CRUSH improv [ottawa]:
Born out of the ashes of a cosmic impact – a meteor that struck Lowertown in the early millennium – a troupe with a mandate to rock takes its first steps into a new world… (…someone should go warn the world.) Crush improv is AL Connors, Bad MacNeil, Cari Leslie, Dave Lindsay & Des Connors (yes: AL & Des are related). They are also taking Ottawa’s improv scene by storm – first by creating it, then by using a storm to take it. Right at the centre of it: their wildly successful Improv Awareness shows and the every-other-weekly Crush Fridays. Having already racked up billions of collective stage hours under other names, they have now joined forces and are venturing out of our Nation’s Capital to spread the word. Crush improv: awesomer than a rainbow on fire! www.crushimprov.com AL Connors: AL is Ottawa Regional Director of the CIG since the turn of the century and was awarded a United Way Community Builder award in 2006 and a CIG Founders Award in 2007 for his efforts. He has taught improv coast to coast, enjoys improvising with strangers and really enjoys improvising with the talented people of Crush. AL is also a professional actor and director with Ottawa’s premiere Shakespearean misfits, a Company of Fools Cari Leslie: Cari Leslie has been an active member of the improv community in Canada since 2002. Most recently, her improv skills are being displayed as the host of TV Ontario’s A World of Wonders where Cari travels from continent to continent telling it like it is.  Cari was the recipient of the Canadian Improv Games’ Johnson Heart Award in 2007 and continues to volunteer for the CIG. Des Connors: Young, impressionable, and bad at sports, Des quickly learned that improv was the best place to be smart and creative without having to write things down. Des is an associate director for the CIG, has worked at the notorious Improv Camp, and has done a smattering of stage work. She is also a Student Respiratory Therapist, works for a pharmaceutical lobbyist group and is the voice of an online game character named 'Pink Cougar'. Brad MacNeil: Brad is a writer and actor who has been doing improv for almost 15 years.  He's performed all over the world, including a 2003 tour to Afghanistan to perform for the Canadian troops.  He graduated from Studio 58 in Vancouver in 2000 proving that he's trained and old. Dave Lindsay: Improvising since 1997, Dave is most often seen on stage of the National Arts Centre hosting the Canadian Improv Games’ Ottawa Regional Tournament.  You may have also seen Dave on stage as a guest at A Night at the Bytown and at the Ism(e) cabaret shows at Club SAW. http://www.crushimprov.comshapeimage_4_link_0
HELLO
MY NAME IS:
CRUSH IMPROV
Home: Ottawa
Performing: AL Connors, Cari Leslie & the internet!