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This Sunday at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada a group of improvisers will get together for a good cause. They will hold a benefit performance to aid in the rebuilding of The Court Jesters home in Christchurch, New Zealand.

If you remember, Feb 22, 2011, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake that killed many and destroyed a large chunk of the city.

The Jester’s home at the Court Theatre (http://www.courtjesters.co.nz/) didn’t survive the quake.

Emma Cusdin, a member of the Jesters, had been living in Calgary and exploring the Loose Moose when she had the idea to put some spontaneous entertainment together to raise cash and bring the plight of her home back to the public’s attention.

We hear about the initial devastation and then we move on to the next sexy disaster, forgetting about those still in the messes of Earthquakes, famine, disease and any other disaster.

Improvisers are in a perfect position to help those in need.  We can mobilize quickly and adapt to almost any condition to put on a show that people will willingly come to.

It’s a common belief that performers are generally a self centered bunch, happy to get their time on stage and complain when their dressing room is missing a stocked bar.  We know this isn’t true (of everyone).  But it is a little surprising at how rarely we donate a show, a moment or a piece of our time and talent for a good cause.

Consider an idea being developed at the moment at the Loose Moose.  “Thursdays for a Cause”.  One day of the month would be given to a cause to aid in benefitting the community at large. In reality it takes little effort on the theatre’s side because the benefitting organization will take up the administration and the performers just need to drop in for a couple of hours and entertain.

There is a movement growing that looks at the win/win mentality of idealistic partnerships in the corporate world.  Altruism is not all that it appears to be.  When we give to others, the obvious outcome is a financial boost to a needy group and a focus of attention on their cause.

The unseen benefits include a broadening of the theatre’s audience base. (Consider the massive mailing list that the Cancer foundation or Alzheimer’s society advertises their programs to.)

There’s also the media possibilities as your company benefits from the ‘altruistic’ connection you are creating. There are other hidden benefits that make this more than a “freebie” but in fact turn it into a beneficial marketing venture.

And in the end, the idea of building a strong relationship with the community will only benefit you in the long run.

“Improv Meets Autism”  was a successful  fund-and-awareness raising Improvisational event put together by two German improvisers Christiane and Deniz Döhler whose son Luka has autism.  http://www.artistsmeetautism.org/English/index.html

Reading about the SonRise Program which had great success with autistic children, Christiane and Deniz noticed that the program had similar qualities as improvisation; support, seeing offers and adding to them.

“After having overcome an initial shyness, I started by telling one workshop participant about the parallels between the pro-gram and improv and she immediately volunteered to come and play with our child. Two months later, it was ten improv players and we always explained the program in improv lingo. We kept looking for appropriate improv games and techniques that could help us reach our goal. And Luka’s development skyrocketed.

Search the internet and you will find numerous improvisation groups tackling issues and concerns to make the world a brighter place for everyone. Consider reaching out and offering your skills to a cause.  You might discover that your own benefit is greater than the expense.

There’s a final note about the Christchurch fundraiser.  Unexpectantly,  Emma’s father passed away a few days ago and Emma was on the first flight home.  She tossed in the towel for the benefit show.  There was too much to do and she understandably wanted to be near her family.

Before her plane set down in her home of Christchurch, a group of improvisers in Canada had already taken up her cause.  The show will go on for Christchurch.  Take care Emma.

The tour is coming together for Latin America.

Is it Latin America or South America?  Is there a difference?  And why do I feel bad saying one and not the other?  (Did you ever have a guilty feeling about inanimate objects and concepts when you don’t use them equally?  Hmmm… that’s insane.  )

Where was I?

Shawn Kinley will be teaching improvisers and performing in Lovely Latin America

Oh yes.  I was booking tickets to:

Colombia
Peru
Chile
Argentina
Brazil…

Check out my schedule at SHAWNKINLEY.COM -

One thing I like about Latin/South America are the people.  When I was first in Chile (and by no means was I the first to be in Chile.  Oh no…  Others have been there before me.  Many others.  So many in fact that I feel almost embarassed to be going on about this.  Almost.)

When I was first in Chile, I remember meeting people who gave me that look of “HEY, OLD FRIEND – It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen each other.  I’m so glad you’re here now.”  (Yes, there is a look for that).   I was certain that these people knew me and I had somehow forgotten their names.  But of course we had never met.  They are just so warm.  All that Chilean sunshine oozing from them.

But then… you try to kiss them and they run away.

It’s a lovely culture and I am looking forward to seeing some old friends and improvising with some new ones.

No Habla Espanol Senor!

Bet you didn’t know there was a BADEN.  Unless you’re Swiss.  Most people think of Baden Baden.  I think the people there thought it would make them ttwice as good to have the name twice…  No… I don’t think that.

That’s insane.

3 Swissies and 1 Canuck were on stage on April 8 in a little Swiss bar turned into a little Swiss theatre.  Probably 100 Happy Swiss folk came to see us on a lovely spring night.  Only 6 reservations to start and then they came in like air through the holes in Swiss cheese.

Something interesting happens when people feel pressure.  They lose their abilities – piece by piece.  Maybe it was me that put pressure on the gang or maybe it was the staring eyes of the foreieign audience.  No, wait, that can’t be it.  I was the foreigner.  It was my fault.

Michele set up a “speed dating” game.  Character’s were given a short time to meet each other, afterwhich  they would be tagged out and two other characters would get to know each other.  It went through about 8 rounds of pairs.  EVERY ONE was NEGATIVE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE…

“I hate this place”

“You look like an idiot…”

I finally gave a very direct onstage note.  I sat down with Andy and in character said, “I’ve been to these speed dating things so many times in the past and it amazes how NEGATIVE everyone is.  It seems like the place where you would want to be a pleasant person”.  The audience laughed because they knew what was going on.  I heard Michele in the back making a sound like she recognized what I was doing and recognized they had been negative.

So those two characters went to a positive state.  The audience liked them BUT someone tagged Andy out and the audience went “ohhhhh” because they wanted to see more.  The next character  started going weird and negative so I stood up and said, I think there’s someone over here I would rather be with.  And that’s how it ended.  And the audience laughed because that’s where they would have gone too.

On stage notes are interesting.  Probably should only be used as a last resort to clarify and find connection I think.  But sometimes… they are so necessary.

The Impro World Tour site has been down for a while.  If you are interested in why it’s been down, check here.

http://www.shawnkinley.com/2010/09/02/be-nice/

If you aren’t interested, I understand FULLY.  If you are interested in improvisation then look around here.  As informations starts flooding back into these pages, look for stories from the global improvisation scene, games, exercises, workshops, opinions, and other bits, and bites of improvisational ‘stuff’.

Currently I am in Germany and need to update the site about the travels to England and SHOTGUN Impro as well as work in Germany with a variety of improvisers include the Kaktussen in Wuerzburg Germany.

Talk to you soon,

Shawn