A touch of youth and diversity blows through the LNI. In fact, the National Improv League has opened its ranks to add a sixth team, the Violets, to their Charade Cup tournament starting February 19th.
Posted at 7:00 am
The goal of this extension? Allow new artists to join Quebec’s oldest and largest improv league. “The talent motivated our decision to add this sixth team,” explains the artistic director of the LNI, François-Étienne Paré. Every year we hold workshops to meet new faces and discover emerging talent. And what we saw convinced us that we have to make room for these youngsters in our season.
“In 2022, several of these up-and-coming players came to replace artists who had to step down at the last minute due to the pandemic,” he continues. It gave them a chance to shine. And we thought they were very, very good! »
It goes without saying that the LNI does not experience a large turnover of its permanent improvisers. Some veterans have been there for more than 25 seasons (think Réal Bossé or Sophie Caron). “However, these are not players that we want to squeeze under the pretext of their aging,” says François-Étienne Paré.
This brought five new players to the LNI’s starting XI: Anne-Marie Binette, Rose-Anne Déry, Fabiola N. Aladin, Lyndz Dantiste and Louis-Philippe Desjardins. These rookies will play for different teams this season. The Violets recruited former LNI star player Jean-François Nadeau as head coach.
More variety on the ice rink
This decision to add an additional team will impact the season’s calendar. Each team will play one less game in the season as the number of games remains unchanged “due to financial reasons”. In addition, the teams only play each other once. “The inclusion of this new team is a nice touch by the improvisers, because everyone ends up with one performance less,” says the artistic director.
PHOTO NAJIM CHAOUI PROVIDED BY LNI
Lyndz Dantiste is one of the newcomers to the LNI.
The expansion project is also part of the LNI’s desire to continue its work on openness to diversity. “It is part of our concern and we are delighted that two of our new players are coming from diversity, Fabiola N. Aladin and Lyndz Dantiste. Note that the LNI has often shown diversity on its rink: Normand Brathwaite, Didier Lucien, Nicholas Michon…
Another activity to highlight for the Charade Cup season, which begins Sunday at Club Soda: the return of the school break game, featuring improvisers from Télé-Québec youth programs such as Comme des têtes pas de poules and Le pacte. You will face an all-star LNI team consisting of Pier-Luc Funk, Mathieu Lepage, Marie Eve Morency and Joëlle Paré-Beaulieu. The game is scheduled for February 26 at 2 p.m.