Lethbridge improv group the Drama Nutz are calling it quits with a massive show at Club Didi, June 24.
“ We‘re going out with a bang instead of with a whimper,” said artistic director David Gabert, who founded the troupe 10 years ago in 2006.
They were a regular fixture at Fort Whoop-Up with their summer gunfight productions and were familiar faces at countless community events as well as lucrative corporate gigs which have trickled out.
“Over the past 10 years, the Drama Nutz have had a lot of achievements. We’ve had a dedicated cast who have helped us do that,” said Drama Nutz general manager and founder David Gabert.
He took a job as project co-ordinator with the Canadian Mental Health Association and is the new general manager of Theatre Outré.
“ As life got busier, I haven’t had time to run my own group. I quickly realized we’ve been an active part of the community for 10 years and more and more people were asking us to volunteer our services and you can’t pay the bills that way. We want to pay our actors for their craft,” he said.
He said Drama Nutz veterans have taken their improv skills into the real world with them into a variety of different fields.
“I’d rather look at all of our accomplishments. We have people coming from Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat who work in tourism, music teachers, high school teachers, students, a professional magician in Jeff Newman and me, I guess, a mental health professional. We’ve given them skills they still use to this day,” he said.
“ For them, improv has become a life skill as much as it has become a professional skill,” he said reflecting on the troupe’s accomplishments.
“ But ultimately being asked to play for exposure has lead to our demise. Exposure doesn’t pay the rent. We can’t afford to pay our performers and they should be paid for their craft,” he said,noting this show is a celebration of the past 10 years.
“We’re bringing back people from all 10 years. John McBurnie who was in the very first Drama Nutz season with me in 2006 up to the current troupe of talented students. There will be 16 of us gracing the stage,” he said, promising a marathon two hour show of improv featuring all of the members performing familiar games from shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway and games they invented. They will also feature some of the troupe’s other big activities like their murder mysteries at Club Didi as well as their improvised soap opera Gomorrah and their space in the NAAG Gallery on the north side.
“It was shocking to see just how much we’d done as a troupe It was more of a challenge deciding what to do for the show and trimming it to two hours than it was to find material,” he said.
“ It’s been quite the experience,” he said.
“The show will be completely improvised based on audience suggestions so it can go absolutely anywhere,” he continued.
Local musician Nick Bohle will open the show at 7:30 with a solo set of music as well as playing music with the troupe.
He noted there will still be improv happening in Club Didi just not under the Drama Nutz banner.
“ It will be as Theatre Outré,” he said adding the improvised soap opera Gomorrah will continue in the new season.
Tickets for the last Drama Nutz show cost $10. E-mail
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or call 403-892-8719 for tickets
