After a three-year hiatus, the Ottawa Improv Festival (OIF) is back and better than ever. With great performances and workshops, the festival boasts local and international talent from March 14–16 at the Ottawa Dominion-Chalmers Centre. Apt613 sat down with Festival Director Adriana Johnston and the festival’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator Chelsea Fahey for all the details.
Produced by the Ottawa Improv Embassy—a not-for-profit aimed at growing improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy in the city—the Ottawa Improv Festival brings two nights of shows, an all-levels improv jam and various workshops.
After their hiatus, Johnston says that folks at the Improv Embassy and the festival are ready to get back into the swing of things, as people get more and more comfortable doing things in person again.
“I think everyone’s just ready for it, and I know for me, the Ottawa Improv Festival was such a fun highlight of the year, so it has been exciting,” she says.
Jill Bernard’s solo workshop. Photo provided.
While Johnston says they’ve tried to keep this year’s festivities on a small scale to ease back into the process, Fahey says that the demand was there to host bigger acts.
“It started off as like, ‘let’s do it on a smaller scale this year,’ and we suddenly have three huge headliners and two jam packed nights,” she says. “It’s really grown into, I would say, a full blown festival. It’s going to be a good weekend for sure.”
Johnston and Fahey both say that there has been more of an appetite for improv and more content on social media and other platforms that highlight this trend, which makes this year’s festival all the more exciting.
“The art in general is becoming more mainstream in a way,” says Fahey. “In the past, improv is seen as, not necessarily lesser, but it’s always been side theatre. It seems now that there’s really an appetite to bring improv into the bigger arts conversation.”
In addition to the performances, the OIF will be holding workshops—which are almost sold out! These workshops offer amazing expertise from giants in the community, both locally and abroad. They also offer folks the chance to try something called Clownprov.
Headliners Ken Hall and Isaac Kessler will be at this particular workshop, meshing the art of improv with the spontaneous nature of clowning.
“The idea is about interacting with the audience, letting yourself be free and physicality that they bring from the clown side, to the spontaneity of clowning but also improv,” says Fahey.
Ken Hall and Isaac Kessler. Photo provided.
There are two other headliners at the OIF—Becky Johnson doing a full-day workshop helping people write sketches from an improv process, and Jill Bernard, who will also be performing a musical solo improv show called Drum Machine.
Through all the excitement, Johnston says that she hopes audiences leave inspired.
“We have these out-of-towners coming in to share their knowledge, but also to show how amazing shows can be and give people a lot of excitement for that,” she says. “For general audiences, we just want them to have fun and also to see how cool and fun improv can be as well.”
The Ottawa Improv Festival runs from March 14–16 at the Dominion-Chalmers Centre. Information about the headliners can be found here. You can also check out the festival schedule and other acts here. Workshops are just about sold out, but limited spots are remaining. Make sure to grab your tickets here.
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