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Patti Stiles is an actress, director, author, playwright, teacher and improvisation artist living in Australia. [1]
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She received her training at Calgary, Alberta's Loose Moose Theatre under Keith Johnstone. It was there she worked with Keith Johnstone in many forms of improvisation. [2] She performed regularly in Theatresports, Gorilla Theatre and Life Game as well as performing in Keith's plays, directing and performing in the Theatre for kids program and touring productions.
Stiles moved to Toronto, and was the artistic director of Dream Kitchen Theatre, which produced Theatresports. She then moved to Edmonton and was artistic director of Rapid Fire Theatre from 1991 to 1996. She trained and directed company members such as Mark Meer, Josh Dean, Nathan Fillion, and Kevin Gillese. Her directing credits include The Maltese Bodkin which featured Nathan Fillion (in one of his first theatrical roles) receiving an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Fringe Production.
Stiles wrote her first Theatre For Young Audiences play, commissioned by the Provincial Museum, called If Whales Could Tell Tales. It received an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Nomination for Outstanding Production for Theatre for Young Audiences.
Along with her Artistic Directorship she was heavily involved in the Edmonton Arts community performing for numerous theatre companies, plus the Edmonton Fringe Festival as actor, director and producer of their opening/closing ceremonies.
Stiles was a founding member of Die-Nasty: The Live Improvised Soap Opera (nominated for several Canadian Comedy Awards and winner of the 2006 award for Best Improv Troupe) and holds the record as the first female improviser to improvise 53 hours straight in the annual Die-Nasty Soap-A-Thon.
Stiles lived in London UK for a short period; during this time she worked with many of the impro companies in London. There she trained Deborah Frances-White and Tom Salinsky founders of The Spontaneity Shop and authors of The Impro Handbook, which includes a dedication to her.
Stiles moved to Melbourne and became the artistic director of Impro Melbourne from 2004 to 2009 and again 2014–2019. During this time she wrote her second theatre for young audiences play Water of Life. She tours internationally performing and teaching improvisation to theatre companies around the world.
She authored her first book, Improvise Freely, [3] in 2021. Stiles has performed improvisation all over the world and worked with Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Joe Flaherty, Josie Lawrence, Peder Falk, Helge Skoog, Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt, Peter Spellos, Rebecca De Unamuno, Julia Zemiro, Edi Patterson, Ron Pederson, Dana Andersen, and Alan Cox.
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.
Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges. Developed by director Keith Johnstone in Calgary, Alberta, in 1977, the concept of Theatresports originated in Johnstone's observations of techniques used in professional wrestling to generate heat, or audience reaction.
Donald Keith Johnstone was a British-Canadian educator and theatre director. A pioneer of improvisational theatre, he was best known for inventing the Impro System, part of which are the Theatresports. He was also an educator, playwright, actor and theatre director.
The Improverts is a improvisational comedy troupe from the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, which primarily performs at the Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh. They perform weekly during Edinburgh University's term time and every night during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
BATS Improv is a non-profit improvisational theatre company in San Francisco. Founded in 1986, their unique style of acting-based improvisational theatre is well known in improv circles around the world. BATS is the largest improvisational theatre company and school in Northern California.
The Bad Dog Theatre Company is an improvisational theatre company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and established in 2003. The theatre is eclectic and broad in its production of shows, with a focus on short-form improv, but it has branched out to include the work of other schools of thought in improvisation.
The Loose Moose Theatre Company (LMTC), is a theater company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was co-founded in 1977, by Keith Johnstone and Mel Tonken. LMTC has an international reputation for developing the theatrical style of improvisation and specifically the work of Keith Johnstone. LMTC is the birthplace of such improvisation shows as Theatresports, Maestro, Gorilla Theatre and Life Game.
Jenny Lovell is an Australian theatre, television and film actress, and drama teacher, probably best known for her stint as Jenny Hartley in 44 episodes in the television series Prisoner. She is the daughter of Sydney actor and producer Nigel Lovell and actor and producer Patricia Lovell.
The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is a not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre group in Wellington, New Zealand. It is run by a committee elected by and from its forty to sixty active members. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Rebecca Northan is a Canadian actor, improviser, theatre director, and creative artist. She is known for playing the hippie mother Diane Macleod on the CTV & The Comedy Network sitcom Alice, I Think and for her role as Jane in Adult Adoption. She is a graduate of the University of Calgary, and an alumna of the Loose Moose Theatre Company where she did her improv training with Keith Johnstone.
Die-Nasty is a live improvised soap opera, running weekly in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada since 1991. Die-Nasty's improv comedy format features a continuing storyline and recurring characters, live music, and a director who sets up scenes for the audience in voiceover.
Alan Marriott is a Canadian voice actor, voice teacher and dialect coach.
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.
The Court Jesters is a professional improv company founded in 1989 and based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of the Court Theatre professional theatre company, acting as a second company within the theatre.
Kevin Gillese is a Canadian actor, writer and improvisor from Edmonton, Alberta.
Dad's Garage Theatre Company, located at 569 Ezzard St. in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1995 by Chris Blair, Marc Cram, Sean Daniels, George Faughnan, John Gregorio, David Keeton, Joseph Limbaugh, Matt Stanton, and Matt Young. A second wave of people in the founding summer soon followed, and the theatre company spent the next five years establishing itself in the Atlanta improv and theatre communities. The small theater company has since achieved international recognition for original stage productions and Improvisational comedy. Former Second City company member, Tim Stoltenberg is the current Artistic Director. Stacey Sharer is the current managing director.
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 with 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 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.
Impro Melbourne is an improvisational theatre company in the Australian city of Melbourne. Formed by Russell Fletcher and Christine Keogh in 1996 it is now run by Artistic Director Katherine Weaver, General Manager Rik Brown and Committee. Impro Melbourne is an Incorporated Association.
IGLU Theatre is a Slovenian improvisational theatre, located in Ljubljana, capital city of Slovenia, and founded by younger generation of impro performers Vid Sodnik, Juš Milčinski, and Peter Frankl Jr. Participating in the most notable theatresports championship in Slovenia, Impro League, they have won it four times as members of various teams and hold numerous titles for the best improviser in Slovenia. As a team they were also winners of the Impro League 2013/14 season. They are members of European impro association Ohana.