We’ve got a bunch of Summer Electives and Intensives. Check em out!
Super Clinic
Mon, Tue & Wed 7-9pm, June 4, 5 & 6
Work on all the essential elements of improv and then put it into practice in a performance at the end of this intensive 3 day program.
Gettin’ Physical
Mon, Tue & Wed 7-9pm, June 25, 26 & 27
Improve your miming skills and non-verbal communcation w/ Marc Rowland in this intensive 3 day program.
Summer Intensive
July 2-6
An intensive summer program for teachers and performers to immerse themselves in the world of improv. 25 hours of class and 1 performance!
Teen Classes
Saturdays 3:30-5:30pm, starting Jul 21
Experience the power of imagination with improv classes for teens between 13-16 years old.
Go to our classes page for more information.
Thu, May 17, 8pm — Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
Improv movie night!!
(English, Pay What You Can)
Fri, May 18, 8pm — Smackdown - Competitive Improv
The Friday main event. 2 teams compete for the audience’s favour and the Smackdown trophy. Fodor’s says, “Their Friday night Smackdowns, where the audience determines the winner, are definitely good for a laugh.”
(English, $8 or $5 with a pass)
Sat, May 19, 7pm — Les 11 Doigts De La Main
Ils n’ont pas tous la même taille et des empreintes bien différentes, ils n’ont pas tous la même fonction et leurs ongles sont plus ou moins faits, mais les 11 doigts ont UNE chose en commun: ils se réuniront ce samedi, sur la Main, pour leur plus grand plaisir et, si mon p’tit doigt dit vrai, pour le vôtre aussi!
(Français, 5$)
Want to volunteer to work the door or do lights and sound and see shows for free? Join the Facebook Group or write us here.
I’ve been into two performers lately. From the title of my post, maybe you can guess which two. They are Lena Dunham and Louis CK.
I’ve been really enjoying Dunham’s Girls on HBO. It doesn’t speak to me very much as a 36 yr old male but it does reach me as an exaggerated version of that searching period of life. Relationships with the opposite sex, relationships with friends and the relationship with one’s self are all on the table for satire and brutal excoriation. The characters are slowly emerging as more than caricatures. There’s a building arc to the narrative with a clear shape that still manages to surprise within the world it has built. I also appreciate the boldness she shows with her body on the screen. It’s both jarring and refreshing to find character humour in a topic that typically uses shame to get its laughs.
Louis CK has been plumbing a similar vein of comedy. No one explores human weakness like Louis CK. If Larry David and Ricky Gervais exposed the top layer of the topic, Louis has dug straight down and shows no sign of stopping. Sex, violence, body, family, love, hate; the rawest emotions have fueled his comedy and his way of recognizing and accepting his flaws seems to resonate. It’s humiliation without the shame.
Both of these artists are exploring honesty about the daily humiliations we all suffer (it can’t be just me, right? RIGHT??). But they both do it with a self-awareness and a self-deprecation that takes the sting of judgment out of it.
I’m still formulating/incubating some of these thoughts and maybe I’ve got some of this wrong but writing it out helps me solidify all this. Thanks for letting me indulge a moment by working through this out loud.
- vinny
