Joleen Ballendine
Joleen has been improvising with RapidFire theatre for over three years now, she was asked to join the company after her high school improv team came first in both the Nosebowl and Canadian Improv Games. That year she also won the most valuable player award. Since then she has enjoyed playing the weekly Friday night theatre sports and making the funnies with some of hers best friends in Chimprov groups such as, DotDotDot, Psycho Killers qu’est-ce que c’est, and looks forward to playing some shows with Tail as Old as Time, and Off Book. When Joleen is not on the Varscona stage you might be able to find her on others stages around the city acting. So come see me….please. Thank you.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST EMBARASSING MOMENT ON STAGE?
During Halloween Theatresports, two or three years ago, the last punishment we were dealt was Zombie McDonalds. They blended a Big Mac Meal together and made us drink the sludge. The moment I took a gulp I puked on the Varcona stage in front of a sold out theatre. The worst part is that Tim Mikula didn’t see that I had puked in the cup. He was being all cocky drinking the goop and serving himself seconds, and then he took my cup and drank my vomit! It was pretty bad.
HOW ABOUT YOUR GOLDEN MOMENT?
Some of my best moments have been with DOT DOT DOT, Jesse McPhee’s and my long-form CHiMPROV group. There’s nothing like creating a 45-minute story and having the audience scream and cheer at the ending.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT LONG-FORM VERSUS SHORT-FORM IMPROV?
Long-form gives me more of an artistic thrill. Long-form is more challenging in the way that story is the most important and you need to make your characters really matter, because you’re going to be with them for a very long time. Storytelling is one of my strengths. Short-form took me longer to get good at it. It relies on making joke after joke after joke. My sense of humour can be very different, so figuring out your audience quickly is the key to short-form.
WHAT’S THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL IMPROV SCENE?
Heart. I know that’s really cheesy, but I tell my young students, “you’re not a character. You’re care-actor.” The audience has to care and believe you. As much as we love getting laughs, it’s always better to have the audience go, ‘awww.’ That’s a lot harder to get out of them. They’re there to laugh — they don’t expect to have their heart broken.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR TEACHING ENDEVOURS?
I do a ton of teaching. I’m a freelance artist so I make my living off this shit. That’s a good quote eh? Through RFT I’m the head of the At-Risk-Youth Program, and I’ve taught classes with students as young as six all the way up to the GeriActors — a senior theatre group. One time at the Nosebowl there were three generations of people that I had taught sitting in the audience. They were a whole family. I had taught the mom in an adult’s workshop; the grandfather in the GeriActors and the granddaughter was actually on stage performing. We took a picture together — it was sweet, and goes to show that improv truly is for everyone.
CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING THAT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT YOU?
I have two toothbrushes. One lives in my shower, and the other lives by my sink. This allows me to brush my teeth in both locations. I always make sure I have two.
