Joleen Ballendine started her role as Director of Outreach and Welcome in 2023, after previously serving as the Director of Education (2015-2018). Her start in Rapid Fire began in 2008 after she and her high school team won both the Nose Bowl and Canadian Improv Games in the company’s festival that would later be known as The WildFire Festival. That year she was awarded the very first Most Valuable Improvisor Award and she and her team were asked to join the cast of Rapid Fire Theatre. One year later, with Joleen at the helm, the RFT Outreach Program was born. This program that started in Prince Rupert School, an offshoot of the amiskwaciy Academy has now worked in communities like Boyle Street, iHuman, Fresh Start, John Howard Society, and many more.
Improv has taught me to be a decent human being, it would only be decent of me to pay it forward.
As Director of Outreach & Welcome, Joleen oversees all of Rapid Fire’s community building work through our Improv for Good program. Joleen started teaching improv to give others the gift she was given. She noticed the effects it had on her own mental wellness, confidence, and connections with others and wanted others to discover the same thing in themselves. Her introduction to the form came at a very pinnacle time in her life and as a result, she has always been passionate about returning the favour.
