Colin Matty

Colin Matty has been with the company ever since he and his pals won the Nosebowl in 2006. He plays Friday nights in Theatresports and every so often can be seen with the Imagineers at Chimprov. He’s also acted in and wrote a bunch of different productions for NextFest, Fringe, and New Works, among other things. One of his favorite things is his assortment of good friends. If you talk to him, maybe you can be good friends with him too.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE:

Actor: Patrick Stewart.

Food: Mama’s spaghetti. Bolognese if you please.

Videogame: These days League of Legends is my poison.

Book: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, House of Leaves and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler.

Website: www.postsecret.com

Piece of clothing: I have an old military-style jacket that I got for $8 at Value Village. It makes me look sharp as a tack and fits like a glove.

Music: It changes weekly — daily maybe, but my stand-bys are Hawksley Workman, Death from Above 1979 and Woodhands.

Vice: Dreaming. Anytime I can escape to the realm of the ethereal mind it’s a good day.

Philosopher: Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialism rocks! I also enjoy Nietzsche, because he’s insane, but a lot of fun.

 

TELL US ABOUT THE SPOKEN WORD AWARD YOU JUST WON:

Earlier this year myself and three other Edmontonians, Ahmed Ali, Mary Pinkoski, and Liam Coady, competed at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto. We tested our mettle against the other poets from around the country and we brought the gold home to Edmonton.

WHAT’S THE KEY TO A SOLID SLAM POETRY PERFORMANCE?

Slam poetry is a combination of performance and poetry. You can have the most beautiful metaphors in the world, but if you can’t make people care about them then they’re not going to score you well. In the same token, if you’re all flash and no substance then you won’t do well either.

HOW IS YOUR POETRY AND IMPROV PERFORMING LINKED?

In both you have to commit to everything you’re doing. You have to be able to sell it. If you can’t make the audience care about what you’re saying or doing you’re wasting your time. In both my improv and my poetry I try and make sure its something that I’ll enjoy doing in front of people. Whether that’s because it’s a really heartfelt emotional piece or really fun word play and stupid puns.

WHAT’S THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL IMPROV SCENE?

Dick jokes. Just kidding, well kind of. I would say commitment to whatever it is you’re doing is tantamount to the success of an improv scene. You don’t even have to have a full story necessarily. As long as there is something engaging going on, the audience will ride with you.

WHAT’S IS IT LIKE TO WORK FOR RAPID FIRE THEATRE?

Working for Rapid Fire is like riding the Mind Bender. It’s one hell of a ride, you’re all strapped in together and it’s only ever killed one person.