The second annual Cascade Cup kicks off the third annual !nstant Improvisation Festival Monday February 18th at 7pm at the Roundhouse Performance Centre (Davie @ Pacific) with the second annual one night youth tournament between two nations showcasing the top teams from both BC and Washington State.

The Cascade cup was first introduced last year as part of the national high school improv tournament, the Canadian Improv Games. This year, the !nstant festival welcomes the event as the kickoff to a week of spontaneous art. Two top teams from Washington State will compete in the spirit of loving competition against their British Columbia counterparts.

The National High School Improv Tournament "The Canadian Improv Games", will be offering up their top BC teams to compete against two great teams from Seattle's Unexpected Productions' TheatresportsTM youth tournament. The event is a great opportunity for young improvisers who live distances apart but have similar interests to meet and have a great time.

For more on The Canadian Improv Games plase visit them at www.improv.ca.
 

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Tuesday February 19th, 9pm
underground (with ruby)
Becky Johnson (Toronto, Ont)
Travel through the trials and tribulations of the creative process

underground (with ruby) is a new solo clown show devised and performed by Becky Johnson.

Set in a dingy and sparse basement at an undisclosed location, underground travels through the trials and tribulations of the creative process, with a few stops along the way.  And sometimes it's funny… in a sick kind of way.

Having performed to audiences in Toronto, Winnipeg and Chicago, local improviser/actor Becky Johnson has come back to her hometown, bringing back her well received show and a rich clowning tradition with her. Tuesday February 19th will be Vancouver's second chance to catch underground (with ruby), after great acclaim this past summer.

Laced with poetry and an off-kilter sense of irony, ruby takes her audience on a bumpy ride through the confused and often disheartening world of creativity.  Delving into her "dangerous fascination with men in uniform," we learn that ruby's struggles are not only creative, but personal as well.

This darkly comedic and hopelessly hopeful character has charmed audiences from the Winnipeg International Fringe Festival to the City of Fools Festival in Chicago.  And, as one of her fellow clowns raved about her, "She clings to furniture."  But then, maybe that was a different kind of raving.

Becky Johnson will be performing underground (with ruby) as part of the Third Annual !nstant Improvisation Festival at Yaletown's Roundhouse Theatre (181 Roundhouse Mews / Davie at Pacific) Tuesday February 19th at 9pm. For more information, please call 604-874-7522.
For more on "Ruby", please visit www.crosswinds.net/~beckybecky.
 

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Wednesday February 20th, 9pm
Passion
General Fools (Regina, Saskatchewan)
An improvisation in one act
 

Twelve audience members will be given a rose. When one is thrown on stage, the scene becomes more passionate.

There's spontaneous Theatre in Regina? You bet your ass there is! And now they're bringing it to Vancouver with their gallant one act improvised play, Passion.

Passion is a non-linear three act play where the audience decides where the passion will lead.

General Fools Improvisational Theatre has been wowing Reginians for years with both THEATRESPORTS (tm) and various long form shows. Their most recent production PASSION let the audience decide where a character's passion would lead the story. Told as a non-linear 3 act play, PASSION explored a character's journey to self discovery in a world full of change.

This is the second Spontaneous Theatre Festival the General Fools have attended in the past year, performing an improvised play at the 2nd annual Improvisation Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the fall of 2001.

General Fools Improvisational Theatre will be performing Passion as part of the Third Annual !nstant Improvisation Festival at Yaletown's Roundhouse Theatre (181 Roundhouse Mews / Davie at Pacific) February 20th at 9pm. For more information, please call 604-874-7522.
For more on General Fools, please visit them at www.generalfools.com.
 
 

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Thursday February 21st, 9pm
Black Eyed Blonde
Unexpected Productions (Seattle, Washington)

Taking its name from an unused Raymond Chandler title, these three pulp tales will be improvised from audience suggestions in the film noir tradition. Come, live, play and die in varying shades of gray!  Cast coming to Vancouver will include Michael Moore, Leona Partridge and  Troy Mink.

ABOUT UNEXPECTED PRODUCTIONS

In the summer of 1983, members of Seattle’s three seminal improvisational theatre companies, None of the Above, Off the Wall Players, and Play it Where it Lays, began working with a new improvisational format known as “THEATRESPORTS™”.  For several years, the Seattle group performed the format at various venues gathering a following along the way. They also participated in ‘tournaments’ with teams from cities all over the world. These games have been a great opportunity for players of different cities and countries to meet each other and share ideas and information.

By 1988, The Seattle TheatreSports™ League began producing and performing another show: Cream of Wit. The focus of Cream of Wit has been the exploration of longer forms of improvisation in a non-competitive setting. The improvisors in the company wanted to move into new and different theatrical formats, including producing and writing full length shows. Therefore, the Seattle TheatreSports™ League became officially known as Unexpected Productions.

While “THEATRESPORTS™” , “WEDNESDAYS @8” and “CREAM OF WIT” are still considered to be the foundation of the theatre, Unexpected Productions has developed, written and produced over thirty shows since leasing the Market Theatre (in 1991) in the historic Pike Place Market, which continues to be their mainstage.
For more on Unexpected Productions, please visit them at www.unexpectedproductions.org.
 

About the show? we'll let you know...
 

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Friday February 22nd, 9pm
!nstant Theatre and the Festival Ensemble in
Cage Match
Two teams enter
one team leaves

Welcome to the world's most dangerous Improv arena, where two mighty teams of gladiators will take the stage to prove who is the best of the best.   This is not an exhibition. This is a no-holds-barred competition. !nstant Theatre will be taking on a "Best of the Fest" improv team, and in true diplomatic form, the audience will determine the winner week via secret ballot.

This form is originally intended as a weekly encounter between teams with the winner returning the following week to defend their title against a new challenger.  Although no dates have yet been set, !nstant Theatre hopes to bring this longform competitive format back on a regular basis.

Festival hosts !nstant Theatre Company will be performing Cage Match as part of the Third Annual !nstant Improvisation Festival at Yaletown's Roundhouse Theatre (181 Roundhouse Mews / Davie at Pacific) Friday February 22nd at 9pm. For more information, please call 604-874-7522.
 

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Friday February 22nd, 9pm
Hero
!nstant Theatre
FREE All Ages Kids Show...Bring your Mom.

The free offering as part of the third annual !nstant Improvisation Festival, HERO takes the stage at Roundhouse Theatre Saturday February 23rd at 4pm.

This all-ages show takes a brave young superhero from the audience in a fearless journey with a trusty sidekick.

Have no fear, Hero is here!

Festival hosts !nstant Theatre Company will be performing Hero as part of the Third Annual !nstant Improvisation Festival at Yaletown's Roundhouse Theatre (181 Roundhouse Mews / Davie at Pacific) Saturday February 23rd at 4pm.  Please note that this is a free, all ages show.  For more information, please call 604-874-7522.

(Remember Mom)
 
 

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Saturday February 23rd, 9pm
S(He)'s Gone?
Rock Paper Scissors (Vancouver, BC)
Putting the "Fun" back in Funeral.

Putting the 'fun' in 'funeral' Rock-Paper-Scissors returns with (S)He's Gone?, an oddly dark and hysterical comedy that takes revolves around death. But who'se? The creators of last years hit Blankety Blank - The Unknown Musical are back!

Developed at Theatre Under The Gun in December 2001, their latest comedy creation (S)He's Gone? is a twisted and slightly dark comedy that faces some of our greatest mortality fears. Set at a funeral home the audience is required to bring unique and unusual props that will not be revealed to the actors until they are on-stage. They will help as we discover not just how somebody died, but why.   We also uncover who the victim actually is.

Rock-Paper-Scissors has been a Vancouver favorite for ten years now.  Although renowned for their improvisational creations they empathetically deny being an improv company. They have produced 15 hit shows in their ten years and only 4 of them have had any improvisational elements in them. Past shows include period comedies, slapstick, clown, sketch and musicals.

Maybe it is because of their diversity in comedy tastes that when they do dabble in improvisation it always creates some sort of stir. Certainly the experiments in improvisation are unique from each other. The award winning A Twisted Christmas Carol combined classic Charles Dickens text with improvisational comedy. The Jessie nominated Blankety Blank - The Unknown Musical was a completely improvised musical by non-singers. Vicious Games was an unusual competitive comedy, requiring the players to make the other player look good in order to win.

The character actors bringing this madness to life are: Toby Berner (who also directs), Brad MacNeil, Tallulah Winkelman, Diana Frances, David C. Jones and live and haunting music by Bill Moise.

Rock-Paper-Scissors will be performing (S)He's Gone? as part of the Third Annual !nstant Improvisation Festival at Yaletown's Roundhouse Theatre (181 Roundhouse Mews / Davie at Pacific) Saturday February 23rd at 9pm. For more information, please call 604-874-7522.
For more on RPS, please visit them at www.rock-paper-scissors.com.
 
 

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