Are you a performer in Vancouver that's interested in learning more about improvisational theatre and comedy? Why not apply for one of the Instant Shop's FREE introductory workshops? More information and the application is available HERE, or you can join them at their OPEN HOUSE, Thursday, March 31, 7-10pm at 650 E. Broadway.
And just what is Instant Shop, you ask? To borrow some words from Kaitlin Fontana...
"It’s unassuming, at least at first—a little storefront on a quieter strip of Vancouver’s East Broadway, painted white inside. Cruising past the cluster of businesses around it, which include a convenience store, cake shop and Ethiopian restaurant, you might not even notice the shop at first. Closer up, it’s a little harder to ignore. In 650A E. Broadway there is, for example, the cool, handmade wooden front counter/bar area. Then there are the rows of t-shirt hangers on one wall. On the opposite wall, the beginnings of a cool, marshland-themed mural by local artist extraordinaire Ehren Salazar. And there’s a foosball table, too. Every once in awhile someone presses their face to the glass, craning for a better look. This is the Instant Shop, and its proprietor Alistair Cook nods at anyone curious enough to peek in.
Cook has been hustling for the last few months to spruce up the place, which he discovered on a walk through the neighbourhood (he lives just around the corner). With nearly twenty years of improv experience under his belt, and a lot of renovation chops built up from remodeling his own home, he saw the storefront as a potential home base for Instant Theatre, the local alternative improv company he’s helmed since 1994.
Vancouver is notoriously short on venues. It’s hard, especially for theatre companies, to find an affordable, sustainable home in the city. Ingenuity and flexibility are key, and that’s where the Instant Shop steps in. “I’d been using a lot of different spaces,” Cook says of Instant Theatre’s last few years. “I’d been operating out of what is now called Little Mountain. I wanted to find a way to create the perfect environment, a hive of improvisational activity. To teach workshops, and to really start to recreate the excitement and community that I had done with Instant Theatre a few years ago.” Having given up Little Mountain a few years back, he was constantly on the lookout for a similar space to call home.
“When any inventor goes into his lab, cool results come out of it.”
Many Vancouver theatre companies like Instant choose to float, booking spaces to rehearse or perform whenever they need to. Having a home base for improv operations, however, is important to Cook, who strongly feels that community is not just about people, but also about place. “What I have found is that when this company goes to different theatre spaces, there are different energies—if I’m going to get all hippie—that can create a constant state of change versus a centralized place for the ideas to be created and for the alchemy to be done.” Put another way, having a single roof over their heads means that diverse people have the freedom to come together. “With the different styles of improvisation and tastes in comedy, there are disparate factions within improv,” Cook says. “I feel that Instant Theatre Company’s successes have been found in trying to honour all of those different styles but making them all part of one singular collage.”
Lest all this sharing and caring sound too sunshine and rainbows, Cook assures that there is more than just warm feelings to be had from a community-minded endeavour like the Shop. “The greatest evolution that I’ve seen in improvisation happens when people come together with different ideas and collaborate.” Good work, great shows and an advancement of the art form are therefore natural consequences of having a centralized place to gather and play. Clearly the community agrees: Instant will soon begin a new round of its five-month conservatory program with three separate ensembles. Newer improvisers will also be given the chance to explore Instant’s Phases program in the months ahead (more information at instanttheatre.com). Cook is not sure what kind of work is going to come out of the space just yet, but he’s excited. “That’s the beauty of improvisation, that I don’t know the what just yet. But I know that when B.A. Baracus gets his welding kit, or when Doc from Back to the Future heads under the Delorean—basically, when any inventor goes into his lab, cool results come out of it.”
As he putters around the Instant Shop, preparing it for a mid-February grand opening (complete with party; stay tuned) Cook seems at home and comfortable. This level of comfort in his new digs means Instant’s A.D. is ready to instruct and deploy a whole new generation of Vancouver improvisers. “I can now improvise as an instructor, because I have this space and I have everything at hand to create,” he says. The Shop is a chance for a fresh start for his company. “There’s a lot of history in Instant Theatre, and I’m very proud of that history. But it’s time for new people, and new history to be made.” Asked to sum up Instant Shop for any visitors seeking information about classes, he recommends that anyone who’s interested can go to the website or stop by 650A E. Broadway. He smiles. “This space is open. We have t-shirts for sale; they’re in the front.” "
