BY DUCK PATERSON
Ladysmith Secondary School’s improv team gave a sneak preview of what they’ll be doing at nationals next week.
The team of 10 teens performed a fundraiser show at LSS on Thursday, March 7, ahead of their trip to Ottawa for the Canadian Improv Games.
The school’s senior improv team won an online competition to earn a wildcard berth at nationals. The locals learned of their selection just four weeks before the event, which created a period of angst while they planned on how they were going to get to the nation’s capital and how they were going to pay for it.
“[They] realized they had to do something themselves to show that they are also willing to work for the community’s support,” said Bill Taylor, the team’s instructor. “They wanted to show what got them first place and so they decided to do an improv performance in town.”
The fundraiser attracted about 80 audience members to the multi-purpose room last week.
At the start of the show, Taylor explained to the audience how improv works.
“The basic rule of improv can be summed up in two words – ‘yes and.’ No matter what your partner says during a scene, your job is to build on that, by agreeing with and adding to their statement,” he said.
In addition to a series of four-minute scenes based on audience prompts, there were two musical performances and a silent auction featuring an array of items donated by various local businesses and artists.
Taylor thanks the audience for their support and also acknowledged financial support from local groups such as the Ladysmith Kinsmen Club, Rotary Club of Ladysmith, Madill, Nanaimo Airport, Ron Dale, Frank and Mike Crucil, Western Forest Products, Town of Ladysmith, H.A. Davis, McNab’s Corn Maze and the Ladysmith Chronicle. He also had special mention and thanks to Frank and Karen Green who have supported many projects at the secondary school.
The improv team will be leaving for Ottawa on March 25 and will hit the stage at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre on March 27. For more information, visit http://improv.ca.
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