Rainbow students participate in Northern Ontario Regional Improv Tournament

Students from three Rainbow secondary schools will participate in the Canadian Improv Games – Northern Ontario Regional Tournament taking place February 13 to 15, 2014 in Sudbury. Teams from Sudbury, Timmins and the Muskokas will compete.

On Friday, February 14, teams will participate in workshops at the Travelodge Hotel to explore and honour their acting abilities in improvisational theatre. Preliminary rounds will take place on Thursday and Friday evenings at 7 pm and Saturday at 1 pm.  The top five teams overall will bring their skills to the competitive stage in the finals on Saturday, February 15, at 7 pm. The tournament takes place at Thorneloe University’s Ernie Checkeris Theatre on the Laurentian campus.

“On behalf of Rainbow District School Board, I would like to extend best wishes to all participants of the Canadian Improv Games – Northern Ontario Regional Tournament,” said Director of Education Norm Blaseg. “This is a wonderful opportunity for students to display their creativity in a spirit of friendly competition. When the curtains open… anything can happen.”

New to the competition this year, Sudbury Secondary School will be joining Improv veterans Lasalle Secondary School and Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. The Lasalle and Lo-Ellen Park teams have garnered great success over the years, each currently holding six Regional Championship titles.

At the Regional Improv Games, teams of no more than eight high school students perform four scenes: two mandatory scenes, Theme and Life, and two of a possible three elective scenes, Style, Story or Character. Before starting, players provide the audience with an ask-for, a specific suggestion required to power the scene. 

Each four-minute scene is judged based on a fixed scale that outlines scene-specific requirements including the acceptance of offers, level of risk, use of staging and suggestion, skill of the event and level of interest. Scoring is based on a possible 59 points and is determined by technical and entertainment components. 

The games, which originated in Ottawa over 30 years ago, grew from a four-team “Improvisational Olympics” to a 20-team competitive event. Today, more than 15 regional competitions take place in Canada involving more than 200 secondary schools. The national competition takes place at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in April.

Tickets can be purchased for the preliminary rounds at $8 for students/seniors and $12 for adults. Tickets for the finals are $12 for students/seniors and $15 for adults.  All tickets are available at the door.

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor, 

Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning 

Rainbow District School Board, 705-674-3171 ext. 7217.

Sudbury Secondary School students prepare for the Canadian Improv Games – Northern Ontario Regional Tournament, including Emmilie Shambrooke, centre, and, clockwise, Tristan Brennan, David Browne, Kaitlyn Koitila, Niikita Manderson, Brett Lalonde and Calder Tejada-Delamorandiere with Kris Finlay of the Canadian Improv Games. Absent are team members Victoria Dominick and Jasmine Ivany. Teacher Allisyn Wood coaches the team.