Educators have until the end of November to apply for the Improv Centre’s 2027 East Vancouver Schools Improv Project.
The 10-week program has artist-educators from the Improv Centre (TIC) giving 90-minute after-school classes on site, with students learning the foundational skills of improv and capping off their learning by performing in a professionally produced showcase.
The program was piloted in 2024/25 with 120 students (from Killarney, Gladstone, David Thompson and Britannia secondary schools) and the 2025/26 session had 48 students – from Vancouver Technical, David Thompson and Gladstone secondary schools – working with six teaching artists from TIC.
“As someone who has long been devoted to sharing the joy of live theatre with young people, I was thrilled to fully develop the East Van Schools Improv Project during my first year at the Improv Centre,” TIC’s managing director, Jessica Gutteridge, said in a press release.
Jewish Independent readers will recognize Gutteridge’s name from her time working at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
“After a wonderful five years as the artistic managing director of the Chutzpah! Festival and the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre, I was delighted to join the Improv Centre as its managing director,” Gutteridge told the Independent. “It was an exciting opportunity for me to join a larger organization at a very interesting time in its lifecycle, following a post-COVID relaunch with a new name, new leadership and new set of initiatives.
“I am especially excited by TIC’s dedication to fostering greater inclusion and diversity in the improv theatre art form, and to creating a safer and supportive culture that encourages expression and creativity,” she said. “Projects like TIC’s international improv festival (the Heat) and initiatives like our affinity group training programs for BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+ and femme performers and the East Vancouver Schools Improv Project put these values into practice.”
The origins of the East Van project go back a few years.
“In 2023, longtime TIC artist Allen Morrison, a member of the Britannia Secondary School faculty, approached TIC with a proposal to bring improvisational theatre training to Britannia and other under-resourced Vancouver schools,” explained Gutteridge. “As a teacher, Allen has witnessed the lack of resources directed to the performing arts compared to other high schools in more affluent neighbourhoods. As an accomplished performer, he knew the benefits that access to improvisational theatre training could have on the lives of students and school communities.
“Under the leadership of former managing director Catherine Ballachey and former artistic director Jalen Saip, TIC successfully piloted this program during the 2024-25 school year … and then offered an expanded pilot with progressive classes over six weeks in spring 2025. The success of these pilots led to a multi-year funding commitment from the Y.P. Heung Foundation and a grant from the City of Vancouver. This allowed us to expand the program to take place over 10 weeks and to include a field trip for each group to visit the Improv Centre’s Granville Island theatre, have a backstage tour and then enjoy a show featuring performances by their coaches, as well as a professionally produced showcase at the end of the program.”
This year’s showcase took place May 30. Gutteridge described it as “absolutely magical!”
“The students demonstrated what they had learned to an audience packed with family and friends,” she said. “Beginning with a warm welcome and blessing from Haida, Musqueam, Squamish and Black performing artist Rainbow Glitz, each school cohort performed a series of games, hosted by their very proud coaches. It was spectacular to see these students, some of whom had participated in the program before and some of whom had never been on a stage previously, work together as a team, support each other, bring confidence and creativity, and make their audience laugh until they cried. The showcase was followed by a reception to celebrate these achievements.”
The next program will begin following spring break in March 2027, culminating in a June showcase for family and friends.
“The Improv Centre invites inquiries for the 2027 program from East Vancouver secondary schools, including alternative schools, specifically those in financial need or facing funding barriers, to partner with us for a fully sponsored, completely free improv experience,” said Gutteridge.
It’s a program for groups of eight to 30 students, she continued, recommending that educators at underserved schools who want to bring the program to their students send TIC a letter of interest (to education@theimprovcentre.ca), indicating why they believe their school is a good fit.
“I have had a career-long interest in bringing the benefits of theatre education to young people,” said Gutteridge. “As the education manager and then managing director at Carousel Theatre for Young People, this was central to my work, and I was overjoyed to expand the Chutzpah! Festival’s programming to families and young people during my years at the JCC…. When I joined the Improv Centre, the project that most excited me to take to its next level was the East Van Schools Improv Project, and I am very grateful for the community support that helps us to sustain this program.”
For more information on TIC, go to theimprovcentre.ca.
