Improvaganza 2019 was the 19th annual Improvaganza in Edmonton, and the last Improvaganza to take place before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the last year that we would use the iconic “Owlberta” festival image by Jeremy Fish.
This festival marked the creation of the “Mega-musical” a hybrid improvised musical featuring performers from Showstopper!, Off Book, and North Coast. It also brought together many local sketch groups in a sketch night, where all the groups received the same prompt for a sketch; where they took it from there was up to them! The 2019 lineup also featured Tim & Vance from Tallboyz II Men, just months before their highly popular CBC sketch show Tallboyz would hit the airwaves!
This was the seventh year that the festival was held at the Citadel Theatre, the last year before RFT returned south of the North Saskatchewan River to our own venue.
Acts in 2019 included:
- Amy&Tom (Amy Shostak & Tom Hill) | Vancouver
- Bad Dog Theatre | Toronto
- Beignet (Julia Grochowski & Tara Koett) | Edmonton
- The Big Stupid Improv Show
- Dad’s Garage | Atlanta
- Dang Dumb (Michael Johnson, CK Dhaliwal, Susan Evans, Dylan Sharp, Kelly Turner, Sydney Campbell, Jorden Edmondstone) | Edmonton
- The Debutantes | Edmonton
- Improvised Dungeons & Dragons (Mark Meer & co) | Edmonton
- Girl Brain | Edmonton
- Bad Dog Theatre’s Hookup | Toronto
- Mega-Musical | London & New York & Edmonton
- Milk (Hannah Spear, Sarah Ormandy, Tom Hearn, Ryan Sheedy, Andrea Marston, Shane McLean, Liz Johnston) | Toronto
- Psycho Killers (Jessie McPhee, Hannah Spear, Joleen Ballendine, Paul Blinov) | Edmonton
- The Red Shirt Diaries (Matt Schuurman, Tara Koett, Paul Blinov, Gordie Lucius, Syd Campbell, Sam Stralak, featuring Hannah Spear and Mark Meer)
- redDoor (Justin Michael Terry & Ryan Marsico) | LA
- Sketch Night (directed by Paul Blinov & Tim Mikula)
- Society of Strange (Adam Meggido, Andrew Pugsley, with Mark Meer) | London
- Success 5000 (Robyn Slack & Josh Coss) | Edmonton
- The Sunday Service | Vancouver
- Sweater Puppies (Karen Cassady, Megan Leahy, Whittney Millsap) | Atlanta
- Tim & Vance from Tallboyz II Men | Toronto
- International Festival Ensemble directed by Sarah Michaelson and Adam Meggido, featuring Ronald Dario, Jonathan Demuth, Betse Green, Michelle Hart, Jenny Holden, Steven Hurst, Victoria Kucher, and Marguerite Lawler