Lacey Huculak has been improvising since 2010.

She began performing with the University of Alberta Improv Group where she later spent two years as President and founded The Notorious Improv Festival; the University of Alberta’s first ever university level improv festival. She has performed in UBCi’s IMPULSE improv festival in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Lacey has been performing professionally with Rapid Fire Theatre since 2012. She served as the Associate Director of Education for the Rapid Fire Theatre Workshop Academy from 2018-2019. Don’t let that sweet face fool you – Lacey specializes in horror themed improv. With her History B.A. in hand she also can perform a scene in any time period and literally teach the audience a thing or two in the process. In the daylight Lacey works in seasonal event entertainment and writes haunted houses (seriously) for a major Halloween attraction. Lacey performs most regularly with Omens, Unscripted History, DEATHLIST and Magic Marv XXS as Jasper National Pork.

FAVOURITES

TV Shows: Mad Men, Seinfeld, Broadchurch
Movies: Shaun of the Dead, Lost in Translation, The Artist, What We Do in the Shadows
Actors: Simon Pegg, Olivia Coleman, David Tennant
Video Games: Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil 1-3, Silent Hill 1-3, Skyrim
Authors: Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, L.M. Montgomery
Music: The Shins, The Decemberists, Nobuo Uematsu, Die Antwoord and above all My Chemical Romance.
Podcasts: My Favorite Murder, Lore, The Lady Vanishes, This American Life
Food: Sushi!
Words to live by: “Look Alive Sunshine”… it’s from a My Chemical Romance song… it’s also tattooed on my arm.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH RAPID FIRE?

In my first year of University a good friend of mine dragged me to a meeting of the University of Alberta’s improv group (UIG) where I then fell in love with improv and became very involved. From there I started taking workshops with RFT and volunteering. I got scooped up as a cast member just before the big move to the Citadel.

WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL IMPROV SCENE?

Bring stuff in from your own life – if you are in a kitchen mime your own damn kitchen, tell us about the minutiae of your very specific occupation and make jokes that make you laugh and bring you joy. The audience wants to see what makes you unique.

WHAT ARE SOME TIPS YOU CAN OFFER AUDIENCE MEMBERS ABOUT GIVING SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVISERS?

The suggestion doesn’t need to be funny. So many great scenes start when people shout out things from their own world. And, for God’s sake stop shouting out Donald Trump.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT SHORT FORM VS. LONG FORM AND VICE VERSA?

Short form is fun to mess around in because it’s quick and usually over in a few minutes and then you can try something new. I like long form improv because it can be a real slow burn or a long-con. You get to live in this world you have created and as a character you just made up for sometimes over an hour. It’s like playing make believe on hard.

In long form improv, especially when you only have one other scene partner, you have to constantly be present. There is no time to zone out and think about what you need to buy for groceries because the show is essentially all riding on you and your mind. It is the most in the moment I ever am in my life and it is exhilarating.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR IMPROV STYLE?

It’s weird and creepy. I play big bold characters and can’t sing.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT ON STAGE?

Recently, it has been playing the character of Jasper National Pork in our improvised Magic Mike-like show Magic Marv. There is no feeling in the world like dressing up as a middle aged male stripper with a big blond moustache and looking exactly like your own father while taking your clothes off for an audience. Eat your heart out, Sigmund Freud!

Specifically, my most memorable moment of this character happened at the end of our Saturday Series run after doing a halloween themed dance wearing a demon mask that the audience (and my scene partners) could not hear me speak through whatsoever. With my quick thinking skills I grabbed a microphone to speak into and deliver what I thought was a heartfelt monologue through the small mouth hole of the mask. It turns out that Brad our technician had turned on a voice distortion audio overlay and still no one could understand a word I said. I have never made an audience laugh harder and I have never seen my scene partners laugh cry from laughter.

WHAT DO YOU DO OUTSIDE OF RFT?

I develop seasonal entertainment events and specifically work on a major halloween event. I write haunted houses, cast and train actors to play monsters. It’s truly what I was born to do. I also have a dog named Spooky who is the light of my life.

HOW DOES IMPROV COME IN HANDY IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE?

It is a key part of my day job and I could not do the work that I do without my improv background. It’s funny because you start to do something casually as a hobby and you have no idea how much it will change and …improv(e) your life.

DESCRIBE WORKING FOR RAPID FIRE IN A SINGLE SENTENCE:

It’s like getting to play pretend every weekend with the most funny and supportive people you will ever meet – I can’t believe I have been lucky enough to do it for almost a decade.