Mf Galaxy

Jacob Banigan is one impressive cat. He knows more about how to build and refine stories than anyone I've ever met, and I know a lot of writers. And yet Banigan doesn't see himself as a writer and writes only occasionally. So how and why does he grok story like no one else? Because he's a master improviser who's been studying the craft since 1990 when he joined Rapid Fire Theatre in Edmonton. Sure, he also gained skills in years of creating and performing sketch comedy, including in The 11:02 Show which is where we worked together for a season, and in Gordon's Big Bald Head, where I also worked with him one summer. But Banigan kept growing in the field, serving as Rapid Fire's Artistic Director from 1995 to 2004, creating news plays, launching improv festivals Nosebowl and the long-form improv show CHiMPROV, and helped make Rapid Fire's reputation go international by winning competition after competition. Now he lives in Austria where he works with Theater Im Bahnhof of Graz and English Lovers of Vienna, and