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Written by: Chris McGeachy

Photos by: Devon Boulton-Mills

atbt magazine issue 3

What seemed like a clearheaded decision soon drifted out of a slightly intoxicated haze and came into focus. The reality that my life would be laid out in front of an audience of strangers started gnawing at my psyche. But it was too late, and before I could raise reasonable objection I found myself sitting on a throne-like chair inside a renovated electronics recycling depot right across from Erlton Stampede C-Train station. The players of the Curiously Canadian Improv Guild reenacted my childhood based on a live interview and my duty is to look on and make adjustments using a bell and horn. Right from the get-go I feel like using the horn - strange as it may seem, I don’t remember my mother being so masculine. But this is the fun of improv, you get to see how professionals make do with few props and the power of dissuasion in an effort to appease the audience’s state of disbelief.
“We’re making this up as we go along,” Guild master Rick Hilton announced to the audience at the beginning of the show. A longtime improv comedian, Hilton is a master at involving his audience with the comedy. Having performed a high energy show, Hilton and the rest of the Guild members invited the audience to hang out for a beer and a chat.
“A big part of improv comedy is thinking quickly on your feet,” Hilton said. Those familiar with this style of Guerilla Theatre know that it is reliant on keeping an upbeat comic rhythm. This Improv Guild doesn’t only cater to performance. Instead, it is their goal to create a true culture of improvisation in Calgary, and they do so through workshops, a regular Friday night show and a carefree, charismatic everyone-welcome attitude.