Jonathan Jojo Abuan

Background

About Jonathan Jojo Abuan

Shortly after undergrad, a friend asked me to be a founding cast member of an all Asian American improvisational comedy troupe in Los Angeles. I had a lot of fun doing small productions during college so I figured I’d give it a shot and went to the very first cast meeting.At that meeting, I learned that improvisation requires you to make up a scene based on suggestions from the audience, but there are many guiding principles. An important one is the “Yes, and…” principle. This suggests that participants accept what another actor has stated (yes) and expand on that line of thinking (and). The “Yes, and…” principle has evolved into one of my core values in my work, my social life, and my personal relationships. I believe that we benefit by “moving the scene along” (forward our mission, accomplish our goals, solve a problem, decide what kind of pizza to order) if we find a way to add to each other's ideas before we negate or dismiss them.