4 days.
14 amazing workshops.
Enough shows & jams to fill your soul.
Come along and meet everyone you'll be playing with over the next few days. We are opening up the theatre space to all workshop attendees and performers!
A welcome toast from festival director Lauren Berning, live music and ceilidh from Fiddle & Foot, t-shirt printing station, and a lot of fun!
Delighted to announce that Yardley Brother's is our official beverage partner for the event.
Let's play some games together! Join us to play a few improv games to kick off the weekend hosted by the fabulous Bala.
Free to attend if you have a ticket for a workshop or performing a show over the weekend.
The teachers from the festival are putting on a show! Come and enjoy scenes of laughter and delight.
Free to attend if you have a ticket for a workshop or performing in a show over the weekend.
Hellena Jang
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she/her
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South Korea
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IMFROG
Discover the heart, secrets, and drama that make K-dramas so addictive.
Step into the world of Korean drama — where emotions run deep, relationships twist, and every glance could change everything. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create bold yet truthful characters and explore longform scenework infused with the heightened emotion, cinematic tension, and humor of K-dramas.
We’ll dive into classic K-drama dynamics — all while grounding our play in truth. Expect heartfelt monologues, delicious tension, and just the right amount of kimchi slapstick.By the end, you’ll have the tools to build layered characters, drive emotional narratives, and bring that signature K-drama flair to your improv scenes.
Isaac Droscha
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he/him
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USA & HK
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TBC Improv HK
Does the phrase "Sing about it!" strike fear in your weary heart? You're not alone. This workshop is for anyone who goes silent in the shower or breaks into a cold sweat at the thought of singing onstage, but would like to give it a go!
You'll discover that musical improv isn't about having a "good" voice. It's about commitment, storytelling, and finding freedom in the melody. Through playful exercises and zero-judgement exploration, we'll explore how to find the confidence to sing on stage and even, possibly, just maybe, learning to enjoy it as well.
Edit May 2026: Please note the teacher for this workshop has been updated —thx!
Balasree Viswanathan
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she/her
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India
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Do you ever want to do scenes that are completely "No-But" and still make deep, meaningful and realistic connections on stage? It's more than possible. Time for the "Yes-And" training wheels to come off. And where better to do it than at the Yes And festival?
In this workshop, you'll explore how conflict, resistance and disagreement can actually deepen relationships and create richer scenes.
Expect bold scene work, surprising discoveries, and permission to challenge everything you thought improv had to be. By the end, you'll have practical tools to embrace conflict authentically and create moments that feel really human, and not just relentlessly positive.
Matt Folliott
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he/him
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Canada
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The Second City
Big, bold, unapologetic choices are the cornerstone of a good improv scene. So how can we set ourselves up for success and maximize our offers when the pressure is on?
In this workshop, you'll learn how to maximize offers on stage and push past the safe and predictable. Expect playful provocation, supportive challenges, and permission to surprise yourself. You'll come away with practical tools to make bolder choices.
Take your improv to the next level and see for yourself how fortune favors the bold when you're encouraged to push the limits of what you thought was possible in an improv scene.
Join a jam and play some improv games, led by the fabulous Karl Echaluse.
Two Improv Shows. One Unforgettable Night.
Act 1. Grace Under Fire (Singapore)
Noble House takes the essence of real people from the audience and places them in a fictional world. In one room, five characters navigate deep tensions and relationships inspired directly by you.
Act 2. Crocodile Paws (Finland)
Sara and Kaisa concentrate on honest reactions & variety of characters. They will dive into the deep end and see where improv will take them.
Act 1. Sorry Not Sorry
(Hong Kong)
A high-energy multilingual improv show blending English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Expect fast games, Hong Kong references, and big laughs—no matter what language you speak.
(Hong Kong)Act 2. TBC Improv HK A fully improvised adult puppet show. Fluffy characters. Filthy minds. Zero script.Watch a cast of felt-faced weirdos sing, scheme, and get into trouble no puppet should. Wild, woolly, and definitely not for kids.
(Boston, USA)A dynamic two-person longform improv set, diving into unscripted storytelling, character-driven scenes, and surprising emotional twists — all created on the spot. Fast, fearless free-form improv. No script. No structure. One-of-a-kind comedy every night.Act 3. Big Bang Improv
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Kaisa Kokko-Palmer
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she/her
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Finland
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Impro Helskinki
What is your body could lead the scene before words even enter the picture?
In this workshop we'll be using Viewpoints, a technique developed by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau to be the drawing point for improvisational theatre. You will get to explore the possibilities of time (tempo, kinesthetic response, duration, repetition) and space (spatial relations, shape, gesture, architecture, repetition) in creating theatre, and apply these to scene work, stage pictures, character development, and storytelling.
Expect to move a lot, think with your body, and surprise yourself with what emerges. By the end, you'll have a new spatial awareness and ability to approach improvisation as a full-body art form.
Karl Echaluse
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he/him
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Philippines
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SPIT
We’ve all been there: scenes where we’re stuck in a non-stop argument that seems to be going nowhere! Talking heads in an endless loop.
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to navigate conflict in scenes with a focus on deepening the relationship, moving the story forward, and discovering the truths of the scene rather that two people yelling at each other in a loop.
The aim of this workshop is to learn techniques that make our improvised fights intentional, meaningful, and fun instead of stressful and torturous.
Matt Folliott
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he/him
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Canada
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The Second City
What if every scene you started felt like a gift instead of a guessing game? If you start your scene with strong, clear offers, then you’re setting yourself up for success, period. This workshop is designed to banish the "blank stage" anxiety by exploring the diverse toolkit of initiations at your disposal. We will dive deep into the various ways to platform your scene so you can get past the setup and straight to the fun.
Through targeted drills and scene work, you’ll learn how to create clear, playful, and interesting foundations that give your partner everything they need to succeed. We’ll practice physical, emotional, and verbal starts that establish "who, where, and what" instantly, allowing you to take a huge step back from initiating your scenes with a generic “hey.”
Balasree Viswanathan
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she/her
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India
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The Adamant Eves
We all have masculine and feminine energies within us — but playing feminine or femme characters has too often been reduced to tropes and punchlines.
You'll explore in this workshop how the feminine can help you uncover your innate intuition, allowing you to play characters that are nurturing, gentle, warm and empathetic. That's without being pushovers or one-dimensional.
Let's call in your feminine powers onstage (and maybe off?) to explore how you can play subtler and more nuanced
characters. All genders welcome in this workshop!
Hellena Jang
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she/her
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South Korea
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IMFROG
Language barriers can be a daunting hurdle to getting up on stage for the first time, and may even scare people from performing altogether! Hellena was once like that and now leaps above the language barrier to standing ovations!
In this workshop, you'll discover how to leap above the language barrier and communicate powerfully to perform in a language that you’re not 100% proficient in. Hellena will share all her tips and techniques through fun exercises that can help scare the language jitters away.
With some practice, you too can communicate purposefully on stage.
Kaisa Kokko-Palmer
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she/her
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Finland
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Impro Helskinki
Warm up games in improvisation are there to open your body and mind to play. Ideally they bring people together, have them connect with each other and bring everyone to the world of curious creativity.
In this workshop we will do warm up exercises for the whole 3 hours. You read right! Boring? Not even a little bit! Useful? More than you can imagine!
Good warmup exercises contain every aspect of improvisational theatre, and we are going to recognise, deepen and explore these aspects to make us better improvisers! Expect to play, enjoy, learn, laugh, get emotional, stretch as an actor and take home a deeper understanding of warm up exercises and the lessons these exercises hold!
Join a jam and play some improv games, led by the fabulous Hellena Jang.
Act 1. The Sick Sense (India)
Twin Realities. An improvised movie.
Act 2. Pamana (Philippines)
Boldly Go Beyond. A Filipino sci-fi improv voyage through the stars, where exploration meets heritage, found family, and the quiet ache of finding your way back home.
Act 1. Rooftop Improv (Hong Kong)
Rooftop's Greatest Hits. A sharp, high-energy shortform improv set packed with quick games, punchy scenes, and audience-driven laughs.
Act 2. Improv Lore (India)
Reincarnations. Reincarnations: an improvised journey weaving Indian myths, folklore, gods, spirits and living emotions into one flowing story.
Act 3. Friend of Friends (Global)
A Second City Directed Compilation. Led by workshop teachers Matt Folliott, Hellena Jang, and Karl Echaluse they will direct a combo show with the various talents who've gathered for the Yes And festival.
Karl Echaluse
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he/him
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Philippines
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SPIT
Stuck in your improv comfort zone? We sometimes end up with patterns we fall back on - characters or choices that feel like safe moves, but keep our scenes predictable.
It's time to take the leap! In this workshop we'll explore different improv paths you rarely take by being inspired by others. Get ready to use expanded improv principles like the obvious/non-obvious, and 'use everything' to break free from your improv usuals.
Maybe you'll see that the next best thing might just be the best choice after all!
Isaac Droscha
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he/him
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USA & HK
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TBC Improv HK
This workshop is for total hams. You love to sing on stage and you might even be amazing at it. So LET'S GET EVEN BETTER!
In this workshop we are not going to pussy-foot about coming in late, we are not going to be overlooking meaningless verses and we are most definitely going to be working on CHORUSES WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS THE WORDS.
No more messy sing-a-longs on stage, kids! We're going to drill the details, perfect our pitches and maybe even tell a meaningful story, all while singing like the world is watching.
Act 1. Hippo & Me (Hong Kong)
Futures. Ever wondered how life could have been different if you'd taken that job, went on that blind date, or brought those seven adorable puppies home from the rescue centre? Hippo and Me will show you how!
Act 2. Imaginary Museum (Italy)
The exclusive itinerant gallery has finally arrived in your town!
You name artists who never existed, and then enter their only exhibition. Paintings come alive, their secrets revealed. Be a witness!
Matt Folliott
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he/him
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Canada
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The Second City
Purposeful unique staging is the way to make your scenes stand out and grab the audience's attention. The theater or spaces we perform in are our playgrounds and we should use all available space to create meaningful, funny and emotional improvised theatre.
With a focus on creative approaches to staging your scenes, we will look at numerous distinct ways improvisers can position themselves in their performance space and develop our own
original, exciting approaches to staging. Let’s keep our performances fresh and cutting-edge with captivating staging
Kaisa Kokko-Palmer
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she/her
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Finland
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Impro Helsinki
This workshop is like going to the gym for formats and edits. We will go through many different, simple, complex, interesting, beautiful, theatrical and clever edits to enhance one of the most important tools for improvising! In the same way we will dive into many different improv formats - both widely and less known - to develop our understanding, knowledge and skills as well rounded improvisers.
We will cover physical, heady, structured, abstract, story forward and thematic formats. We’ll also experiment with how edits shape rhythm, emotion, and storytelling in different formats — giving you the confidence to step in, shift energy, and heighten the overall arc of an improvised performance. During the workshop, we will work on both technical and artistic aspects of edits and formats. We will cover a lot of ground during the workshop and you will walk away with a lot of notes you can share with your own ensemble and thus continue the work at home.
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The festival finale! We've loaded the show with surprises, and a finale jam.
Get ready for a high-energy night of live improv at The Fringe, featuring international improv performers, a massive jam, and surprises in one jam-packed evening presented by the Yes And Hong Kong International Festival.
Expect fast-paced comedy, bold choices, and completely unscripted performances. No scripts. No safety net. Just pure, in-the-moment creativity.
Your festival director Lauren Berning will lead us in an epic jam - come and play with us.
After all the worksops, shows, jams and great times, we're finishing the festival with a bang!
Stick around for kickass live music from one of Hong Kong's own: the fantastically hilarious avant-garde comedy-electro-rock-punk multi-instrumentalist JUNK!
