PROJECTproject is a Toronto-based company that has produced improvised theatre

Improvisational theatre

Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...

, comedy and performance events since June 2007. In addition to their regular shows, the company is also responsible for the PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival featuring collaborations with performers from across North America, held in May.

PROJECTproject’s weekly show features a variety of improv formats and concepts. Generally, each show features one or two short showcase slots (sometimes called “mixers”) and one soloset (wherein an improviser takes to the stage by themselves) followed by a rotating series of longer or more involved projects in the second half of the show, usually prominently featuring the company’s core cast of 5 improvisers. PROJECTproject shows are characterized by a casual party atmosphere and a willingness by performers to collaborate and work outside of their comfort zones.

Weekly show and venues

From September 2007 to May 2008, PROJECTproject produced a weekly Wednesday-night show at a tiny underground venue in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood called Unit 102, described as “the sort of place where the French Resistance would hide out”. What was originally intended as a 5-week preview run at Unit 102 turned into a
37-week stint as the company waited for their new venue to be built.

Following their inaugural PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival in May 2008, the company took up residence at Comedy Bar

Comedy Bar

Comedy Bar was a Philippine live comedy television series produced by GMA Network, hosted by Eugene Domingo, Allan K and Fabio Ide, replacing Cool Center. The show also seeks to discover new comedians through its live auditions.- Hosts :...

 – a comedy venue owned by Gary Rideout Jr. of The Sketchersons

The Sketchersons

The Sketchersons are a sketch comedy troupe based in Toronto, Ontario. They are winners of the 2007 Canadian Comedy Award for best Sketch Troupe, an award they had been nominated for each of the 3 years prior...

 (with business partner James Elksnitis). In March 2009, PROJECTproject returned their weekly show to Unit 102, but still mounted the 2009 PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival at Comedy Bar. In September 2009, the company began an occasional (almost monthly) residency at Bread & Circus

Bread & Circus

Bread & Circus is an album by Toad the Wet Sprocket originally self released on cassette only in 1988, and re-released in 1989 by Columbia Records on CD, Cassette and Vinyl with altered artwork...

 in Toronto's Kensington Market, in addition to their weekly shows at Unit 102.

Combustion Festival

In the last week of May, PROJECTproject hosts a festival of improvised and interdisciplinary collaborations with improvisers and artists from across North America. The festival features 5 programs, each loosely inspired by a method of combustion:

• FAST - shortform improv (shorter in length, not in quality)
• SLOW - longform improv (not that the speed of it need be slow)
• COMPLETE - heavily structured improvisation, loose sketch and scripted work with room to play
• INCOMPLETE - new configurations of people; forms-in-development
• SMOULDERING - radical/non-traditional improvisation

Guests

• Picnicface
  Picnicface
  Picnicface is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe based in Halifax, NS consisting of Mark Little, Andrew Bush, Kyle Dooley, Cheryl Hann, Brian MacQuarrie, Evany Rosen, Scott Vrooman and Bill Wood. Formed in 2006, the group's alternative comedy style quickly caught on with millions of Internet viewers...
  
  (Halifax): Mark Little & Andrew Bush
• !nstant Theatre (Vancouver): Alistair Cook & Rene Dellefont
• The Doug Dank Project (Atlanta): Rene Dellefont & Amber Nash (with: Sean Tabares & Kurt Smeaton)
• A.K.A. Improv (Vancouver): Aaron Read, Andrew Chen & Kayla Lorette
• Buckshot’N’Benny (New York/Vancouver): Kaitlin Fontana & Louie Pearlman
• Uncalled For (Montreal): Dan Jeannotte, Anders Yates, Nic Wright & Caitlin Howden
• Crush Improv (Ottawa): AL Connors (& guests)
• The Sketchersons
  The Sketchersons
  The Sketchersons are a sketch comedy troupe based in Toronto, Ontario. They are winners of the 2007 Canadian Comedy Award for best Sketch Troupe, an award they had been nominated for each of the 3 years prior...
  
  (Toronto): Gary Rideout Jr., Pat Thornton, Craig Brown, Bob Kerr, Norm Sousa, Cole Osborne, Tal Zimerman, Laura Cilevitz, Inessa Frantowski, Andy Hull, Josh Saltzman & Jared Sales
• Bad Dog Theatre Co. (Toronto): Lisa Merchant, James Gangl, Kris Siddiqi, Kirsten Gallagher, Kevin Matviw & Alastair Forbes
• The Renaissance (Toronto): Julian Frid, Georgea Brooks-Hancock, Shauna Jean Doherty, Claire Salloum, Liam O’Doherty Adam Ward & Karen Stern
• Semi-formal night/project guests: many of the performers above plus Vivieno Caldinelli, Rob Baker, Peter Stevens, Daryn MacIntyre & more.

2009

Festival artwork by Jon Blair (Toronto).
Festival photography by Shauna Jean Doherty & Stephanie Marie Tonietto (Toronto).

Guests

• 4track (New York): Christian Capozzoli & guests (including Sean Tabares)
• CRUMBS
  CRUMBS
  CRUMBS is an improvisational theatre duo based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.The comedy duo formed in Winnipeg in 1997 and has since toured the world. They have toured in Europe more than any other improv act. The duo consists of two actors, Stephen Sim and Lee White...
  
  (Winnipeg): Steve Sim & Lee White
• Dad's Garage (Atlanta): Amber Nash & Chris Blair
• Mark & Andy from Picnicface (Halifax): Mark Little & Andrew Bush
• CRUSH
  Crush
  -Bands:* Crush , a band on Atlantic Records from 1991 to 1993* Crush , a band featuring Jayni Hoy and Donna Air from the television series Byker Grove* Crush , a band from Newfoundland, Canada...
  
  (New York): Frank Bonomo, Brandon Lisy, Brian Bockrath, Chet Siegel, Lauren Olson, Taylor White & Steve Horak
• Crush Improv (Ottawa): AL Connors, Cari Leslie (& guests)
• Sister Act
  Sister Act
  Sister Act is a 1992 American comedy film released by Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Emile Ardolino, it features musical arrangements by Marc Shaiman and stars Whoopi Goldberg as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective custody in a San Francisco convent and has to pretend to be a...
  
  (Vancouver): Christine Bortolin & Bita Joudaki with Aaron Read
• All-star guests: Kirsten Rasmussen (Rapid Fire Theatre - Edmonton), Rene Dellefont (Doug Dank Project - Atlanta), Kaitlin Fontana (Rosa Parks improv - Vancouver) & Caitlin Curtis (Kelvin Improv - Winnipeg)

2010

Festival artwork by Ehren Salazar (Vancouver).
Festival photography by Kate Millet, Mandy Sellers, Shauna Jean Doherty & Stephanie Marie Tonietto (Toronto).

Guests

• 4track (New York): Christian Capozzoli, George Basil & guests (including: Brandon Lisy, Mark Little, Kirsten Rasmussen & Michal Grajewski)
• the Sunday Service (Vancouver): Taz VanRassel, Ryan Beil & Kevin Lee
• Parallelogramophonograph (Austin): Kareem Badr, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik & Valerie Ward
• Ted & Melanie (Chicago): Jet Eveleth & Paul Brittain
• Rapid Fire Theatre's Young Guns (Edmonton): Julian Faid, Arlen Konopaki & Joe Vanderhelm
• the Tumbleweed Project (cross-Canada): Tim Carlson, Hannah Spear, Meags Fitzgerald, RobYn Slade, Justin Collette, Cari Leslie, Kirsten Rasmussen & Mark Little
• All-star guests: AL Connors & Brad MacNeil (Crush Improv - Ottawa)

Ongoing projects

• [game]show – a gameshow incorporating improvised scenes, trivia, penalties and challenges (influenced by Japanese and North American gameshows & board games)
• The Condo Show – a directed one-act improvised play, with a director chosen at random from the cast and one player randomly challenged with some sort of restriction (referred to as the skull-and-crossbones) (conceived by Mark Andrada)

Occasional/developing projects

• Dinner with Someone from History – a recurring series of spaghetti dinners with Pat Thornton and a variety of audience-suggested historical figures played by Sean Tabares
• Burning Bright – inspired by the John Steinbeck play-novelette of the same name (conceived by Kayla Lorette)
• Perfect Strangers – a piece making use of improvised illustration, and auto-animation projected onto/behind the actors in the scenes using an overhead projector (conceived by Mark Andrada)
• Post-apocalyptic project – genre exploration (conceived by Kayla Lorette)
• Project Sleep – a piece wherein improvisers set their clocks to wake up in the middle of the night to record themselves performing spontaneous monologues based on a suggestion that is only revealed to them when they arise; these projected monologues form the basis of improvised scenework (conceived by Sean Tabares)
• Epicene girls/epicene boys – projects featuring the core cast divided along gender lines

Past projects (could return)

• The Kid is Hot 2night – a 6-month long ongoing longform elimination tournament wherein the initial field of 30 seasoned improvisers was eventually narrowed (through audience voting) to a group of 6 improvisers who were featured at the 2008 COMBUSTIONfestival (conceived by Bob Banks)
• Slimfit – a serialized improvised sitcom set in the world of high fashion modeling (conceived by Alana Johnston)

Festival appearances

• 2007 Toronto International Improv Festival (as PROJECTproject: epicene project)
• 2008 University of Toronto Improv Festival (showcase guests)
• 2008 Victoria International Improv Festival
• 2008 Vancouver International Improv Festival
• 2009 Canadian Comedy Awards & Festival - Saint John, New Brunswick
• 2009 Mprov - Montreal International Improv Festival
• 2010 Guelph Comedy Festival

Core Cast Members

• Julie Dumais
• Sarah Hillier
• Sean Tabares
• Alex Tindal
• Mark Andrada (occasionally)

Core Cast Alumni

• Adam Cawley
• Jason DeRosse
• Bob Banks
• Alana Johnston
• Bita Joudaki
• Kayla Lorette
  Kayla Lorette
  -Television:*Main Cast TV Shows-That's So Weird *Guest Starred-Wingin' It - Store Clerk-References:...
  
  
• Tatiana Maslany
  Tatiana Maslany
  -Acting career:Maslany is one of the stars of the Canadian TV series 2030 CE and is best known in her role as the character Ghost in Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed...
  
  

Guests

Pat Thornton, Gary Rideout Jr., Norm Sousa, Craig Brown, Cole Osborne, Rob Baker, Aurora Browne, Caitlin Howden, Jan Caruana, Lauren Ash, James Gangl, Lisa Merchant, Kris Siddiqi, Daryn McIntyre, Peter Stevens, Claire Salloum, Georgea Brooks-Hancock, Alice Moran, Liz White, Mack Lawrenz, Rob Baker, Chris Tindal, Sarah Hennessey, Deborah Etta Robinson, Brian Barlow, Carmine Lucarelli, Kevin Gillese, Michal Grajewski, Katie Bowes, Arlen Konopaki, Kjartan Hewitt, Chris Craddock, Sandra Battaglini, Rebecca Addelman, Kristen MacGregor, Tal Zimmerman, Steph “Tony” Tonietto, Simon Pond, Dave Morris, Aaron Read, Andrew Chen, Mark Little, Andrew Bush, Dan Jeannotte, Anders Yates, Matt Goldberg, Taz VanRassel, Eric Hart, Rob Norman, Andy Hull, Steve Oke, Brian Cook, Jeff McEnery, Dave Melenchuk, Matt Duncan, Adam Kennedy, Meags Fitzgerald, Fraz Weist, Ian Rowe, Steph Tolev, Allison Hogg, Ian MacIntyre, Lisa Farlow, Megan Fraser, Renna Reddie, Mark Cotoia, Kevin Patrick Robbins, Julia Lane, Rob Chodos, Brad Sayeau, Laura Cilevitz, Adam Ward, Steve Hobbs, Sean Magee, Wayne Molinski, Kevin Williams, Isaac Kessler, Michael Balazo Luis Fernandes & more.

External links

• http://www.projectproject.ca
• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6736071060
• http://vault.mtv.ca/blog/?p=118
• http://www.edge.ca/Blogs/BTsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10000562
• http://www.globalimpro.com/2008/05/combustion-festival-en-toronto.html