The Improv Guild - Your Host
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L.A. Impro
Somewhere between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Whose Line is it Anyway? lies Impro Theatre –- a company of classically trained actors who are masters of improvisation.
We aim for the impossible –– high-quality instantaneous theatre that makes the stage a dangerous, exciting place.
We are narrative daredevils, bent on writing and performing in the moment to create a unique show every time.
We believe great theatre is spectacularly unpredictable, filled with memorable characters and rich language.
Rapid Fire Theatre
Rapid Fire Theatre (RFT) is an improvisational theatre company based in Edmonton, Alberta. The origins of the company stretch to 1982, when Edmonton's Theatre Network became the second company in the world to regularly produce Keith Johnstone's Theatresports. Performers from the show formed Rapid Fire Theatre, which officially became its own theatre company in 1988. Since 1993, the company's home has been the Varscona Theatre in Old Strathcona.
Rapid Fire Theatre has received several awards, including a special Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for excellence in theatre. Members of the company have performed across the world, including multiple appearances at the Berlin International Impro Festival and the World Domination Theatresports Tournament presented annually in Atlanta by Dad's Garage Theatre Company.
Vancouver Theatre Sports League
Vancouver TheatreSports® League began in 1980 and is now a local institution and a worldwide phenomenon, producing and staging some of the most daring and innovative improv in the world.
Boasting six International Improv Comedy Awards and starring in several television specials, Vancouver TheatreSports® League first opened their doors at the Back Alley Theatre, where they consistently drew cult-like, capacity crowds. They continue to wow audiences at the New Revue Stage on Granville Island performing to more than 200,000 enthusiasts yearly, 4 nights a week, 52 weeks a year.
Vancouver TheatreSports® League brand of improvisation is a highly theatrical fusion of the dramatic elements of comedy and tragedy coupled with the enthusiasm and edge-of-your-seat excitement of professional sport.
Our improv tournament at Expo '86 provided an impetus for the present worldwide interest in TheatreSports®. The improv techniques pioneered by Vancouver TheatreSports® League are now used for everything from corporate training to TV parodies.
Your host... The Improv Guild
The Improv Guild (also known as The Curiously Canadian Improv Guild) was formed in the summer of 2003. Four improv artists created an actor’s co-operative whose mission would be to create theatrical works using improvisation as both a performance and rehearsal tool.
Its goal is to make Calgary, Alberta the hub of improvisational theatre, where improv actors can practice their art and grow the art form through co-operative projects with local and international companies and artists.
Patti Stiles - Director Quotable Women
PATTI STILES served her theatre apprenticeship at Loose Moose Theatre Company, birthplace of Theatresports™. She is an actor, improviser, director, teacher and playwright. Patti is sought-after worldwide for her work as an improvisation performer and teacher and has had the pleasure of working in Canada, the USA, England, Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, France, New Zealand, Thailand and Australia for numerous improvisation companies as well as The Central School of Speech and Drama (UK), The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (UK), The Actors Centre (UK), Citadel Theatre (CA), Theatre Calgary (CA), and the National Theatre (AU) to name a few.
Patti is the Artistic Director of Impro Melbourne (AU), and past Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre (Edmonton CA), Dream Kitchen Theatre (Toronto CA). Her teaching has been credited as being the spark of inspiration behind the creation of the Spontaneity Shop in London. She is a member (in absentia) of the legendary improvisational company Die Nasty – the live improvised soap opera (Edmonton CA) and is the first woman to have completed all 53 consecutive hours, without sleep, of the famous Die Nasty Soap a Thon - not once, but six times! Patti has also been interviewed for two improvisation books, Something Like A Drug and The Improv Handbook, which includes a dedicated to her.
Patti is a co recipient of a prestigious Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards for Theatre excellence in the category Outstanding New Work for Theatre For Young Audiences for the play Johnny Drops Out A Rock Musical. She has also received three nominations one for Outstanding Direction for Marty Chan's Polaroid's of Don, another for Outstanding New Work for Theatre For Young Audiences for her play If Whales Could Tell Tales, and thirdly for Outstanding Performance in Fringe Theatre Adventures Production of Showdown.
TV credits include Neighbours, Stingers, The Mutant Way and a cameo on the new John Safran project Race Relations.
