have heard of the famous second city exercise, "yes and" which is what we used to teach. We've transitioned into using because for what it does to the scene. Yes because is a vertical move. What that means is it pushes the scene forward into a new direction, building off of what has already been established. Yes and is a horizontal move. This adds new information to the scene instead of building on what's right in front of you. While they are both great tools, yes because is the foundation for our program.

Teach Me How

Yes because starts with a relationship based statement to your scene partner. For example I might say, "Mom you always make me smile." The second step is agreeing to the information that your scene partner gives you. For example, you would respond by saying, "Yes I always make you smile because..." The third step is giving a logical reason for why the information is true, this is your because statement. For example, "Because we have a strong relationship." From here the exercise continues, with you repeating the latest statement and adding because!