Wellington Improvisation Troupe
Encyclopedia
The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is Wellington’s not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre
group. WIT performs and teaches the skills of improvisational theatre at community venues around the Wellington
region.
Theatre is made up on the spot by some of Wellington’s leading improvisers and courageous newcomers alike, based on suggestions from the audience
. WIT players share a love of storytelling
and work together as a team to inspire the audience. WIT theatre is sometimes serious, often hilarious and always totally unpredictable.
WIT members performed in the ‘Micetro’ show that won the New Zealand International Fringe Festival Best Comedy Award in 2003, and decided it was about time they formed a group that had a name. WIT brought together many of Wellington’s casual improvoholics, out-of-work actor
s and bored public servants. Now made up of over forty members, the group welcomes people from all walks of life.
The establishment of WIT reflects the enduring popularity of improvisation
around the globe and its resurgence in New Zealand.
WIT launched all of its core shows over 2004, participated in the New Zealand
Fringe and Comedy Festivals and become licensed as an International Theatresports Institute group. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Major WIT shows include:
WIT also produces the New Zealand Improv Festival in October each year.
WIT Objectives
WIT’s specific objectives as listed in the incorporated
society’s founding document are as follows:
WIT Creative Background and Philosophy
The Creative Philosophy of WIT resides in the foundation of the teachings of Keith Johnstone
, a world renowned teacher in the art of improvisation and its links to the theatre. WIT hosted Keith Johnstone for a national masterclass in improvisation in Wellington in June 2004, producing The Secret Origin of Improv, the only show ever directed by Johnstone in New Zealand.
WIT has three creative drivers – telling stories, cooperation and having fun. WIT believe these drivers are interdependent and create the best kind of improvisational theatre. This philosophy makes WIT unique in New Zealand and is reflected in its choice of a not-for-profit organisational structure. Comedy
is regarded as the pre-requisite that improvisation is best known for on a public front. However, the philosophy of WIT aims to also explore beyond the bounds of purely comedic improvisation.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
group. WIT performs and teaches the skills of improvisational theatre at community venues around the Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
region.
Theatre is made up on the spot by some of Wellington’s leading improvisers and courageous newcomers alike, based on suggestions from the audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
. WIT players share a love of storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
and work together as a team to inspire the audience. WIT theatre is sometimes serious, often hilarious and always totally unpredictable.
WIT members performed in the ‘Micetro’ show that won the New Zealand International Fringe Festival Best Comedy Award in 2003, and decided it was about time they formed a group that had a name. WIT brought together many of Wellington’s casual improvoholics, out-of-work actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s and bored public servants. Now made up of over forty members, the group welcomes people from all walks of life.
The establishment of WIT reflects the enduring popularity of improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
around the globe and its resurgence in New Zealand.
WIT launched all of its core shows over 2004, participated in the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Fringe and Comedy Festivals and become licensed as an International Theatresports Institute group. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Major WIT shows include:
- Micetro Improv, a licensed format where improvisers battle through rounds of elimination to become the "Micetro" for the night. Winner of the 2003 New Zealand International Fringe Festival Comedy Award.
- Gorilla Theatre, a licensed format where four-five experienced improvisers compete as directors of scenes to take home a prize – the gorillaGorillaGorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
. - The Improv Divas, New Zealand’s first all-female improvisation act that performs various formats – ‘highly inventive’ (National Business ReviewNational Business ReviewThe National Business Review is a weekly New Zealand newspaper aimed at the business sector. The paper is owned by Barry Colman who also publishes the Grocers Review and several other small trade publications....
). - lovepossibly, WIT's first long-form show - an improvised "chick-flick" where the audience calls the shots.
- The All-New Old-Time Radio Show - the first improv theater show in New Zealand to use sound as the principal medium for improvisation.
- The Young and the Witless - an improvised soap opera, which usually runs over Winter in Wellington.
- Thank God it's Improv - WIT's late-night experimental slot at Wellington's experimental BATS Theatre.
- WIT-side Story - WIT's long-form musical and latest format.
WIT also produces the New Zealand Improv Festival in October each year.
WIT Objectives
WIT’s specific objectives as listed in the incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
society’s founding document are as follows:
- To promote, develop and foster the performance of improvised theatre and comedyComedyComedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
in the Wellington region. - To teach the skills of improvised theatre and comedy through workshops, classes and any other means to members and to the wider Wellington community.
- To encourage the having of fun and the not taking of oneself too seriously.
WIT Creative Background and Philosophy
The Creative Philosophy of WIT resides in the foundation of the teachings of Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor whose teachings and books have focused on improvisational theatre and have had a major influence on the art of improvisation.-Education:...
, a world renowned teacher in the art of improvisation and its links to the theatre. WIT hosted Keith Johnstone for a national masterclass in improvisation in Wellington in June 2004, producing The Secret Origin of Improv, the only show ever directed by Johnstone in New Zealand.
WIT has three creative drivers – telling stories, cooperation and having fun. WIT believe these drivers are interdependent and create the best kind of improvisational theatre. This philosophy makes WIT unique in New Zealand and is reflected in its choice of a not-for-profit organisational structure. Comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
is regarded as the pre-requisite that improvisation is best known for on a public front. However, the philosophy of WIT aims to also explore beyond the bounds of purely comedic improvisation.