From May 30 – June 4, the Bad Dog Theatre Company presents the return of Toronto’s premiere celebration of improvised theatre, unscripted experiments, and large-scale mischief: the 2016 COMBUSTIONfestival. Now in its fifth year, this week-long comedy party will bring together some of the most exciting, talented, boundary-pushing, genre-bending, industry-leading improvisers from around the world – to showcase what they do best and to collaborate on festival-exclusive projects and shows.
WHEN: May 30 – June 4, 2016
Drop-in workshops every night at 6pm
Shows at 7pm | 8pm | 9:30pm | 11pmWHERE: Bad Dog Comedy Theatre – 875 Bloor St. W. (upstairs)
COST: $5-15 (a limited number of full night and full festival passes available)
Featuring more than 50 artists from over 15 companies, 12 cities, 4 countries and 2 continents including…
Festival Guests:
Det Andre Teatret (Oslo, Norway), The Sunday Service (Vancouver), TEDxRFT (Rapid Fire Theatre – Edmonton), Count Gumdrop (UCB – Los Angeles), Virginia Jack (Vancouver), I Love You, You’re Wrong (New York), The Unpronounceables (Minneapolis), the Bad Dog Repertory Players (Toronto) and a festival superteam including performers from Amsterdam, Montreal, Atlanta, San Diego, New York & Philadelphia.
All of our guests will be showcasing their own work & respective styles and then mixing it up with some of Toronto’s top performers to take on improvised projects especially amped up for the COMBUSTIONfestival.
Festival highlights include:
- the first Toronto appearance of Norway’s leading improv company Det Andre Teatret (which translates to: The Other Theatre) – presenting a pair of original unscripted shows performed in English: The Room & Timejumpers
- TEDxRFT, the side-splitting, award-winning improvised TED talk from Kory Mathewson & Julian Faid of Edmonton’s Rapid Fire Theatre, recently voted Favourite Improv Group at the Vancouver International Improv Festival
- one of Canada’s most celebrated improv troupes, Vancouver’s Canadian Comedy Award-winners The Sunday Service return to Toronto for a rare appearance
- one-time-only mashup sets featuring our out-of-town guests teaming up for the first time with some of Toronto’s best and brightest improv groups & performers (including Bonspeil!, Uncalled For, FLiNT improv, Fake Cops and the ladies of YAS KWEEN)
- vulnerable, frank and bracingly honest improv from real-life couple Keisha Zollar & Andrew Kimler in I Love You, You’re Wrong (featured in the Emmy Award-winning documentary series The Skin Deep)
- unmissable festival collaborations including the immensely-popular multimedia Doppelganger Video Project, a COMBUSTIONfestival guest-studded edition of Kayla Lorette & Evany Rosen’s smash hit entertainment-industry send-up Network Notes and Toronto’s longest-running unscripted comedy showdown: Theatresports
More details found here: http://baddogtheatre.com/combustion-2016
About the COMBUSTIONfestival:
Originally produced by the Canadian Comedy Award nominated Toronto improv collective: PROJECTproject, the COMBUSTIONfestival was first staged in 2008 and was the inaugural event held at Bad Dog’s sister venue: Comedy Bar. Past festival guests include: Dad’s Garage (Atlanta), Global Impro (Buenos Aires), CRUMBS (Winnipeg), The Sunday Service (Vancouver), Parallelogramophonograph (Austin), Folk Lordz/Rapid Fire Theatre (Edmonton), 4TRACK (New York), Easy Action (Montreal), Junior Varsity (New York), Ted & Melanie (Chicago), Picnicface (Halifax), Dark Side of the Room (Atlanta), The Amie & Kristen Show (Philadelphia), !nstant Theatre (Vancouver) & Uncalled For (Montreal).
About the Bad Dog Theatre Company
For over 30 years, the award-winning Bad Dog Theatre Company (previously known as Theatresports Toronto) has specialized in the art of unscripted comedy and improvised performance and has provided affordable, accessible improv training for thousands of people of all ages and experience. Dubbed “Toronto’s improv hub” by NOW Magazine and led by renowned improv veteran Julie Dumais Osborne, Bad Dog presents Theatresports, Toronto’s longest, continuously running improv show, every Saturday along with shows throughout the week at its home: the Bad Dog Comedy Theatre (875 Bloor St. W.)
Visit www.baddogtheatre.com for details.