Well we've been to Canada and back since we last wrote so let me review the last few days and tell you all where in the world Glassworks is headed next.
Day 7: Vancouver Show
This was our debut performance in the incredible county that is Canada! Seriously, I love it there. All of the skyscrapers were eerily similar being made with steel and sky blue glass, making Vancouver look very advanced as a city. The window color is very specific. I'd like to reach out to LEGO fans everywhere to better visualize the color. Remember the color of the window glass in you LEGO bin? Well, that's the color. You can also just see the pictures below if you're too old or young to know what LEGOs are.
We roamed about Stanley park, which I found out is the largest urban park in the continent, and then we headed to the University of British Columbia for our show with UBCimprov. The campus is massive! Really fancy looking buildings and acres upon acres separating the campus from the rest of Vancouver. Fun fact about this University (like most others), any Canadian that attends this school will pay only $4000 a year as opposed to each and every international student that pays upwards of $30,000 each year! That's ridiculous. If I were to attend UBC, becoming a Canadian citizen would be first on my to-do list.
The show with UBCimprov was great! Students packed the seats and overflowed onto the stairs to be a part of the evening. UBCimprov has three separate teams that played that evening and we squeezed in a set right before their top team performed. Almost everyone knew what Wisconsin was! My guess was that only half of the crowd would know. I felt a bit nostalgic watching the UBC teams perform as it reminded me a lot of my years at MHS doing improv. Their teams each consisted of ten to twelve performers on the stage, and had a combination of short-form and long-form improv with each of their sets. Their fans are very devoted and keep coming back week after week to support improv in their community, which is a really great thing to do!! I don't have access to any pictures of us performing, but there are some of the space and other teams.
Afterwards we had to have met nearly a hundred new faces and had the chance to swap dozens of improv stories from our lives. It's really great to know that we now have people to stay with in places like Vancouver or Norway if we ever have shows there! All-in-all Canada is pretty awesome. Oh, and a huge thank you to Harriet of UBCi for letting us crash her house!
We roamed about Stanley park, which I found out is the largest urban park in the continent, and then we headed to the University of British Columbia for our show with UBCimprov. The campus is massive! Really fancy looking buildings and acres upon acres separating the campus from the rest of Vancouver. Fun fact about this University (like most others), any Canadian that attends this school will pay only $4000 a year as opposed to each and every international student that pays upwards of $30,000 each year! That's ridiculous. If I were to attend UBC, becoming a Canadian citizen would be first on my to-do list.
The show with UBCimprov was great! Students packed the seats and overflowed onto the stairs to be a part of the evening. UBCimprov has three separate teams that played that evening and we squeezed in a set right before their top team performed. Almost everyone knew what Wisconsin was! My guess was that only half of the crowd would know. I felt a bit nostalgic watching the UBC teams perform as it reminded me a lot of my years at MHS doing improv. Their teams each consisted of ten to twelve performers on the stage, and had a combination of short-form and long-form improv with each of their sets. Their fans are very devoted and keep coming back week after week to support improv in their community, which is a really great thing to do!! I don't have access to any pictures of us performing, but there are some of the space and other teams.
Afterwards we had to have met nearly a hundred new faces and had the chance to swap dozens of improv stories from our lives. It's really great to know that we now have people to stay with in places like Vancouver or Norway if we ever have shows there! All-in-all Canada is pretty awesome. Oh, and a huge thank you to Harriet of UBCi for letting us crash her house!
Day 8: Secret Show
We said our goodbye's to new friends in the morning and made our way first to Deep Cove, a site recommended by new friend Simone of UBC. The area was full of waterways and great Pacific forests! We hiked up a trail right into the heart of a Pacific rainforest. I was in love. In love to a point that I was prepared to run deep into the forest and never come back. I did run deep into the forest! But I decided it would be best for all of us if I came back. I plan on returning soon to explore more of that land. Soon I'll be in the redwood forest! That should be exciting.
Later we headed back to downtown Vancouver to walk around the city and see the waterfront. We had to have walked a total of ten kilometers in the city, almost a bit too much walking. Our plan was to stay in Vancouver a second night, but we couldn't resist an offer presented by the Dead Parrots Society of WWU to play in a secret show with them. We all hopped in the car and sped through customs to make it to Bellingham, WA in time for this improv house show. Audience members were only told about the show a few hours before it happened and yet many came; enough to fill the house. This was a really unique show to be a part of because the entire show was a mash-up between Glassworks and select members of the Dead Parrots Society. Six of us total took the stage and jammed it out for nearly an hour in front of a willing audience. Neither of us knew how the show would end up and I wasn't surprised to see that it all went really well! It was so fun exploring several scenes with other improvisers on stage, a situation Glassworks hasn't had the chance to be a part of until this tour. Jake, John, and Eli of the Dead Parrots Society improv were fantastic players and I hope we all have the chance to play again in the near future.
Later we headed back to downtown Vancouver to walk around the city and see the waterfront. We had to have walked a total of ten kilometers in the city, almost a bit too much walking. Our plan was to stay in Vancouver a second night, but we couldn't resist an offer presented by the Dead Parrots Society of WWU to play in a secret show with them. We all hopped in the car and sped through customs to make it to Bellingham, WA in time for this improv house show. Audience members were only told about the show a few hours before it happened and yet many came; enough to fill the house. This was a really unique show to be a part of because the entire show was a mash-up between Glassworks and select members of the Dead Parrots Society. Six of us total took the stage and jammed it out for nearly an hour in front of a willing audience. Neither of us knew how the show would end up and I wasn't surprised to see that it all went really well! It was so fun exploring several scenes with other improvisers on stage, a situation Glassworks hasn't had the chance to be a part of until this tour. Jake, John, and Eli of the Dead Parrots Society improv were fantastic players and I hope we all have the chance to play again in the near future.
Day 9: Going to Portland
Well, in about fifteen minutes we're going to pack into the car and make our way down south to Oregon and make a stop in Portland for the night. There is no show happening, but I'm still excited for the visit and curious to see how spot on the Portland stereotypes really are.
Tomorrow we head to the redwood forest! And California! And a hot spring! Our next show is coming up on Thursday in San Francisco, CA.
Written by Elliot Heinz
Tomorrow we head to the redwood forest! And California! And a hot spring! Our next show is coming up on Thursday in San Francisco, CA.
Written by Elliot Heinz