Heroic Improvisation in the Philippines - Frequently Asked Questions!

My collaborator -- Gabe Mercado -- pasted these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Facebook.  This is how much progress we have made in 7 days....whew!

Our fast prototyping of Mary's Heroic Improv program is exhilarating. We are learning so much as we roll out and rapidly fine tune the program.

We are doing 4 runs to various communities over the next 4 days, with 8 more runs scheduled in the days after that directly to the Haiyan hit communities.

Here's a FAQ I prepared regarding the program

FAQs about HEROIC IMPROVISATION

1. What is Heroic Improvisation all about?

It's a process that was created to help citizen groups prepare for unpredictable and unimaginable disaster and emergency situations by learning group improvisation skills.

The workshop invites the participants to know the steps of the Heroic Improvisation process and allows them to experience the dynamics of fluid leadership, quick decision making and moving efficiently as a group through improvisational theater exercises and disaster simulations.

2. Who developed the Heroic Improvisation process?

Dr. Mary Tyszkiewicz, a disaster research professional based in Washington DC developed the process. Her many years of experience working with FEMA, the Homeland Security Institute and the US Congress and her recent work with Hurricane Sandy and the FEMA Corps resulted in the creation of the Heroic Improvisation process.

Gabe Mercado is her partner in the Philippines. Gabe is the founder and Artistic Director of SPIT, the premiere improvisational theater company in Manila and is a trainer with over a decade of experience in human and organizational development.

Mary and Gabe met through the Applied Improvisation Network and are working very closely to fast prototype the process with different citizen groups throughout the country.

3. Will it help communities with emotional debriefing, stress release and trauma release?

No. In fact we highly recommend that only communities that have gone through some process of healing take this workshop.

It may in fact produce more trauma and emotional distress because realistic disaster simulation is an integral part of our process.

4. Do I need to be an improviser for this program to work?

No. We made sure that the process will work even if you have never even heard of improv before and have been very careful to simplify the language so that it contains very little theater or disaster research related jargon.

5. Who is the program for?

We've designed this program that we are rolling out in the Philippines specifically for citizen groups, preferably on the barangay level.

It's not designed for decision makers or policy makers although they may very well benefit from the experience.

Any community, in fact, that wants to actively prepare for any disaster could benefit from taking this program as part of their overall DRRM plan.

6. I want my community to experience your workshop, how do I get you here?

Mary and Gabe will do as many runs of the program as they can until she returns to Washington DC on March 5.

Gabe and the rest of SPIT and other volunteer trainers will be rolling out the program throughout the country after that.

JCI Princess Urduja Makati will process your request and handle the logistics of getting us there through sponsorships and sponsorships that we have in place for the Heroic Improvisation program.

We should be ready for a massive rollout of the program by the summer of 2014.

7. How do you pronounce TYSZKIEWICZ?

Say TIZ - KEV - ITCH

8. How do you pronounce GABE?

Certainly not as GAB-EH