From Chicago improvisational theater (the Compass Players, Second City, and ImprovOlympic), set out by Keith Johnstone (Impro, 1979) and by Charna Halpern, Del Close, and Kim Howard Johnson (Truth in Comedy, 1994).
A collaboration rule: accept each offer and add to it, holding back the reflex to block, judge, or redirect, so ideas build on one another.
When to reach for it
When brainstorms stall in critique or ideas get shot down before anyone develops them.
How it runs
- Agree that the session is yes-and only; critique comes later.
- Set the opening prompt.
- Have one person offer an idea, good or not.
- Have the next accept it and add something new.
- Continue the chain, then review the results separately.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, Faber and Faber, 1979
- Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation, Meriwether, 1994