ALL-STARS [all over!]:
HELLO
MY NAME IS:
 
 
It wasn’t enough to have some of the best improv outfits in North America come to Toronto for COMBUSTION. We’re a bunch of selfish jerks and we also had to have some of the most excellent individuals this continent has to offer. These stellar performers will be featured in Festival shows & projects throughout the week. Kirsten Rasmussen RAPID FIRE THEATRE [edmonton]: Kirsten Marie Rasmussen grew up in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. It was there that she scraped her knees, enjoyed ice cream on a hot sunny day and found her love for making faces. She has spent the last seven years honing those skills in Edmonton. For the last three and a half of those years Kirsten has been a player with Rapid Fire Theatre in their Theatresports and Chimprov shows. This past year, Rapid Fire has taken Kirsten to many improv festivals around Canada, VTSL’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Calgary’s Improv Briar, Montreal’s Imfest and of course Toronto’s COMBUSTIONfestival! Kirsten also had the amazing opportunity to hang out at the Canadian Improv Games National Festival & Final this year, it was way too much fun and she hasn’t been able to have as much fun since, so she’s really leaning on this festival to make it happen. She also taught a bunch of workshops at CIG Nationals on character creation and physicality, if she was a chef these would be her best dishes. Kirsten is an almost graduate of Bachelor’s of Arts Honours degree in Theatre, which included much essay writing about topics like phenomenology, and she is a definite graduate of the U of A’s Fine Arts Acting program, where she studied Shakespeare and Stage Fighting with swords and daggers. Kirsten has also studied Pochinko clown with Jan Henderson, and Mike Kennard (Mump of Mump and Smoot). She also is a dancer of many years and likes to sing and likes cartwheels and loves people who smile, and is moving to Montreal for the summer to study French! Wahoo! Rene Dellefont THE DOUG DANK PROJECT [atlanta]: René has been improvising for over a decade; 8 of those have been as a member of the ensemble at Dad's Garage Theater Company in Atlanta, GA. While at Dad's Garage, René has directed several seasons of their improvised soap opera Scandal! and curated and directed The Saturday Morning Pajama Jam, - a fully improvised throwback to the Saturday morning shows of the 80's that featured the world's only improvised cartoon which René created in 2002 in conjunction with HomestarRunner creator Matt Chapman. In 2006, René founded The Doug Dank Project, a long form improv show which pays tribute to the long-forgotten storyteller Doug Dank by fusing the unpredictable and impulsive nature of improv with the steadiness and permanence of true life stories. In 2008, René curated The Last Seen Improv Festival which brought improvisors from Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver together to work as an ensemble. René has studied with Keith Johnstone (founder of LooseMoose Theatre, Calgary), Randy Dixon (Unexpected Productions, Seattle), Joe Bill and Mark Sutton (Bassprov, Chicago), Jacob Bannigan (Rapid Fire Theater, Edmonton), The Pajama Men (Chicago), Alistair Cook (Instant Theater, Vancouver), and Bob Dassie (Improv Olympic, Chicago and Los Angeles). He has led workshops and taught Beginner to Advanced classes in Atlanta, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto as well as joining the CIG’s Improv Camp as an instructor in 2008. He has performed at The World Domination Tournament at Dad's Garage Theater (2000 - 2008), Improvaganza at Rapid Fire Theater in Edmonton (2002 - 2008) where he was a member of the Improv All Stars team in 2007, The Catch 23 Tournament of Wonders in Toronto (2005, 2006), The Winnipeg IF Improv Festival (2007), The Providence Improv Festival (2008), The Charleston Comedy Festival (2007, 2008), The Vancouver International Improv Festival (2007), The PROJECTproject COMBUSTIONfestival in Toronto (2008, 2009), and the VTSL St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (2009) where he was awarded the Lyle Moon MVP award by his peers. During the summer of 2006, René performed at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and took the Saturday Morning Pajama Jam to the Edmonton International Fringe Festival where it was compared to MTV's Wonder Showzen and hailed as a "Christmas miracle." In June of 2008, he joined forces with Instant Theatre’s Alistair Cook and toured Canada performing together in Toronto, Regina, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. He used to have a dog named Mitchell. Kaitlin Fontana ROSA PARKS IMPROV [vancouver]: Kaitlin is an award-winning writer and improvisor who's spent the last few years performing, teaching and writing in Vancouver, New York City and places between. She performs with Vancouver TheatreSports League, all-female supergroup Rosa Parks, and with duos Kitchen Party and acclaimed bi-coastal, international group Buckshot N Benny. Kaitlin is the editor-in-chief of improvisation.ca. She's currently writing her first novel. Caitlin Curtis KELVIN IMPROV [winnipeg]: Caitlin is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba where she has spent the past four years improvising regularly at places like the King’s Head Pub and the Pulford Street Improv Palace on bills with such notorious local heroes as CRUMBS, Outside Joke and Steven McIntyre. She has also performed at the Next Act Festival in Toronto. A veteran of the Canadian Improv Games herself, Caitlin recently returned to Winnipeg after coaching a team to the National Finals in Ottawa.
ALL-STARS!
Home: all over!
Performing: Kirsten Rasmussen, Kaitlin Fontana, Rene Dellefont & Caitlin Curtis