A new class will be available for residents interested in the world of improv.

Terra Hazelton recently moved to the Crowsnest Pass and is starting up a new improv club that will occur every Thursday.

Born in Cranbrook B.C, Hazelton grew up in Calgary Alberta where at age 14 she began to study improvisation and acting under world renowned Keith Johnstone and Dennis Cahill at the famed Loose Moose Theatre Company.

At 18 years old, she attended the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, where she continued to study acting and music.

Upon finishing school in New York, Terra moved to Toronto to start her career as a performer, and was very quickly discovered by the late, great Jeff Healey.

Hazelton has recently relocated from Toronto, where she lived for the past 20 years, to the beautiful mountains of Southern Alberta.

She hopes to focus on painting, and on working on music for the debut PerlHaze album, soon to be produced and recorded by the duo, which consists of Sophia Perlman and herself.

Hazelton also comes to the area with a glowing review from Jeff Gladstone, the Artistic Director at the International Theathresports Institute.

“Terra Hazelton is one of the best improvisors I’ve ever seen. She brings the values behind good improv to all the work she does, whether it’s music acting, singing or teaching. I’m so excited that she’s bringing improvisation to the Crowsnest Pass! I started learning improv at the Loose Moose Theatre way back and Terra was always one of my favourite people to play with. As I’ve travelled around the world, I’ve learned what a rare gift it was to be trained at the Loose Moose Theatre and with Keith Johnstone. The Crowsnest Pass is so lucky to have someone like Terra to learn from. I have no doubt that it won’t take long for the Pass to be known for some great improvisors and talent. I can’t wait to see where she takes it!”

Hazelton says the club will be a drop in type of class with no set commitment needed.

“The club is just going to be a weekly drop in where you can either come whenever you want. Classes will be structured so that people don't have to commit to coming every week and worry you might miss something.”

Hazelton added that if people are able to commit, the prices for classes would decrease.

“If you want to sign up, the rate goes down. If you commit to four or more in advance it's only $10 a class, whereas if you just drop in it's $15. People are welcome to come and go. You don't have to commit to anything long term.”

Since moving here, Hazelton says the sense of community she feels is something she wants to work off of.

“I really want to play on the sense of community. I've only been here nine months but I really feel there's such a strong community here.”

Hazelton does have some long-term goals but isn’t overly focused on that right now.

“An eventual goal would be to train up enough people so that I could create a Crowsnest Pass team because there's a lot of competitive improvisation. I don't want this class to be about that but it could be a big bonus that could happen.”

As for what ages Hazelton would like to see, she says it’s a broad range.
“Right now it's 13 and up and anyone under 16 needs to be accompanied by an adult. Eventually if I get enough interest I'd like to divide it to 16 and under and 17 and up and have two separate groups. Right now though, since I'm just starting out and hoping anyone will show up, I'll be doing a general class. It's kid friendly and it's pretty open.”

The classes will take place every Thursday from 6-8pm at the library.
The first class is scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 20th.

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