I just finished a fantastic week at the Calgary Fringe Festival.

I was one of the performers in the show Naked Improv (that is naked in the metaphorical sense… primarily) as well as co-hosting some of the late night Cabarets.

However, the highlight for me was not any of my scheduled appearances. It was the special Improv Mash-Up show.

A show had dropped out of the festival, leaving one of the venues with two empty time-slots on the final day.

The theatre was rented, the volunteers were scheduled, so I thought it would be a shame to let that all go to waste. With a few emails back and forth I received permission from the festival director to put together a show for 2:30 on Saturday afternoon.

Great! Except now I had to actually produce a show. In two days.

I wanted to bring together all the improvisors that were at the Fringe Festival that week, and I’m thrilled to say that the other artists were excited to take part. So I had the venue, and now a cast. The final challenge was actually bringing in an audience.

I rushed to draw up a poster, got it printed in full-size and handbill size, and began flyering the street. It’s the core marketing tactic of Fringe festivals. Simply talk to the patrons of the festivals. They are always on the look-out for their next theatre experience.

In addition, we hit “social media”, creating a Facebook event and plenty of mentions on Twitter. The Calgary Fringe Festival staff was very helpful in spreading the word online as well.

Any time you produce a public show it remains a big mystery as to whether or not people will actually be there to watch. It’s nerve-wracking to wait and see if all the efforts will pay off. So when I walked into the theatre 5 minutes before showtime I was absolutely elated to see a nice, happy, and hearty crowd sitting there. A huge sigh of relief.

A pre-show audience snapshot by somebody on the Fringe team

And then, it was showtime.

I was playing the role of show host, and hit the stage with genuine excitement about what we were all about to see.

I had the support of a brilliant cast of improvisors…

• ShLong Form Improv, four Americans from South Korea
• Kathleen Phelan from the Sabotage show
• Mikaela Dyke who was presenting Dying Hard at the Fringe
• Chase Padgett of 6 Guitars, who was lending his improv and musical skills to the show
• Some of the gang from the Improv Guild, the group doing the Naked Improv show

It was a true collaboration, with the performers mixing it up and working with each other wonderfully. The show was a huge hit, and afterwards I had both improvisors and audience alike telling me how much fun they had.

It was over so fast, but it remains my personal highlight from a very busy week of shows.

A heartfelt thank you to the Calgary Fringe Festival and the artists who helped me make it happen.

-Ryan