Canmore’s local improv troupe Mountain Improv Alliance (MIA) will bring its spontaneous comedy to artsPlace where audience suggestions will be turned into scenes made up on the spot on Friday (Feb. 3).
New Year’s resolutions are part of the show, where MIA members will ask the audience questions around the idea of promises made for 2017. This is now the time where some people are either successful at their resolutions or are struggling miserably with their new goals.
“We’ll be talking about resolutions and failed resolutions and having some fun,” said MIA member and Mountain FM personality Rob Murray.
“We’ll be doing scenes about other things, too. There’s really two schools of improv; there’s short-form improv, which is what most people are used to with Who’s Line is it Anyway; it’s often a challenge the actors have to overcome to get through a scene.”
Murray added there is also long-form improv, where one word is taken from the audience and performers try to make up an entire half-hour show based off it. MIA performs both, with the first act mostly games and the second act getting more into the long-form.
“We just hope to make people laugh on Friday night. We’ll be doing some improv, we’ll be doing some suggestions and maybe a little participation from the audience and make up some scenes on the spot,” Murray said. “Audience participation is definitely encouraged, but not mandatory, we’re not going to put anyone on the spot who doesn’t want to be. But for anyone who wants to get involved, we’re game to it and give them suggestions.”
The more Murray got into improv, the more he found out how much theory there is behind it.
“People think it’s just people making stuff up on stage, but there is a real technique to it and so many schools of thought and different techniques,” Murray said.
The challenge for an actor is to find out what works best for you and to put as many of those as you can in your personal toolkit and do the best that you can toward whatever you’re thrown into or situation you have on stage.
“One of the first skills you learn as an improviser is ‘yes and’ where you’re making sure you’re adding something to the scene and adding to the conversation with everyone, and that’s a great tip for real life – you can have a conversation with someone and the conversation can just die away,” Murray said.
He pointed out the “yes and” exercise, general listening skills of improv and being able to respond to something somebody said, and being able to respond to it and drawing things out of them, is going to enhance conversation, which is, of course, a valuable tool for a radio presenter.
“Our group is made up of all different walks of life,” Murray said. “From young to older and varying backgrounds, but everyone’s there for a shared love of letting yourself go, having fun and hopefully making a few laughs.”
Mountain Improv Alliance Presents: Ridiculous Resolutions, at artsPlace Friday (Feb. 3) from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Cost is $12 and for artsPlace program members, $10.
