The first ever all girls team from Bernice MacNaughton High School will travel to Ottawa today to compete at the Canadian Improv Games National Festival.
They’ll go up against fifteen teams from across the country.
There’s no script, no lines to learn, the scenes and stories are made up in the moment.
“Five teams perform every night. We perform Thursday night. Out of those five teams, each teams does four events. The top five teams from the three nights make it to finals night. I feel like it’s less about winning for us, than to just enjoy the experience, because we are just so excited to go,” Grade 12 student Jayden Taylor says.
Grade 12 student Vanessa LaPlante has been on the team for three years. She jokes, that anything can happen, “You learn to accept the weird, cause if you don’t give in to the weird, you are the weird, cause you’re not in the weird world. You’re just outside looking in. As soon as you realize, everyone is a chicken, you can be a chicken, and that chickens are great! Then you can resort to being a chicken when you feel awkward!”
LaPlante says when she first started high school, the Improv group really helped to bring her out of her shell, “When I started this process, I was so scared. My first year, I didn’t say a word. In competition, you would see me as a tree in the back, or a clock. But everyone is so kind, no one is judging. All of a sudden, I was screaming and playing games that I never thought I would play. I’m singing, but I don’t sing.”
Taylor says, “The whole Improv community is so unique and it’s a specific type of person. Connection and communication with the team is really important, and the fact that we are all friends makes it a million times better.”
The seven girls who are a part of the team are Vanessa LaPlante, Julia Carew, Jordan Comeau, Abby Gallant, Sophia Hebert, Julia Moore, and Jayden Taylor.
For more information on the Canadian Improv Games National Festival, click HERE
