Keith Johnstone built Theatresports, Gorilla Theatre, Maestro Impro and The Life Game in Calgary, and the International Theatresports Institute says so itself in his biography.
Not bad for a university drama department.
Who Keith Johnstone was before Calgary
He was born in Devon, England, in 1933, according to a finding aid for his papers. In the late 1950s he worked at London’s Royal Court Theatre as a play-reader, director and drama teacher. He also founded Theatre Machine, an improvisation group that toured Europe and North America.
The UCalgary Faculty of Arts says he joined the University of Calgary drama department in 1972.
The Institute says his Royal Court years pushed him to make performers “more spontaneous, responsive and alive in their work,” and that he built techniques on the idea that adults were “atrophied children.” The finding aid adds that he struggled in traditional schooling and then chose to reverse all that his teachers had told him.
That’s a fine origin story for a man who ended up teaching actors to stop planning.
How the Loose Moose Theatre Company started
The Institute describes a small group called the Secret Impro Theatre, which played impro games at lunch time to gauge audience response. In its words, “This group became The Loose Moose Theatre Company formed in 1977.”
Keith Johnstone’s own site says he co-founded the company in Calgary that year and served as its artistic director until 1998, which it counts as 21 years. It also says he retired from the University of Calgary as professor emeritus in 1995, and founded the International Theatresports Institute in 1998.
What else came out of those Calgary years
The book Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre comes first, and both the faculty and the finding aid date it to 1979. Then there’s the list of people who passed through his classroom.
The faculty names Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney of The Kids in the Hall and Rebecca Northan among his notable students and collaborators. Johnstone’s own site says his work has influenced actors, psychotherapists, drama schools, business trainers and research institutes, and that he taught at universities for more than six decades.
The goodbye
Johnstone died on March 11, 2023. The Institute and his own site both say a wake was held on June 25, 2023, at the Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary, and the Institute says it was live-streamed.
Any history of improv that skips a university drama department in Calgary is missing a chapter, and the people who wrote this one say as much.
Next up for you is Joyce Doolittle Helped Build Calgary Drama From the Ground Up. After that, Calgary’s Stagehands Union Began With 18 Names in 1911. Or try Shakespeare Has Had Quite a Time in Calgary for a change of pace.
Quick answers
Keith Johnstone built Theatresports, Gorilla Theatre, Maestro Impro and The Life Game in Calgary, and the International Theatresports Institute says so in his biography. He joined the University of Calgary drama department in 1972 and co founded the Loose Moose Theatre Company in 1977.
The International Theatresports Institute says the Secret Impro Theatre became The Loose Moose Theatre Company, formed in 1977. Keith Johnstone’s own site says he co founded the company in Calgary that year and served as its artistic director until 1998, which it counts as 21 years.
Keith Johnstone died on March 11, 2023. The Institute and his own site both say a wake was held on June 25, 2023, at the Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary, and the Institute says it was live streamed. His book Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre dates to 1979.
