Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has become one of the most influential and renowned in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
The Irrelevant Show was a half-hour radio sketch comedy show that aired on CBC Radio One.
Friday Nite Improvs, or Friday Night Improvs (FNI), was a long-running weekly improvisational comedy show staged on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The show functioned as an improv jam, performed by improv actors who don't normally work together. FNI was unique in that, in addition to the audience's providing improv suggestions, the performers are all pulled from volunteers in the audience. FNI ended in 2014. A student improv group, Ruckus, has succeeded FNI as a resident improv group on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.
Patti Stiles is an actress, director, author, playwright, teacher and improvisation artist living in Australia.
Mark Meer is a Canadian actor, writer and improvisor, based in Edmonton, Alberta. He is known for his role in the Mass Effect trilogy, in which he stars as the voice of the player character, Commander Shepard. His voice is featured in a number of other games from BioWare Corp., notably the Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age series. Meer stars as the voice of the player character William Mackenzie in The Long Dark from Hinterland Studio. He also works in animation, providing the voice for several characters in a series of cartoon shorts produced by Rantdog Animation Studios, and the voice of Horse in the Captain Canuck web series starring Kris Holden-Ried and Tatiana Maslany.
George Joshua Christian Dean is a Canadian actor and improvisor. He was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, where he performed in the improvised soap opera Die-Nasty and toured with improv company Rapid Fire Theatre.
Jan Randall is a Canadian composer, singer songwriter and professional musician. He has had an extensive career composing sound tracks, performing original songs, and improvising music for comedy theatre.
Stewart Lemoine is a Canadian playwright, director, and producer. Lemoine was the Artistic Director of Teatro la Quindicina from 1982 to 2007. In 2008 he became Teatro's resident playwright, working on his own original comedies and mentoring the troupe's new writers at Old Strathcona's Varscona Theatre.
Dana Andersen is a Canadian actor, improvisor, filmmaker, writer and director. He has served as director of the live improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, and has been a core member of the troupe since its founding in 1991. From 1995-1999, he co-hosted The Johnny and Poki Variety Hour at Edmonton's Varscona Theatre. His theatre credits include shows with Teatro la Quindicina, Panties Productions, and Rapid Fire Theatre. Film credits for Andersen include Purple Gas, Turnbuckle!, and Stray Dogs. He has written, directed and produced a number of independent films, including Rio Loco, Subplot, Subplot II and Hearts of Plastic.
Rapid Fire Theatre (RFT) is an improvisational theatre company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The Varscona Theatre is a live performance venue in the Old Strathcona neighborhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since 1994, the Varscona has been operated by a consortium of small theatre companies, including Teatro la Quindicina and Shadow Theatre. The theatre is also the home of the nationally renowned live improvised soap opera Die-Nasty. In addition, the Varscona has hosted tapings of The Irrelevant Show, a national sketch comedy program aired on CBC Radio. The Varscona holds over 300 performances and has 30,000 audience members per year. It employs 100 local professional theatre artists.
The Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie were a Canadian musical and comedy group from Edmonton, Alberta formed in 1987. Their credits include numerous stage productions, a television show and five albums.
Mostly Water Theatre is an Edmonton-based Canadian sketch comedy group formed in 2005, consisting of comedians Craig Buchert, Elizabeth Ludwig, Jason Ludwig, Matt Stanton, Sam Varteniuk, and Trent Wilkie. The group has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award.
The word Improvathon is a portmanteau of the words improvisation and marathon and is used to describe and extended performance by a team of improvising performers. The format establishes a group of characters early on, who become part of a continuous plotline. Commonly, as well as scenes which progress the story, performers may participate in musical numbers and other challenges or games. The action is directed for both performers and audience by writers who develop the plot in response. Whilst some performers may take a break at some point during the event, traditionally some core cast members will participate for the entire duration, going one or two nights without sleep. The sleep deprivation reduces performers to their "lizard brain" state, where they become too tired to censor themselves, resulting in a unique and euphoric form of theatre. Many audience members stay for the full duration, sharing the sleeplessness with the actors. In Edmonton, Canada, where the concept was originally devised, it is known as a Soap-A-Thon.
Kevin Gillese is a Canadian actor, writer and improvisor from Edmonton, Alberta.
Ronald Pederson is a Canadian, Métis actor, comedian and theatre director who has worked extensively throughout Canada and in the United States. He has performed at most of Canada's major theatres including The Stratford Festival, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Arts Club, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Young Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soulpepper and The SummerWorks Festival. Pederson is an alumnus of Toronto’s The Second City and has also worked extensively in television and may be best known for his Canadian Comedy Award-nominated work and his three seasons on Fox Television's MADtv.
Caution: May Contain Nuts is a Canadian television sketch comedy series, which premiered on APTN in 2007. Created by the Edmonton-based stage comedy troupe Blacklisted, the series focuses partially but not exclusively on First Nations-themed comedy. In 2010, the series was also picked up for rebroadcast on Bite TV.
Teatro La Quindicina was founded in 1982 Edmonton, Alberta, by Stewart Lemoine at the inaugural Edmonton International Fringe Festival to create comedies for Edmonton audiences. From its origins in the production of All These Heels, the company has grown over 40 years in Edmonton's theatre scene, producing the comedies of Stewart Lemoine, new plays from the company's ensemble of artists, and vintage comedies from the last mid-century.
Guys in Disguise is an independent queer theatre company based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1987 by Darrin Hagen and Kevin Hendricks when they took their first show, Delusions of Grandeur, to the Edmonton Fringe. Guys in Disguise is best known for comedic and drag-based shows and has been credited for "exposing the voices of the drag and queer community to a wider audience."
