Battle of the Troupes set for Jan. 9

Written by Janis Gibson
Friday, 01 January 2010 00:00

In celebration of the third anniversary of the debut performance of Troupe du Jour, an improv group of high school students under the direction of Diana Canova, a competition titled Troupe du Jour vs. Troupe du Yester-jour will be conducted at the Redding Community Center Saturday, Jan. 9. It will feature current members of the group and Troupe alumni, original members who graduated in June.

The show, which begins at 7 p.m., will feature improv game competition between about a dozen each original and “new” members of the troupe, with audience members acting as judges.

The show will benefit the Joel Barlow Arts Foundation, which has as its mission aiding with capital improvements to the Barlow theater space, bringing outside performing artists to Barlow for in-school programs and funding fine and practical arts projects at the school, including murals and materials for art projects to beautify the school.

“I am very excited to try a competition between the two different ‘generations’ of performers,” said Chris Wasko, one of the Troupe’s founders. “Many of us have continued improv and theater in college, so performing with old friends will be an opportunity to juxtapose our prior training to our performance at the college level. Personally, I found that when I started doing improv at UConn, I gained a whole new level of respect for the quality and professionalism we achieved with Troupe du Jour.”

New member Adam Schuurmans countered, “Some of the alumni were a bit rusty at the last rehearsal, but I think we’ll need to bring more moisture to the performance if we want to fully decompose them, metaphorically speaking.”

Troupe du Jour was formed during the summer of 2006 after several Barlow students were inspired by the Freestyle Repertory Theatre of New York, which performed as part of the Hermes Art Series at the Mark Twain Library. Troupe du Jour meets weekly for practice.

Looking ahead to the show, Ms. Canova said, “This year we continue our tradition by training new members who are interested in learning improvisation not just for the Troupe’s purposes, but also to become better actors. I have a wonderful new group who are talented, enthusiastic and dedicated. We are excited to have our founding members back for the Jan. 9 show and will be incorporating the new members into the show in order for them to get on stage and ‘work out’ in front of an audience.

“It’s amazing how smart and adept all these kids are,” she added. “They continue to inspire me with their wit and imagination. Most of the Troupe members continue as members of their college improv groups, which really makes me proud — and keeps them sharp!”

Troupe co-founder Nick Wasko said, “Being able to perform back on the old stomping grounds is a breath of fresh air. Doing college improv is great, but there’s a higher level of professionalism as well as nostalgia performing at home. From what I saw at rehearsal last week, the new troupe will be a worthy adversary!”

New member Zach Sherman, agrees, challenging, “Alumni? More like a-LAME-ni!”

General admission tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Tickets will be available at the door, although reservations are recommended since only 90 seats are available. For reservations or more information, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

This article was contributed on behalf of Troupe du Jour.

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