Why get involved in the Canadian Improv Games? I would like to highlight five good reasons:

              1.Positive Energy.
                 The CIG tournament at the National Arts Centre in
                 Ottawa is an unforgettable experience. The school spirit,
                 camaraderie, energy and talent in the theatre is
                 overwhelming – hundreds of teenagers are totally
                 focused for three full hours each evening on creating,
                 supporting and cheery quality improvisation. The scenes
                 are creative, intelligent, varied and clean. Those
                 politicians intent on cutting funding for the arts have
                 clearly never experienced CIG.
              2.The Huddle.
                 Each 4-minute scene is preceded by a 15-second huddle where the team must
                 quickly decide the who, what, where and when of a scene based on the
                 suggestions received. Teams have a mere 15 seconds to accomplish what the
                 business world needs a full day of meetings to do. Listening to my students in
                 the huddle never ceases to amaze me. The huddle takes lots of practice to
                 perfect, but what a learning tool!
              3.Teamwork.
                 For a scene to succeed, the team must do two things: draw out the individual
                 strengths of each team member and collaborate to support each other and
                 create the world of the play. Once again, this takes practice to perfect, but the
                 results are astounding.
             4.Rehearsal.
                 Yes, even improv requires hours of rehearsal. Team must rehearse to learn how
                 to highlight the skill of each event; how to make full use of their suggestions; how
                 to create, through physicalization, the where of a scene; and how to become a
                 unified team able to communicate well with one another. It is this playing and
                 criticizing of their own work that provides students with the most long lasting
                 benefits of the CIG…and let’s face it, we don’t teach drama in our schools to
                 create a host of professional actors. We hope to foster communicators,
                 decision makers, team players and human beings capable of unlimited
                 creativity. The CIG is a great vehicle for this.
             5.The CIG Staff and Volunteers.
                 You will never meet a more positive group. Scott Florence¹ and his colleagues
                 are clearly committed to students and the benefits of the Canadian Improv
                 Games in their education. Each year, many high school graduates from across
                 the country volunteer to return to Ottawa to help out. The organizers have
                 created an outstanding training package that even a novice can pick up and
                 use. They are gracious hosts who go out of their way to accommodate every
                 team.

            ¹ from 1992 - 1997, Scott Florence was the General Manager for the CIG; currently he is acting as
            interim General Manager