The Canmore Improv Association (CIA) is looking for a few good people who aren’t afraid to make new friends, hone skills they never thought they had and have a lot of fun at the same time.
The CIA is made up of Bow Valley locals led by Rob Heighington, a Second City Toronto alumni who leads members through improv exercises to develop skills in improvisation.
“I started it when I moved out here eight years ago as a way to connect with the community ... and found quickly that the Pine Tree Players were the local theatre group and they all signed up to give themselves a theatrical exercise when they do improv,” Heighington said.
“We had a little bit of success last fall at artsPeak, where we had a show at Communitea, so we’re looking to do a few more shows for an audience. What we’re doing now could be called an improv rehearsal for improv shows.”
The CIA meets once a week at Canmore’s Georgetown Inn, where members will usually have a friendly discussion on what is going to be practiced and performed in the night’s session.
“The idea is you work towards a semi-scripted show or play. Ideally, when we do a performance there are three scenes that have a loose theme and in each scene we do three or four skits so you could end up with nine or 12 skits in a performance,” Heighington said. “The performers are given a random scene or setting with certain character traits, maybe giggly, sleepy or a little horny – something like that for fun and they have to take that scene or setting and those personality traits and then we give them an objective.
“An example might be you’re burying a body as an objective, but we mix these up so you’re burying a body on the moon and that’s the challenge they have to do. If they’re really working it they’re using those personality traits and you’ll have two people who are attempting to bury a body on the moon – one of them has a nervous tick and the other one is not allowed to speak.”
How do you get there is one of the biggest challenges with improv, with the average person not realizing there are exercises and techniques used, much as actors ready themselves for the stage and screen.
“It’s actually a big challenge,” said Heighington. “We find that when we do our workshops here in the Snug Room that’s a lot for people to take on and people can get overwhelmed quickly and shut down. So quite often we’ll do warmups, put our hands in the air and get some physical motion to get the blood flowing and then use our imaginations to figure out what everyone is doing to figure out movement.
“We do what is called the emotional orchestra, where you get happy or sad emotions and a conductor brings you up and down in vocalizing and speaking out; and then we’ll do drills or skills,which are typically develop the improv skills used on a show.”
CIA members were quick to point out there are positive pluses that come along with improv training that can be used in everyday life.
“Most of my life is in the business world and I do some business coaching and mentoring,” CIA member Wade Graham said. “It helps with adlibbing and figuring things out on the fly. In the business world, you’ve got to have that confidence to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
Heighington said those interested should not let shyness get in the way, and are more than welcome to contact him for further information on the CIA. “Our goal is to recruit a few more people, because you need a handful of people to always have four or five available.”
Visit, canmoreimprov.ca, for more information, and anyone with questions may email Heighton at: [email protected]
