Toronto's alternative comedy cabaret, featuring clowns, sketch, improv, and other variety acts. Funny Bone features clown, sketch, stand-up, music, burlesque, and a variety of other acts. Each month features a fresh lineup of the city's funniest performers.

This month's lineup:

• Anthony Sardinha

• Double Trouble

• Evan Dubois

• Gordon Neill

• Markus Laczko

• Selly Kim

• Sue Carroll

• Trevor Copp
  

Hosted by Robbie MacMillan

Stick around after the show for Open Stage, a free open-mic for all types of comedy acts! Sweet Action Theatre is located at 180 Shaw Street in Toronto, unit 106. The theatre is located in Youngplace, a fully accessible hub for all genres and mediums of art.

Want to perform on a future Funny Bone show? Visit iclown.ca to register your interest. Funny Bone is an uncensored comedy show that may be offensive to some. Viewer discretion is advised.

Open Stage Night is Here!

Free, no tickets.

Join us for an evening of laughter, creativity, and surprise at the Open Stage Night! It’s like an open mic for comics, just instead of a microphone we’re opening up the entire stage for ridiculousness to occur. Whether you're a seasoned performer or a curious newcomer, this is your chance to step into the spotlight and share your silliest, most whimsical acts. From playful antics to heartwarming stories, clown, bouffon, improv, and all other performance artists, we want to see what you're working on!

Up to 10 minutes of stage time for each performer. List will be posted at 9:00 pm, show starts at 9:15pm.

Not just for performers! Come out to watch the show, see some fresh acts, and laugh at the hilarity that will ensue. Ridiculousness is almost guaranteed to occur!

"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances."  —  Sanford Meisner

Whether you’re an improviser who struggles to stay emotionally grounded and committed to the integrity of a scene, or an actor who struggles to come up with content on the spot, this course develops all aspects of the actor-improviser! Most acting methods aren't geared toward writing and dramaturgy as well, but as improvisers it's all on us. We'll be learning to recognize and play with the tenets of Viewpoints for organic content creation via the wisdom of both Mindfulness and the Meisner acting technique.

Registration is open to performers from both acting and improv backgrounds. You will get the most out of this course if you have an existing level of comfort onstage and are prepared to be present and focused while in class. 


“Oliver’s course is one of the most rich and rewarding programs I have taken. From start to finish, you learn practical ways to improvise organically and stay out of your head. I found that the exercises are amazing tools to bring authentic parts of myself into my scenes, which is an incredible and liberating feeling.   ”
— Luke Hayes

“Even after one class performance, I can see improvement. Bringing in more depth and variety into my performance and not having it come from a place of invention is huge.”
— Chris Nyugen

“Oliver is an amazing teacher who puts support and joy at the center of his teaching. Oliver’s class is a refreshing take that brings back the magic of theater onto the stage, inviting every performer to surprise themselves first, so that we can carry that joy of play throughout our scenes effortlessly. I wholeheartedly recommend taking Oliver’s classes for everyone who wants to carry their theater inspiration to louder and brighter limits.”
— Fatma Ozbek

“Oliver created a safe and supportive space to be silly, connect with my classmates, and experiment. He reduced big concepts into bite sized chunks that made it easier for me to grasp and use right away in my scenes.”
— Damian Waithe

“Oliver is a fantastic and dedicated teacher, performer and person, and I would highly recommend this class to any performer.”
— Allison Mah

CLASS DETAILS
Course Dates: April 4 - May 9, 2026
Day & Time: Saturdays, 12:00pm - 2:30pm
Tuition: $250 + HST

About Oliver:

Oliver Georgiou is passionate about unscripted theatre and the cross-section that exists between acting and improvisation. He runs SODA Impro through which he produces Played Out, a three-act unscripted play with an emphasis on emotionally grounded, character-driven scenes. He is also one-half of Jan & George with Reid Janisse. Specialty course offerings in Toronto, Detroit, and Los Angeles have included: Viewpoints, Mindfulness, and Meisner for the Actor Improviser; Make it Meaningful; Stanislavski and Scene Dynamics; Impulse, Insight, and Emotion; The Game In Narrative; and Intro to Viewpoints for Improvisation. He's the regular coach for Duck Confetti, and an occasional guest coach for HinProv and other troupes around Toronto. This past year he was a featured guest instructor at the Dramatic Improv Festival in Chicago, Le Grand Yes And in Montreal, and the Snow Day Improv Marathon in Detroit. This year he's delighted to be teaching at Camp Improv Utopia East.

The award-winning Vampire Zombies... From Space! just completed a limited theatre run in cities across North America and will be available for streaming later this year. He's delighted to have worked so closely with Bygone Theatre in the past few years on live stage productions of The Rear Window, The Birds, and Wayne & Shuster, Live! He also helped develop the roles of Edwin in Kristen Da Silva's The Bluff (Theatre Orangeville) and Mr. Gordon in Vishesh Abeyratne's workshop of Blood Offering (Alma Matter Productions). Oliver returns to Detroit biannually for the Snow Day Improvised Marathon for local cancer charities and the Detroit Improv Festival. He's an alumnus of Second City Toronto House Co, and can be found sporting a horrible pseudo-Irish accent in the Canadian Podcast Award-winning series Caverns & Comedians.

Professor Eff’s Clown Drop-In

Curious about your inner Idiot? Suspicious you may have a secret predilection for stupidity? Come explore your propensity for the absurd through a guided tour of the ridiculous led by Clown Master Professor Eff.

This pay-what-you-can workshop series seeks to introduce Professor Eff’s structured chaos and slightly punk informed take on one of humanities greatest shared ancestors: the Clown. They will live forever, and everywhere to throw mud in the eye of reality.

While allowing impulse and play to inform our comedic explorations, Professor Eff also highlights the importance of structure, craft and a deeper consideration of the humour we develop. Let’s get smart about being Stupid. Professor Eff is sorry if all these big words are upsetting but he is a Professor and they do tend to be pedantic.

For any and all experience levels.

Professor Eff is a manifestation of Jesse Buck a 35 year veteran of the stage, 25 of those years as a Professional Clown. A prolific DIY theatre artist, he has created dozens of productions. He has won awards and toured the world with his own work as well as spending five years with Cirque du Soliel over four productions. He is a student of Philippe Gaulier and multiple international artists from a broad range of disciplines. It is this diversity of training and abundance of experience that makes Professor Eff’s Class unique, and as much an intellectual journey as a physical one.

PWYC suggested $20

RIFF REPS: A Practice In Contemporary Clowning

One performer. One audience. One goal: make us laugh.

This class is about getting on your feet and doing the thing.

No red nose required. The mask is already there—it’s you. Your instincts, timing, habits, impulses, charm, awkwardness, confidence, doubt. All of it.

Clown isn’t about jokes or punchlines. It’s about being real in front of people, listening to the audience, and responding honestly in the moment. Sometimes that response gets a big laugh. Sometimes it doesn’t. Both are useful.

In this drop-in, Chase throws you into games and improvs that force you to play, riff, and adjust in real time. When something works, we slow down and look at why. When it doesn’t, you learn how to change course instead of pushing harder.

You’ll practice chasing the laugh—and just as importantly, learning what to do when it doesn’t come.

What’s Your Funny?

Everyone has something that makes them uniquely funny. The audience will tell you.

The work is standing in front of them, trying things, missing, missing again—and then landing something that only you could land.

Whether you’re brand new to clown or already performing, this class gives you real reps in front of an audience, with live direction from Chase Jeffels to help you identify what’s working and do more of it.

Who This Is For

This drop-in is for people who want to:

• Try a new approach to comedy, performing, and writing

• Add specificity and individuality to their improv

• Be more spontaneous on stage or on camera

• Build confidence by doing, not overthinking

• Discover what actually works for them

• Get more comfortable failing in front of people

In my stand-up sets after the workshop, I’ve noticed that I feel more playful and comfortable on stage. I trust myself more to be funny without planning or material, and I feel much more tapped into my creative instincts.

— Bita Joudaki, Comedian & TV Writer (JFL Toronto, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Children Ruin Everything) · Goofing Workshop

You feel like an idiot and it’s super vulnerable, but also funny. The audience lets you know pretty quickly what they like and don’t like, and Chase does a great job of summing it up at the end so you walk away with genuinely useful information, even while kind of feeling insane. It’s enlivening and worth it, especially if practicing failure is useful to you. For me, it is.

— Rakhee Morzaria, Actor, Comedian & Writer (Run the Burbs, What We Do in the Shadows, Mr. D, Second City) · Riff Reps

He’s a warm, sensitive, and rigorous teacher who cares deeply not only about his students’ learning journeys, but about the state of clown pedagogy itself. He’s constantly experimenting with new exercises, innovating within the form and pushing it beyond a strictly clown-centric box, opening the work to new expressive comedic forms. He’s simply one of the best clown teachers and performers in the city. Highly recommend watching him perform and taking his classes.

— Adam Paolozza, Actor, Director, Teacher & Artistic Director, Bad New Days Theatre

What I love most about Chase’s approach is that he encourages you to find what works for you. He’s deeply empathetic and clearly cares about every person in the room, while also bringing a level of organization and consistency that’s rare. I don’t think I could have found a better teacher than Chase to dive into the clown world. Through the work, I’m slowly finding the confidence to be weird on stage.

— Ankur Kaushal, Performer, Goofing Student

With warmth, care, and real skill, Chase creates a welcoming and stimulating space to explore beyond our habits and reconnect with spontaneity. It feels less like an invitation and more like a permission to be. The workshop supported me in finding my way back to a childlike, playful exploration, allowing me to take risks with spontaneity and with others.

— Isabelle Meline, Gestalt Therapist & Workshop Participant

Class Details

Time: 6:30 – 9:00 PM
Length: 2.5 hours
Fee: $30 + HST = $33.90

I’ve had to turn people away at the door. Registration helps make sure everyone gets time in the room.

Max participants is 12 people

To secure your spot, register and send an e-transfer to:
jeffels.chase@gmail.com
Include your name and the date of the drop-in in the transfer notes.

About Chase: 

Chase Jeffels is an actor, comedian, and teacher whose work bridges clown, improv, and the art of playful failure. He is a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq and the Laboratoire d'Étude du Mouvement (Laboratory of Movement Study) in Paris, France, and trained under renowned clown master Philippe Gaulier (teacher of Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emma Thompson). Gaulier once said of Chase’s work (imagine it in a thick French accent):

“I do not like very much Canada, but I like what you do.”

Chase has also studied with a host of notable teachers in clown, bouffon, and idiot work, including Aitor Basauri, John Gilkey, Chad Damiani, Kevin Krieger, Deanna Fleysher, Jaime Mears, Ken Hall, Isaac Kessler, and Gordon Neill. He is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School classical conservatory program.

As a performer, Chase’s work spans film, television, and theatre. He is a member of the improv and sketch collective $20 Sandwich, where he performs UCB-style longform improv infused with his own clown sensibility — bringing a spirit of risk, play, and discovery to structured comedic form.

He is also one half of West 2 West, a duo known for their innovative blend of clown sketch and clown improv, merging physical comedy, audience connection, and absurd play.

In his solo work, Chase continues to push the boundaries of comedy through Goofing — a punk-inspired mix of clown, riffing, and improvisation that explores connection, risk, and laughter through failure. His work merges improv, sketch, and clown to create performances that are as vulnerable as they are hilarious, uniting mainstream comedy with the spirit of live play.

PERFECT BEASTS is an evening of modern Bouffon Clown performance by Stephen Daytime and Joshua Kilcoyne, devised and presented in collaboration with Jay Dunn and Gibum Lin.

DATES:
Fri May 8 - 7pm
Sat May 9 - 7 pm
Sun May 10 - 4 pm

Part One: MINOTAUR
12 rules for the hysterical man in your life!
Created and performed by Stephen Daytime, Minotaur is a playfully grotesque exploration of hysterical masculinity and manosphere culture presented as an ever-expanding and increasingly absurd list of rules and instructions on how to live your life right.

Part Two: MIMI, created and performed by Joshua Kilcoyne, is a playfully anarchic deconstruction of hyper-individualism presided over by a strange and beguiling birdlike creature with an insatiable appetite for admiration.

WHAT IS BOUFFON?

Bouffon is a form of modern clown and physical theater rooted in the art of satire and mockery. Bouffons are voracious, lustful, mischievous creatures to whom nothing and no one is sacred. They are seductive mimics and shameless provocateurs who revel in ridiculing everyone and everything around them. The audience laughs at the Clown - the Bouffon laughs at the audience.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The creators of PERFECT BEASTS met in 2024 while training with renowned Italian theater artist and teacher Giovanni Fusetti. Recognizing their shared passion for the art of Bouffon, they joined forces to bring this lesser-known form of contemporary clown to new audiences. PERFECT BEASTS debuted with a three-night run at La Porte Rouge in Montreal, Quebec in December 2025, and is fresh out of a weeklong residency at Northampton Centre for the Arts in Massachusetts.
Stephen Daytime will also be playing Minotaur at the Montreal Fringe in June 2026

"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances."  —  Sanford Meisner

Whether you’re an improviser who struggles to stay emotionally grounded and committed to the integrity of a scene, or an actor who struggles to come up with content on the spot, this course develops all aspects of the actor-improviser! Most acting methods aren't geared toward writing and dramaturgy as well, but as improvisers it's all on us. We'll be learning to recognize and play with the tenets of Viewpoints for organic content creation via the wisdom of both Mindfulness and the Meisner acting technique.

Registration is open to performers from both acting and improv backgrounds. You will get the most out of this course if you have an existing level of comfort onstage and are prepared to be present and focused while in class. 


“Oliver’s course is one of the most rich and rewarding programs I have taken. From start to finish, you learn practical ways to improvise organically and stay out of your head. I found that the exercises are amazing tools to bring authentic parts of myself into my scenes, which is an incredible and liberating feeling.   ”
— Luke Hayes

“Even after one class performance, I can see improvement. Bringing in more depth and variety into my performance and not having it come from a place of invention is huge.”
— Chris Nyugen

“Oliver is an amazing teacher who puts support and joy at the center of his teaching. Oliver’s class is a refreshing take that brings back the magic of theater onto the stage, inviting every performer to surprise themselves first, so that we can carry that joy of play throughout our scenes effortlessly. I wholeheartedly recommend taking Oliver’s classes for everyone who wants to carry their theater inspiration to louder and brighter limits.”
— Fatma Ozbek

“Oliver created a safe and supportive space to be silly, connect with my classmates, and experiment. He reduced big concepts into bite sized chunks that made it easier for me to grasp and use right away in my scenes.”
— Damian Waithe

“Oliver is a fantastic and dedicated teacher, performer and person, and I would highly recommend this class to any performer.”
— Allison Mah

CLASS DETAILS
Course Dates: April 4 - May 9, 2026
Day & Time: Saturdays, 12:00pm - 2:30pm
Tuition: $250 + HST

About Oliver:

Oliver Georgiou is passionate about unscripted theatre and the cross-section that exists between acting and improvisation. He runs SODA Impro through which he produces Played Out, a three-act unscripted play with an emphasis on emotionally grounded, character-driven scenes. He is also one-half of Jan & George with Reid Janisse. Specialty course offerings in Toronto, Detroit, and Los Angeles have included: Viewpoints, Mindfulness, and Meisner for the Actor Improviser; Make it Meaningful; Stanislavski and Scene Dynamics; Impulse, Insight, and Emotion; The Game In Narrative; and Intro to Viewpoints for Improvisation. He's the regular coach for Duck Confetti, and an occasional guest coach for HinProv and other troupes around Toronto. This past year he was a featured guest instructor at the Dramatic Improv Festival in Chicago, Le Grand Yes And in Montreal, and the Snow Day Improv Marathon in Detroit. This year he's delighted to be teaching at Camp Improv Utopia East.

The award-winning Vampire Zombies... From Space! just completed a limited theatre run in cities across North America and will be available for streaming later this year. He's delighted to have worked so closely with Bygone Theatre in the past few years on live stage productions of The Rear Window, The Birds, and Wayne & Shuster, Live! He also helped develop the roles of Edwin in Kristen Da Silva's The Bluff (Theatre Orangeville) and Mr. Gordon in Vishesh Abeyratne's workshop of Blood Offering (Alma Matter Productions). Oliver returns to Detroit biannually for the Snow Day Improvised Marathon for local cancer charities and the Detroit Improv Festival. He's an alumnus of Second City Toronto House Co, and can be found sporting a horrible pseudo-Irish accent in the Canadian Podcast Award-winning series Caverns & Comedians.

PERFECT BEASTS is an evening of modern Bouffon Clown performance by Stephen Daytime and Joshua Kilcoyne, devised and presented in collaboration with Jay Dunn and Gibum Lin.

DATES:
Fri May 8 - 7pm
Sat May 9 - 7 pm
Sun May 10 - 4 pm

Part One: MINOTAUR
12 rules for the hysterical man in your life!
Created and performed by Stephen Daytime, Minotaur is a playfully grotesque exploration of hysterical masculinity and manosphere culture presented as an ever-expanding and increasingly absurd list of rules and instructions on how to live your life right.

Part Two: MIMI, created and performed by Joshua Kilcoyne, is a playfully anarchic deconstruction of hyper-individualism presided over by a strange and beguiling birdlike creature with an insatiable appetite for admiration.

WHAT IS BOUFFON?

Bouffon is a form of modern clown and physical theater rooted in the art of satire and mockery. Bouffons are voracious, lustful, mischievous creatures to whom nothing and no one is sacred. They are seductive mimics and shameless provocateurs who revel in ridiculing everyone and everything around them. The audience laughs at the Clown - the Bouffon laughs at the audience.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The creators of PERFECT BEASTS met in 2024 while training with renowned Italian theater artist and teacher Giovanni Fusetti. Recognizing their shared passion for the art of Bouffon, they joined forces to bring this lesser-known form of contemporary clown to new audiences. PERFECT BEASTS debuted with a three-night run at La Porte Rouge in Montreal, Quebec in December 2025, and is fresh out of a weeklong residency at Northampton Centre for the Arts in Massachusetts.
Stephen Daytime will also be playing Minotaur at the Montreal Fringe in June 2026

Pay What You Can

WONKO'S WIPzz

A variety show of work-in-progress acts

Saturday, May 9, 2026

9:30PM-11PM

The Great Wonko is bringing you a delectable selection of Work-In-Progress acts for your viewing pleasure. You'll witness true raw creativity from Toronto's greatest and most eccentric clowns. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you may even go pee pee in your poo poo pants.

Post-show sanity not guaranteed.

Sweet Action Theatre

PERFECT BEASTS is an evening of modern Bouffon Clown performance by Stephen Daytime and Joshua Kilcoyne, devised and presented in collaboration with Jay Dunn and Gibum Lin.

DATES:
Fri May 8 - 7pm
Sat May 9 - 7 pm
Sun May 10 - 4 pm

Part One: MINOTAUR
12 rules for the hysterical man in your life!
Created and performed by Stephen Daytime, Minotaur is a playfully grotesque exploration of hysterical masculinity and manosphere culture presented as an ever-expanding and increasingly absurd list of rules and instructions on how to live your life right.

Part Two: MIMI, created and performed by Joshua Kilcoyne, is a playfully anarchic deconstruction of hyper-individualism presided over by a strange and beguiling birdlike creature with an insatiable appetite for admiration.

WHAT IS BOUFFON?

Bouffon is a form of modern clown and physical theater rooted in the art of satire and mockery. Bouffons are voracious, lustful, mischievous creatures to whom nothing and no one is sacred. They are seductive mimics and shameless provocateurs who revel in ridiculing everyone and everything around them. The audience laughs at the Clown - the Bouffon laughs at the audience.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The creators of PERFECT BEASTS met in 2024 while training with renowned Italian theater artist and teacher Giovanni Fusetti. Recognizing their shared passion for the art of Bouffon, they joined forces to bring this lesser-known form of contemporary clown to new audiences. PERFECT BEASTS debuted with a three-night run at La Porte Rouge in Montreal, Quebec in December 2025, and is fresh out of a weeklong residency at Northampton Centre for the Arts in Massachusetts.
Stephen Daytime will also be playing Minotaur at the Montreal Fringe in June 2026

Professor Eff’s Clown Drop-In

Curious about your inner Idiot? Suspicious you may have a secret predilection for stupidity? Come explore your propensity for the absurd through a guided tour of the ridiculous led by Clown Master Professor Eff.

This pay-what-you-can workshop series seeks to introduce Professor Eff’s structured chaos and slightly punk informed take on one of humanities greatest shared ancestors: the Clown. They will live forever, and everywhere to throw mud in the eye of reality.

While allowing impulse and play to inform our comedic explorations, Professor Eff also highlights the importance of structure, craft and a deeper consideration of the humour we develop. Let’s get smart about being Stupid. Professor Eff is sorry if all these big words are upsetting but he is a Professor and they do tend to be pedantic.

For any and all experience levels.

Professor Eff is a manifestation of Jesse Buck a 35 year veteran of the stage, 25 of those years as a Professional Clown. A prolific DIY theatre artist, he has created dozens of productions. He has won awards and toured the world with his own work as well as spending five years with Cirque du Soliel over four productions. He is a student of Philippe Gaulier and multiple international artists from a broad range of disciplines. It is this diversity of training and abundance of experience that makes Professor Eff’s Class unique, and as much an intellectual journey as a physical one.

PWYC suggested $20

RIFF REPS: A Practice In Contemporary Clowning

One performer. One audience. One goal: make us laugh.

This class is about getting on your feet and doing the thing.

No red nose required. The mask is already there—it’s you. Your instincts, timing, habits, impulses, charm, awkwardness, confidence, doubt. All of it.

Clown isn’t about jokes or punchlines. It’s about being real in front of people, listening to the audience, and responding honestly in the moment. Sometimes that response gets a big laugh. Sometimes it doesn’t. Both are useful.

In this drop-in, Chase throws you into games and improvs that force you to play, riff, and adjust in real time. When something works, we slow down and look at why. When it doesn’t, you learn how to change course instead of pushing harder.

You’ll practice chasing the laugh—and just as importantly, learning what to do when it doesn’t come.

What’s Your Funny?

Everyone has something that makes them uniquely funny. The audience will tell you.

The work is standing in front of them, trying things, missing, missing again—and then landing something that only you could land.

Whether you’re brand new to clown or already performing, this class gives you real reps in front of an audience, with live direction from Chase Jeffels to help you identify what’s working and do more of it.

Who This Is For

This drop-in is for people who want to:

• Try a new approach to comedy, performing, and writing

• Add specificity and individuality to their improv

• Be more spontaneous on stage or on camera

• Build confidence by doing, not overthinking

• Discover what actually works for them

• Get more comfortable failing in front of people

In my stand-up sets after the workshop, I’ve noticed that I feel more playful and comfortable on stage. I trust myself more to be funny without planning or material, and I feel much more tapped into my creative instincts.

— Bita Joudaki, Comedian & TV Writer (JFL Toronto, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Children Ruin Everything) · Goofing Workshop

You feel like an idiot and it’s super vulnerable, but also funny. The audience lets you know pretty quickly what they like and don’t like, and Chase does a great job of summing it up at the end so you walk away with genuinely useful information, even while kind of feeling insane. It’s enlivening and worth it, especially if practicing failure is useful to you. For me, it is.

— Rakhee Morzaria, Actor, Comedian & Writer (Run the Burbs, What We Do in the Shadows, Mr. D, Second City) · Riff Reps

He’s a warm, sensitive, and rigorous teacher who cares deeply not only about his students’ learning journeys, but about the state of clown pedagogy itself. He’s constantly experimenting with new exercises, innovating within the form and pushing it beyond a strictly clown-centric box, opening the work to new expressive comedic forms. He’s simply one of the best clown teachers and performers in the city. Highly recommend watching him perform and taking his classes.

— Adam Paolozza, Actor, Director, Teacher & Artistic Director, Bad New Days Theatre

What I love most about Chase’s approach is that he encourages you to find what works for you. He’s deeply empathetic and clearly cares about every person in the room, while also bringing a level of organization and consistency that’s rare. I don’t think I could have found a better teacher than Chase to dive into the clown world. Through the work, I’m slowly finding the confidence to be weird on stage.

— Ankur Kaushal, Performer, Goofing Student

With warmth, care, and real skill, Chase creates a welcoming and stimulating space to explore beyond our habits and reconnect with spontaneity. It feels less like an invitation and more like a permission to be. The workshop supported me in finding my way back to a childlike, playful exploration, allowing me to take risks with spontaneity and with others.

— Isabelle Meline, Gestalt Therapist & Workshop Participant

Class Details

Time: 6:30 – 9:00 PM
Length: 2.5 hours
Fee: $30 + HST = $33.90

I’ve had to turn people away at the door. Registration helps make sure everyone gets time in the room.

Max participants is 12 people

To secure your spot, register and send an e-transfer to:
jeffels.chase@gmail.com
Include your name and the date of the drop-in in the transfer notes.

About Chase: 

Chase Jeffels is an actor, comedian, and teacher whose work bridges clown, improv, and the art of playful failure. He is a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq and the Laboratoire d'Étude du Mouvement (Laboratory of Movement Study) in Paris, France, and trained under renowned clown master Philippe Gaulier (teacher of Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emma Thompson). Gaulier once said of Chase’s work (imagine it in a thick French accent):

“I do not like very much Canada, but I like what you do.”

Chase has also studied with a host of notable teachers in clown, bouffon, and idiot work, including Aitor Basauri, John Gilkey, Chad Damiani, Kevin Krieger, Deanna Fleysher, Jaime Mears, Ken Hall, Isaac Kessler, and Gordon Neill. He is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School classical conservatory program.

As a performer, Chase’s work spans film, television, and theatre. He is a member of the improv and sketch collective $20 Sandwich, where he performs UCB-style longform improv infused with his own clown sensibility — bringing a spirit of risk, play, and discovery to structured comedic form.

He is also one half of West 2 West, a duo known for their innovative blend of clown sketch and clown improv, merging physical comedy, audience connection, and absurd play.

In his solo work, Chase continues to push the boundaries of comedy through Goofing — a punk-inspired mix of clown, riffing, and improvisation that explores connection, risk, and laughter through failure. His work merges improv, sketch, and clown to create performances that are as vulnerable as they are hilarious, uniting mainstream comedy with the spirit of live play.

An R-rated, choose-your-own adventure solo show about sex and love created by Hilary Wheeler.

Do you have a list of everyone you’ve ever slept with?

Hilary does.

Hilary is also on the brink of a late twenties breakdown as she watches all her friends get married while she’s fresh out of yet another breakup. To deal with her woes she asks the audience to help her analyze all of her exes. This choose-your-own-adventure show lets the audience “swipe right” on the few exes they want to get to know better, and pass judgement on the chosen exes by waving red flags or green flags to help signal to Hilary why the relationship may or may not have worked. Centred in audience-interaction, comedy, and literal red flags no two shows of The List will ever be the same.

This is a preview performance for the workshop production of The List. This theatre show has been in development since 2022 with the support of the Canada Council of the Arts, the most recent version performed at vActory 2025 is Vancouver this past September.

Content warning: Sexual and explicit language, mention of sexual assault and trauma.

Read more about Hilary Wheeler at www.hilarywheeler.ca

Preview show @ 7:00pm, doors @ 6:45pm.

"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances."  —  Sanford Meisner

Whether you’re an improviser who struggles to stay emotionally grounded and committed to the integrity of a scene, or an actor who struggles to come up with content on the spot, this course develops all aspects of the actor-improviser! Most acting methods aren't geared toward writing and dramaturgy as well, but as improvisers it's all on us. We'll be learning to recognize and play with the tenets of Viewpoints for organic content creation via the wisdom of both Mindfulness and the Meisner acting technique.

Registration is open to performers from both acting and improv backgrounds. You will get the most out of this course if you have an existing level of comfort onstage and are prepared to be present and focused while in class. 


“Oliver’s course is one of the most rich and rewarding programs I have taken. From start to finish, you learn practical ways to improvise organically and stay out of your head. I found that the exercises are amazing tools to bring authentic parts of myself into my scenes, which is an incredible and liberating feeling.   ”
— Luke Hayes

“Even after one class performance, I can see improvement. Bringing in more depth and variety into my performance and not having it come from a place of invention is huge.”
— Chris Nyugen

“Oliver is an amazing teacher who puts support and joy at the center of his teaching. Oliver’s class is a refreshing take that brings back the magic of theater onto the stage, inviting every performer to surprise themselves first, so that we can carry that joy of play throughout our scenes effortlessly. I wholeheartedly recommend taking Oliver’s classes for everyone who wants to carry their theater inspiration to louder and brighter limits.”
— Fatma Ozbek

“Oliver created a safe and supportive space to be silly, connect with my classmates, and experiment. He reduced big concepts into bite sized chunks that made it easier for me to grasp and use right away in my scenes.”
— Damian Waithe

“Oliver is a fantastic and dedicated teacher, performer and person, and I would highly recommend this class to any performer.”
— Allison Mah

CLASS DETAILS
Course Dates: April 4 - May 9, 2026
Day & Time: Saturdays, 12:00pm - 2:30pm
Tuition: $250 + HST

About Oliver:

Oliver Georgiou is passionate about unscripted theatre and the cross-section that exists between acting and improvisation. He runs SODA Impro through which he produces Played Out, a three-act unscripted play with an emphasis on emotionally grounded, character-driven scenes. He is also one-half of Jan & George with Reid Janisse. Specialty course offerings in Toronto, Detroit, and Los Angeles have included: Viewpoints, Mindfulness, and Meisner for the Actor Improviser; Make it Meaningful; Stanislavski and Scene Dynamics; Impulse, Insight, and Emotion; The Game In Narrative; and Intro to Viewpoints for Improvisation. He's the regular coach for Duck Confetti, and an occasional guest coach for HinProv and other troupes around Toronto. This past year he was a featured guest instructor at the Dramatic Improv Festival in Chicago, Le Grand Yes And in Montreal, and the Snow Day Improv Marathon in Detroit. This year he's delighted to be teaching at Camp Improv Utopia East.

The award-winning Vampire Zombies... From Space! just completed a limited theatre run in cities across North America and will be available for streaming later this year. He's delighted to have worked so closely with Bygone Theatre in the past few years on live stage productions of The Rear Window, The Birds, and Wayne & Shuster, Live! He also helped develop the roles of Edwin in Kristen Da Silva's The Bluff (Theatre Orangeville) and Mr. Gordon in Vishesh Abeyratne's workshop of Blood Offering (Alma Matter Productions). Oliver returns to Detroit biannually for the Snow Day Improvised Marathon for local cancer charities and the Detroit Improv Festival. He's an alumnus of Second City Toronto House Co, and can be found sporting a horrible pseudo-Irish accent in the Canadian Podcast Award-winning series Caverns & Comedians.

The beautifully brave attempt at getting my beast of a show in front of a big hearted audience like you. xoxo

From her bold beginnings as a street outreach crisis worker to the battlegrounds of couples therapy, Tamara Lynn Robert, is a force who has spent three decades trying to make better lovers of us all... while her own love life is an epic, extraordinary mess.

Professionally, she’s unstoppable. Personally, she’s a lover-girl train wreck.

From a fevered, Fringe™-fling , to the perils and pitfalls of polyamory, to the lessons in love she never wanted, Lover Girl is a funny and tender solo show about love, loss and the superpowers we develop to avoid both.

Dramaturgy and directed by James Gangl

James Gangl won the Ed Mirvish Award for Entrepreneurship and a Canadian Comedy Award for Best One Person Show for his first solo show, Sex, Religion & Other Hang-ups. He has since written three excellent solos shows, and one terrible one. James is a Moth storyslam winner and performed at the Moth Grand Slam in Los Angeles. James is honoured to work with many talented artists on their solo projects and through his Page to Stage series of workshops. 

A One Woman Show About the Mother of Tupac, During Her Time as A Black Panther, Fighting the US Government & Exposing COINTELPRO ★★★★★ -AYTC

One Night Only, Onika Herny give "a stunning performance" as Afeni Shakur in this one woman show, written by Adam Bailey (My Three Deaths).

"An incredible single-person retelling of Afeni Shakur’s early life and trial as a Black Panther... her significance as an activist and freedom fighter extends far beyond her son’s own life.

Important, significant, and powerful" - ★★★★★ - AYTC

This single performance is a preview for Still Your Friend's upcoming Toronto Fringe run.

Professor Eff’s Clown Drop-In

Curious about your inner Idiot? Suspicious you may have a secret predilection for stupidity? Come explore your propensity for the absurd through a guided tour of the ridiculous led by Clown Master Professor Eff.

This pay-what-you-can workshop series seeks to introduce Professor Eff’s structured chaos and slightly punk informed take on one of humanities greatest shared ancestors: the Clown. They will live forever, and everywhere to throw mud in the eye of reality.

While allowing impulse and play to inform our comedic explorations, Professor Eff also highlights the importance of structure, craft and a deeper consideration of the humour we develop. Let’s get smart about being Stupid. Professor Eff is sorry if all these big words are upsetting but he is a Professor and they do tend to be pedantic.

For any and all experience levels.

Professor Eff is a manifestation of Jesse Buck a 35 year veteran of the stage, 25 of those years as a Professional Clown. A prolific DIY theatre artist, he has created dozens of productions. He has won awards and toured the world with his own work as well as spending five years with Cirque du Soliel over four productions. He is a student of Philippe Gaulier and multiple international artists from a broad range of disciplines. It is this diversity of training and abundance of experience that makes Professor Eff’s Class unique, and as much an intellectual journey as a physical one.

PWYC suggested $20

Email: alfchow89@gmail.com to reserve your spot

Find The Fool
May 23rd

from 1:30PM to 6:30PM
Cost: $120
Email: alfchow89@gmail.com to reserve your spot

Let’s build our scenes around “fools” – folks who are insecure, short-sighted, naive, petty, gullible and more.

We’ll pivot mundane fights into fun characters. We’ll transform problems into games.
Turn down the heat, take the blame, lose the fight and win the scene.

ABOUT THE TEACHER

Will is a founder of WGIS (World’s Greatest Improv Theater). He has been teaching long-form improv since 2004, including over 20 years at the UCB Theatre. He wrote the insanely titled How To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth.

Will practices a “game of the scene” style improv which he learned from the people who essentially created that philosophy. These classes will help you USE game without losing discovery, patience and truthfulness

Email: alfchow89@gmail.com to reserve your spot

Modern Game
May 24th

from 1:30PM to 6:30PM
Cost: $120
Email: alfchow89@gmail.com to reserve your spot

“Game of the scene” both revolutionized improv and also ruined it. The good: we get on the same page quickly. The bad: we forget to discover. Let’s take the good and get rid of the bad. We’ll study the gentle yes, active protagonist, resting the game, and owning the problem. Nerdy fun!

ABOUT THE TEACHER

Will is a founder of WGIS (World’s Greatest Improv Theater). He has been teaching long-form improv since 2004, including over 20 years at the UCB Theatre. He wrote the insanely titled How To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth.

Will practices a “game of the scene” style improv which he learned from the people who essentially created that philosophy. These classes will help you USE game without losing discovery, patience and truthfulness.

Professor Eff’s Clown Drop-In

Curious about your inner Idiot? Suspicious you may have a secret predilection for stupidity? Come explore your propensity for the absurd through a guided tour of the ridiculous led by Clown Master Professor Eff.

This pay-what-you-can workshop series seeks to introduce Professor Eff’s structured chaos and slightly punk informed take on one of humanities greatest shared ancestors: the Clown. They will live forever, and everywhere to throw mud in the eye of reality.

While allowing impulse and play to inform our comedic explorations, Professor Eff also highlights the importance of structure, craft and a deeper consideration of the humour we develop. Let’s get smart about being Stupid. Professor Eff is sorry if all these big words are upsetting but he is a Professor and they do tend to be pedantic.

For any and all experience levels.

Professor Eff is a manifestation of Jesse Buck a 35 year veteran of the stage, 25 of those years as a Professional Clown. A prolific DIY theatre artist, he has created dozens of productions. He has won awards and toured the world with his own work as well as spending five years with Cirque du Soliel over four productions. He is a student of Philippe Gaulier and multiple international artists from a broad range of disciplines. It is this diversity of training and abundance of experience that makes Professor Eff’s Class unique, and as much an intellectual journey as a physical one.

PWYC suggested $20

RIFF REPS: A Practice In Contemporary Clowning

One performer. One audience. One goal: make us laugh.

This class is about getting on your feet and doing the thing.

No red nose required. The mask is already there—it’s you. Your instincts, timing, habits, impulses, charm, awkwardness, confidence, doubt. All of it.

Clown isn’t about jokes or punchlines. It’s about being real in front of people, listening to the audience, and responding honestly in the moment. Sometimes that response gets a big laugh. Sometimes it doesn’t. Both are useful.

In this drop-in, Chase throws you into games and improvs that force you to play, riff, and adjust in real time. When something works, we slow down and look at why. When it doesn’t, you learn how to change course instead of pushing harder.

You’ll practice chasing the laugh—and just as importantly, learning what to do when it doesn’t come.

What’s Your Funny?

Everyone has something that makes them uniquely funny. The audience will tell you.

The work is standing in front of them, trying things, missing, missing again—and then landing something that only you could land.

Whether you’re brand new to clown or already performing, this class gives you real reps in front of an audience, with live direction from Chase Jeffels to help you identify what’s working and do more of it.

Who This Is For

This drop-in is for people who want to:

• Try a new approach to comedy, performing, and writing

• Add specificity and individuality to their improv

• Be more spontaneous on stage or on camera

• Build confidence by doing, not overthinking

• Discover what actually works for them

• Get more comfortable failing in front of people

In my stand-up sets after the workshop, I’ve noticed that I feel more playful and comfortable on stage. I trust myself more to be funny without planning or material, and I feel much more tapped into my creative instincts.

— Bita Joudaki, Comedian & TV Writer (JFL Toronto, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Children Ruin Everything) · Goofing Workshop

You feel like an idiot and it’s super vulnerable, but also funny. The audience lets you know pretty quickly what they like and don’t like, and Chase does a great job of summing it up at the end so you walk away with genuinely useful information, even while kind of feeling insane. It’s enlivening and worth it, especially if practicing failure is useful to you. For me, it is.

— Rakhee Morzaria, Actor, Comedian & Writer (Run the Burbs, What We Do in the Shadows, Mr. D, Second City) · Riff Reps

He’s a warm, sensitive, and rigorous teacher who cares deeply not only about his students’ learning journeys, but about the state of clown pedagogy itself. He’s constantly experimenting with new exercises, innovating within the form and pushing it beyond a strictly clown-centric box, opening the work to new expressive comedic forms. He’s simply one of the best clown teachers and performers in the city. Highly recommend watching him perform and taking his classes.

— Adam Paolozza, Actor, Director, Teacher & Artistic Director, Bad New Days Theatre

What I love most about Chase’s approach is that he encourages you to find what works for you. He’s deeply empathetic and clearly cares about every person in the room, while also bringing a level of organization and consistency that’s rare. I don’t think I could have found a better teacher than Chase to dive into the clown world. Through the work, I’m slowly finding the confidence to be weird on stage.

— Ankur Kaushal, Performer, Goofing Student

With warmth, care, and real skill, Chase creates a welcoming and stimulating space to explore beyond our habits and reconnect with spontaneity. It feels less like an invitation and more like a permission to be. The workshop supported me in finding my way back to a childlike, playful exploration, allowing me to take risks with spontaneity and with others.

— Isabelle Meline, Gestalt Therapist & Workshop Participant

Class Details

Time: 6:30 – 9:00 PM
Length: 2.5 hours
Fee: $30 + HST = $33.90

I’ve had to turn people away at the door. Registration helps make sure everyone gets time in the room.

Max participants is 12 people

To secure your spot, register and send an e-transfer to:
jeffels.chase@gmail.com
Include your name and the date of the drop-in in the transfer notes.

About Chase: 

Chase Jeffels is an actor, comedian, and teacher whose work bridges clown, improv, and the art of playful failure. He is a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq and the Laboratoire d'Étude du Mouvement (Laboratory of Movement Study) in Paris, France, and trained under renowned clown master Philippe Gaulier (teacher of Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emma Thompson). Gaulier once said of Chase’s work (imagine it in a thick French accent):

“I do not like very much Canada, but I like what you do.”

Chase has also studied with a host of notable teachers in clown, bouffon, and idiot work, including Aitor Basauri, John Gilkey, Chad Damiani, Kevin Krieger, Deanna Fleysher, Jaime Mears, Ken Hall, Isaac Kessler, and Gordon Neill. He is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School classical conservatory program.

As a performer, Chase’s work spans film, television, and theatre. He is a member of the improv and sketch collective $20 Sandwich, where he performs UCB-style longform improv infused with his own clown sensibility — bringing a spirit of risk, play, and discovery to structured comedic form.

He is also one half of West 2 West, a duo known for their innovative blend of clown sketch and clown improv, merging physical comedy, audience connection, and absurd play.

In his solo work, Chase continues to push the boundaries of comedy through Goofing — a punk-inspired mix of clown, riffing, and improvisation that explores connection, risk, and laughter through failure. His work merges improv, sketch, and clown to create performances that are as vulnerable as they are hilarious, uniting mainstream comedy with the spirit of live play.

The Premiere production of CAMP written and composed by Naomi Tessler, dramaturgy by Alysse Rich

CAMP, juxtaposes two 15 year old girls' experiences—Lila at Jewish sleepover camp in Canada and Greta- in Auschwitz- a concentration camp. This research and me-search informed play explores themes of womanhood, intergenerational trauma, sisterhood and resilience. Though separated through time, space and absolutely different life circumstances, both girls share stories of love, shame, sexual violence, overcoming oppression and singing as a form of resistance- leaving the audience with greater appreciation for the triumphs of young women and the importance of healing intergenerational wounds.  

The play draws from playwright Naomi Tessler’s own lived experiences, along with channeled information from her ancestors, from other young women killed in the Holocaust, and the insight from memoirs of other young women who survived. Amongst all of these memoirs, there were two things that threaded them together: each author had experienced sexual violence, and held too much shame to share with their families for fear of further ostracization. Each author also used singing as a coping strategy. 

*Camp won third place in the 2021 National Jewish Playwriting Competition

Written and Composed by: Naomi Tessler
Directed by: Alice Fox Lundy
Starring: Jada Rifkin and Naomi Tessler
Dramaturgy by: Alysse Rich
Stage Manager: Lisa Sciannella
Set Builder: Rin Abedi
Technician: Victoria Watson Sepejak
Production Team: Alice Fox Lundy, Hailey Gardiner and Wayne Burns

The Premiere production of CAMP written and composed by Naomi Tessler, dramaturgy by Alysse Rich

CAMP, juxtaposes two 15 year old girls' experiences—Lila at Jewish sleepover camp in Canada and Greta- in Auschwitz- a concentration camp. This research and me-search informed play explores themes of womanhood, intergenerational trauma, sisterhood and resilience. Though separated through time, space and absolutely different life circumstances, both girls share stories of love, shame, sexual violence, overcoming oppression and singing as a form of resistance- leaving the audience with greater appreciation for the triumphs of young women and the importance of healing intergenerational wounds.  

The play draws from playwright Naomi Tessler’s own lived experiences, along with channeled information from her ancestors, from other young women killed in the Holocaust, and the insight from memoirs of other young women who survived. Amongst all of these memoirs, there were two things that threaded them together: each author had experienced sexual violence, and held too much shame to share with their families for fear of further ostracization. Each author also used singing as a coping strategy. 

*Camp won third place in the 2021 National Jewish Playwriting Competition

Written and Composed by: Naomi Tessler
Directed by: Alice Fox Lundy
Starring: Jada Rifkin and Naomi Tessler
Dramaturgy by: Alysse Rich
Stage Manager: Lisa Sciannella
Set Builder: Rin Abedi
Technician: Victoria Watson Sepejak
Production Team: Alice Fox Lundy, Hailey Gardiner and Wayne Burns

The Premiere production of CAMP written and composed by Naomi Tessler, dramaturgy by Alysse Rich

CAMP, juxtaposes two 15 year old girls' experiences—Lila at Jewish sleepover camp in Canada and Greta- in Auschwitz- a concentration camp. This research and me-search informed play explores themes of womanhood, intergenerational trauma, sisterhood and resilience. Though separated through time, space and absolutely different life circumstances, both girls share stories of love, shame, sexual violence, overcoming oppression and singing as a form of resistance- leaving the audience with greater appreciation for the triumphs of young women and the importance of healing intergenerational wounds.  

The play draws from playwright Naomi Tessler’s own lived experiences, along with channeled information from her ancestors, from other young women killed in the Holocaust, and the insight from memoirs of other young women who survived. Amongst all of these memoirs, there were two things that threaded them together: each author had experienced sexual violence, and held too much shame to share with their families for fear of further ostracization. Each author also used singing as a coping strategy. 

*Camp won third place in the 2021 National Jewish Playwriting Competition

Written and Composed by: Naomi Tessler
Directed by: Alice Fox Lundy
Starring: Jada Rifkin and Naomi Tessler
Dramaturgy by: Alysse Rich
Stage Manager: Lisa Sciannella
Set Builder: Rin Abedi
Technician: Victoria Watson Sepejak
Production Team: Alice Fox Lundy, Hailey Gardiner and Wayne Burns

The Premiere production of CAMP written and composed by Naomi Tessler, dramaturgy by Alysse Rich

CAMP, juxtaposes two 15 year old girls' experiences—Lila at Jewish sleepover camp in Canada and Greta- in Auschwitz- a concentration camp. This research and me-search informed play explores themes of womanhood, intergenerational trauma, sisterhood and resilience. Though separated through time, space and absolutely different life circumstances, both girls share stories of love, shame, sexual violence, overcoming oppression and singing as a form of resistance- leaving the audience with greater appreciation for the triumphs of young women and the importance of healing intergenerational wounds.  

The play draws from playwright Naomi Tessler’s own lived experiences, along with channeled information from her ancestors, from other young women killed in the Holocaust, and the insight from memoirs of other young women who survived. Amongst all of these memoirs, there were two things that threaded them together: each author had experienced sexual violence, and held too much shame to share with their families for fear of further ostracization. Each author also used singing as a coping strategy. 

*Camp won third place in the 2021 National Jewish Playwriting Competition

Written and Composed by: Naomi Tessler
Directed by: Alice Fox Lundy
Starring: Jada Rifkin and Naomi Tessler
Dramaturgy by: Alysse Rich
Stage Manager: Lisa Sciannella
Set Builder: Rin Abedi
Technician: Victoria Watson Sepejak
Production Team: Alice Fox Lundy, Hailey Gardiner and Wayne Burns