Yes...and
[Music]
we
theater people are very familiar with
the term yes
and it is a staple for teaching
improvisation
for building upon a scene with a partner
yes and can stretch so much farther than
creating a scene
it can open the doors for exploration
collaboration and inclusion
to see that in action i want to tell you
about danielle
who is a dear friend an actor and
someone i’ve worked with for many years
in her words danielle battles with
cerebral palsy
she says those words make her sound like
a warrior
nine years ago collab came into
danielle’s life
co-lab is a non-profit organization that
offers
individuals with developmental
disabilities a creative and social
outlet through
theater arts here is danielle telling
her story
program at monday they made me
say wow i can’t really
do this because i honestly
always wanted to let but
as i die older because of my feet
impairment i was like i
i wouldn’t be a good actor
but when cola came out
like maybe i can’t do this
yes and danielle did do this
collab which stands for creative
opportunities without limits and
boundaries
not only told danielle yes but yes and
and she has become and now is an actor
danielle has delivered countless
punchlines that leave our audience
laughing
she has played a sentimental old lady on
a subway
and danielle’s performed professionally
at the queen’s theater in a midsummer
night’s dream
she is a part of our collab leaders
program where she works with our youth
ensemble
and new actors with developmental
disabilities by providing one-on-one
support
leading warm-ups and modeling theater
exercises
danielle as she says is still learning
as she goes
but what she said in that video quote
as i got older because of my speech
impediment
i was like i didn’t think i’d be a good
actor
end quote danielle was told
no you can’t perform you
can’t be an actor
and like danielle i wanted to be an
actor i got good roles in high school
and i had taken voice lessons for years
i got accepted into syracuse
university’s drama program
and i was psyched to eventually be on
broadway when i got to the program
it was intense hours of relearning
every bone and muscle in your body in
the movement classes
breathing just breathing for hours
without ever saying a word
and relearning your instincts and
breaking down barriers while you’re
trying to deliver lines and emotion
through a character
i realized acting was a lot harder than
my high school plays
and like danielle i was told i wouldn’t
be a good actor
my first professor in my first class
said
you’re uninteresting
in private office hours with another
professor
you’ll never be an actor you seek too
much validation from other people
after finishing a monologue i’d been
working on all semester
your accent is to midwestern
and after i finished playing stella in
an emotional scene from streetcar named
desire
you need to lose weight
i didn’t like that one
now alongside these acting classes
i was introduced to a program on monday
nights called young actors
where drama majors would work with
people with developmental disabilities
from the community
and create a show and
every class would start with a dance
party
some pop music would play and folks
would come in and catch up on the week
and then
the final song summer nights from greece
people would partner up and one person
would be a danny another person would be
a sandy
and we’d all belt out those final notes
the sahara
nights and we’d all be reaching our
hands out wide like we were performing
for a broadway audience
and it didn’t matter who was off key it
didn’t matter if a boy was playing sandy
and a girl was playing danny
and it it didn’t matter if you’d ever
gotten a lead before in your life
we were all there to say yes and to the
spontaneity of the moment
to the joy radiating around the
classroom
and to each other’s choices
the contrast of the negativity and the
no’s in the acting classes
and the positivity and yes ands of these
monday nights at young actors
started to eat at me as these two ideas
were pulling against each other
i remember being outside the theater
with a friend crying and just
confessing i just want to use theater to
help
people and i realized i could say
yes and to that idea and switch my
thinking
acting could become a hobby and this
theater with people with developmental
disabilities can become
a career with that spirit in mind
right after college some theater friends
and i moved to new york city
and started collab and as you can
imagine at the beginning we were told no
a lot we were told no by
feeders that already had an access
program we were told no
by disability agencies that already had
a theater program
and we were told no by funders who just
wanted us to have some more experience
so we had to say yes and to ourselves
we made a website a logo made up the
name over margaritas
and just one funder said yes and
and with that we create rented space and
created a class
with 13 people with developmental
disabilities
danielle was in our second class
and over the last 10 years collab has
said yes and a lot
it is a staple for how we create our
ensemble in our shows
we work with actors like danielle and
actors with a range of developmental
disabilities
in a collab class you might see one
actor communicating
with a device powered with her eyes
you might see another actor running
around the stage instead of ever saying
a line
and you might see another actor taking
center stage singing
opera after not speaking for months
the actors are told yes you’re welcome
here
and we will work with whatever you bring
into the room
so frequently they are like danielle’s
story
they are told no or worse be quiet
or worse hands down stop flapping
when we create inclusive yes and spaces
everyone is given permission to be
themselves
to share creative ideas and
to collaborate with others
and that can lead to some awesome
products like a collab show
i’m going to show you another clip in
this clip it starts with a brightly
colored block falling on a factory floor
and the workers our ensemble of people
with and without disabilities
are going to say yes and to this new
opportunity
art
[Music]
what is that um he’s ours
let’s call it art
[Music]
you can make your own art our own
art
i can make my own art yep
there’s no right or wrong
no need to play
we can make our own art
we can make something great
there’s no right or wrong
[Music]
[Music]
in that video there was a lot of yes and
happening
the actors created the choreography some
of the lyrics
and the character profiles then a
writing team that created the book
music and lyrics says yes to those ideas
and then creates a full script and score
that is then rehearsed and performed by
our actors in the ensemble
as danielle says she is still learning
as she goes
as am i but we both agree that when we
say
yes and to new opportunities and ideas
we end up learning creating and
celebrating ourselves and
each other thank you tedx broadway for
letting me share my story
and to those of you watching and
listening next time we hear ourselves
saying no
to a new idea no to a new opportunity
or no to connecting with somebody who
might be different than us
what if instead of that no we said yes
and