Bad Dog Theatre Presents COMBUSTIONfestival

From May 27 - June 1, the Bad Dog Theatre Company is thrilled to present the return of COMBUSTIONfestival, Toronto's premiere celebration of improvised theatre, unscripted experiments and comedic mischief.

Launched in 2008, this week-long comedy party will bring together the most exciting, talented, boundary-pushing, genre-bending, industry-leading improvisers from across North America (and, in this case, Spain) - to showcase what they do best and to collaborate on festival-exclusive projects and shows.

Festival Guests include:

BLACKOUT (Minneapolis), Cipha Sounds (New York), Curious Comedy Theater's Ruby Rocket (Portland), Casually Dope (Baltimore), Ed Tom + Rueben (Atlanta), Feña Ortalli (Madrid), Ashley Rapuano (New York), AL Connors (Ottawa), Sister Act (Vancouver/Toronto), PEDA improv (Vancouver), Kadi Diop (Montreal), the Bad Dog Featured Players (Toronto) and more!

All of the guests will be showcasing their own work and respective styles and then mixing it up with some of Toronto's top performers to take on improvised projects specially amped up for the COMBUSTIONfestival.

Festival highlights include:

• Take it Personal by New York's Cipha Sounds (Chappelle Show, ROCnation, Hot 97) and featuring Baltimore's BLACKOUT improv. Cipha Sounds and his team create a comedy show from scratch: no script, no rehearsal, all freestyle - based on the real life stories of Hip Hop celebrities and personalities.
  
• The Toronto premiere of Ruby Rocket - starring Portland's Stacey Hallal (AD of Curious Comedy Theater), weaving poetic noir storytelling, physical comedy, and multimedia imagery in this hilarious improvised show featuring a guest cast of Toronto's top improvisers
  
• The return of 2018's audience favourites and Baltimore darlings, Casually Dope (Rasheed Green, Ti Coleman, Harold Young & Blue Cavell-Allette), bringing their signature style of high-energy audience-inspired comedy and unforgettable characters.
  
• Duo magic: Vancouver's Sister Act (Christine Bortolin & Bia Joudaki) and PEDA improv (Ese Atawo & Patrick Dodd)
  
• A bilingual (Spanish/English) presentation of Un Dia Qualquiera (Any Given Day) created by Feña Ortalli (Madrid) and featuring Monica Garrido, Patricia Tab & Isaac Luy.
  
• Unmissable festival collaborations including the immensely-popular multimedia Doppelganger Video Project (with directors Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Michal Grajewski, Bita Joudaki & Tom Rittenhouse), and COMBUSTIONfestival editions of Bad Dog favourites like fan favourite Toronto, I Love You directed by Julie Dumais Osborne & accompanied by Nick DiGaetano, Coko Galore's musically-influenced: PLAYLIST, Vance Gillis' scripted/improvised theatre hybrid: 50/50, and Zohaib Khan's deliciously chaotic 40 in forty - a show featuring forty improvisers in just forty minutes.
  
• a public festival workshop slate that includes Get Them Right Away with Cipha Sounds, Finding Your Voice a workshop for women of colour with Blue Cavell-Allette (Baltimore) and THE SOUNDTRACK: Rethinking How Music Is Used in Improv Theatre with Sarah Michaelson a.k.a. DJ Mama Cutsworth (Winnipeg) - an internationally renowned DJ & theatrical collaborator who will be underscoring a number of the COMBUSTIONfestival shows as well as providing the music for the festival's opening night party.

COMBUSTIONfestival 2019
May 27 - June 1, 2019
Drop-in workshops every night at 6pm or 7pm (see schedule)
Shows at 8pm & 9:30pm throughout the week
as well as 7pm & 11pm from Thursday-Saturday
Bad Dog Comedy Theatre - 875 Bloor St. W. (upstairs)
$5-$15 (a limited number of full night and full festival passes available)
Visit www.baddogtheatre.com for details.

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