Andrea’s lifelong love of improv is driven by the idea that it is a form of theatre, not a noisy dive-bar diversion or a developmental tool for scripted work. The skills she has developed as an improviser strengthen her work in plays and onscreen, and vice versa. 

 

The backbone of Andrea’s improv career is her improv company, Outside Joke. She helped found the company in 2002 with friends she went to high school with, all of whom had participated in Canada’s national competitive improv league (the Canadian Improv Games). Outside Joke has travelled to improv, theatre and Fringe festivals in almost every major city in Canada. Over the years, through the hiring of private coaches, many workshops and intense self-direction, Outside Joke has developed a nationally-recognized brand. Outside Joke prioritizes plot that is driven by character, performing long-form improvised musicals, with completely improvised characters, storylines, score and songs. 

 

As an individual performer, Andrea seeks training and performance opportunities independently from her company. She has trained at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic, and has taken advantage of numerous training sessions at improv festivals across the country. Andrea has performed extensively in Toronto with improv companies Bad Dog Theatre, Sex-T Rex, Ghost Jail Theatre and many others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrea is often hired to lead improv workshops and training sessions for performers and non-performers alike. She leads workshops for high school students, improv companies, corporate clients and medical students. Andrea frequently teaches workshops in Medical Improv, a program developed at Chicago’s Northwestern University that adapts improv exercises for medical professionals seeking to improve their interpersonal skills. In addition to leading Medical Improv workshops for professional clients, she teaches the full curriculum every year to fourth year medical students in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine.