For more than a decade, Kamloops’ Freudian Slips have been making things up as they go along. After all, that’s the whole point.
The local improv troupe recently held auditions and welcomed three new members into the fold, bringing the current roster to 10 performers. Founding member Dan Ondang said the bigger group gives everyone a little more flexibility and, hopefully, keeps anybody from getting burned out.
The new performers will have some time to settle in, get to know the rest of the troupe and figure out just what they have gotten themselves into before being tossed in front of an audience.
“We want to give them enough time to come to rehearsals and get to know everybody and get to know what we do,” Ondang said. “So that they can feel confident when we put them on stage for the first time.”
The new faces coming to the stage aren’t the only change for the Freudian Slips. The group is stepping back from regular monthly shows and focusing instead on fewer, bigger performances.
One of those is Slip Ups, coming to the stage at the Paramount Theatre on Nov. 7, and it’s a little different than what longtime audiences might have come to expect. Though it’s just as hilarious.
Inspired by shows like Dropout TV’s Make Some Noise and the hit British comedy series Taskmaster, Slip Ups takes a turn away from the familiar Whose Line Is It Anyway? style of improv, and dabbles in a fresh, modern modality.
Instead of relying entirely on suggestions shouted out by the audience, prompts and challenges are prepared ahead of time by the host, specifically designed to play to the performers’ strengths. Or torment them. Possibly both.
“It lets us do more prep,” Ondang said.
That little bit of preparation opens up a lot of possibilities. Traditional improv relies heavily on performers miming props and creating the world of a scene out of thin air. With Slip Ups, they can bring actual objects, planned challenges, and a little more chaos into the mix. And who doesn’t love a bit more chaos?
Ondang hinted about one such game that involves performers tasting several mystery items and then trying to hide who got the particularly awful one.
He isn’t saying what they’ll be eating, though.
“I will tell you, the show’s at the Paramount, and it’s topical,” he teased.
The Freudian Slips will also return to the Hydra Performing Arts Festival in November and will continue hosting their monthly Improv Jam at the Stock Pot Cafe.
Held at 2 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month, the jam is by donation, even if the donation is zero dollars. No experience is necessary and, maybe more importantly for any newbies, nobody is going to drag you onto a stage. Unless you want to.
The Freudian Slips got their start around 2015 or 2016 as a branch of Chimera Theatre, and Ondang is now the only remaining original member. In this case, however, that turnover is something worth celebrating for many reasons.
Former Slips are now involved in things like professional theatre, Fringe tours, acting schools, online influencer careers, and leadership roles in the arts.
“It’s been great to see the Freudian Slips be part of their journey into having a hobby or career in the theatre,” Ondang said.
He hopes today’s performers will take those skills wherever they go next because, as it turns out, improv is useful in many places well beyond the stage.
“Whether you like it or not, you do it every day,” Ondang said about improv. “We don’t have a script for our real lives.”
Neither do the Freudian Slips. And they’ve been doing pretty well without one, now, for over a decade.