Courses

What the Academy is all about. Dive deep into a wide range of improv courses, tailored to suit you wherever you are on your improv journey.

Workshops

Standalone workshops to hone a very particular set of skills, Liam Neeson style. These are specialized classes designed to up your game and make you a well rounded, polished improvisor.

Shows

Check out shows on sale now, as well as upcoming events! Ensemble performances, Crush performances, guest performances - so much happening on stage!

The Crush Academy Advantage

The main goal of the Academy is to make the Ottawa improv community stronger by bringing it together and sharing its collective knowledge. With Crush leveraging nearly a literal century of combined improv experience, as well as a track record of bringing Ottawa high quality improv learning opportunities through the My Summer Crush improv series, we're able to bring you the best possible improv curriculum from some of the most experienced improvisors this city has to offer. The Academy is also the only improv education network in Ottawa looking to build a curriculum of curated workshops pulled from different parts of the Ottawa improv community, because you benefit the most from getting as many different perspectives and experiences as possible.

There are workshops and courses for those looking to learn the basics, as well as opportunities to perform in ensembles, and to sharpen the skills of even the most seasoned improvisors. In the past, Crush has brought exciting workshop opportunities to Ottawa, including movement for improvisers, character creation, and sketch writing through improv, taught by Kids in the Hall alumnus Kevin McDonald. We look forward to continuing to grow and strengthen the Ottawa improv community with the Crush Improv Academy.

The Crush Lineup

With nearly a century's worth of improv experience, of performing and teaching, Crush members have each had a passion for improv for a long time. Here's who they are.

Tim Anderson

With a passion for improv, comedy, and storytelling, Tim has spent over half of his life devoted to performing, coaching, and teaching improv. He was first exposed to improv through the Canadian Improv Games 17 years ago, and it was love at first sight. Since then, Tim has has been a cast member at the Institution Comedy Club where he appeared in the improvised serial Capital Indiscretions, performed at Centrepointe Theatre, The Gladstone Theatre, Yuk Yuk’s, the Ottawa Improv Festival, and the My Summer Crush summer improv series.

AL Connors

This Crush co-founder has been working in the professional world of theatre since the turn of the century. A graduate of the University of Ottawa’s theatre program, he’s best known for his work with Shakespearean misfits A Company of Fools Theatre, and his 16 years running Canadian Improv Games in Ottawa. He has taught and performed from coast to coast as well as in Australia and that one time in China.

Dan Lajoie

Dan has twenty years of improv experience, as a performer, judge and coach. He has served as the National Head Judge and Assistant General Manager of the Canadian Improv Games. He also has worked roving animation contracts for the past fifteen years for clients such as Nortel, Winterlude, the Tulip Festival and the Canadian Military. He was a member of a Company of Fools, Ottawa’s pre-eminent Shakespeare company, and has performed and directed with Eddie May Mysteries for over a decade. A graduate of the University of Ottawa Theatre and Education programs, Dan currently works with at-risk youth as a High School teacher.

Jordan Moffatt

Jordan Moffatt has been a member of Crush Improv since 2011 and is a founding member of Grimprov. He regularly performs at the Bad Dog Comedy Theatre in Toronto, where he has been a cast member in PushPins, TheatreSports, Network Notes, and many others. Jordan is also an active volunteer for the Canadian Improv Games, having served as Online Tournament Director, judge, referee, and trainer. His short fiction has been featured all over the web, including in the 2015 Broken Pencil Magazine Indie Writers Deathmatch. He is a founding editor of the online humour magazine Vandercave and the writer of On Dinosaur, an informational guide to the world of dinosaurs.

Kristine Shadid

Kristine is coming up on the decade-long mark in her improv career. She has trained and taught improv at the University of Ottawa for 4 years, as well as studied under the guidance of improvisors from Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, and New York, and she's always excited to share that knowledge with her students. Kristine has performed all over the damn place, in the past with MI-6, Birds of Prey, Hall of Justice, and currently with Elgin Street Improv and Crush.

Des Warmington

Des Warmington (had the Connors surgically removed in 2011) started improvising in her basement along side her brother when she was 15 (other people were there. They’re not that kind of siblings). She’s been a CIG national finalist and judged on regional and national levels. To this day she loves the opportunities for silliness improv presents her, the multiple arenas for shouting, and the time she gets to spend with a bunch of goofy weirdos who are just like her. She is a co-founder of Crush, though if she had it her way, it’d be called Exit Strategy, which she maintains is a perfectly good name. She’s in Ottawa, and says she’s on hiatus, but still shows up now and again.

Follow

  
Have a question about courses, workshops, or anything else Academy related? Just drop us a line with your question, and we'll get back to you right away.

Want to stay on top of the goings on with Crush Academy? The best way to hear about new workshops, classes, and upcoming shows is to sign up for our newsletter! We promise to only send you an email on the first of every month, and to not sell your information to some guy in the alley behind Tim Horton's.