Improv Duo Taking Orcas by Storm

Sat., Jan. 4, 9 p.m., Random Howse

— by Cara Russell —

The improv duo known as Little North Korea will be returning to the Stage at Random Howse this Saturday January 4th for a show at 9pm.

LNK, made up of Orcas-raised Audra Goffeney and Peter Vinson, had performed to an engaging crowd, in the comfortable setting of Random Howse in early December. After the show, owners Clyde and April Duke immediately invited the pair back for an ongoing monthly basis.

The show is FREE and will be the first Saturday of every month. Show starts at 9pm, bar opens at 8pm.

“The show is interactive. The input that an audience gives us, influences the process of the performance. You are in on the game—it’s a dialogue,” said Goffeney. “Improv can be anything, and that is what is exciting about it. Whatever the audience or the performer wants it to be, it can be that for them.”

Goffeney began improvising in her early twenties. She trained in both Seattle and Vancouver, and played with Unexpected Productions, Istanbul Improv (for the first international improv festival in Istanbul, Turkey), at the Basement Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, in Port Coquitlam, BC at Second Story Theater, and briefly at the Front in Bellingham. Goffeney has also worked with Canadian improv pioneer, Keith Johnstone, and she is also currently a part of two other improve groups; Girls with Power Tools and No Parchment Needed.

Vinson starting doing improv before the age of ten, and received his training from Orcas Island resident John Clancy, who taught improv at the Funhouse. Eventually Vinson became a member of Clancy’s supper improv group The Legion of Terror, which included high school students like ‘How to Make a Zombie Movie’ teacher Conrad Wrobel.

Now as adults, Goffeney and Vinson want to offer what they learned to the new generation of kids; Goffeney will be teaching an improv class to teenagers at the Funhouse. “It’s time to give back to a community that has given so much to us,” Goffeney says. “I wouldn’t be this crazy art lady if it wasn’t for the opportunities that I got from growing up on Orcas.”

“We’re trying to start the cycle back over again,” added Vinson. “There is no way to overestimate my life as a performer and my life as a person, from the impact that improv has given me. It cultivates great personal skills, and teaches you to be present in the moment.”

Goffeney’s improv class for teenagers runs: Mondays. 5- 7 p.m. Ages 12 – 18. Starts January 27th. If you would like to sign up a teenager for Goffeney’s improve class contact the Funhouse Commons: (360) 376-7177 or visit their website.

To find out more about LNK visit their Twitter or Facebook pages.