Because Life is Unscripted...
Bird City teaches the art of improvisation. Our approach helps people to cooperate. It helps people to decrease their social anxiety and express themselves with confidence and authenticity. Through an embodied practice of play, we make space for creativity in community settings, empowering folks to co-create.
P.S. We practice anti-oppression, opposing systems that tell us who we can and cannot be, that tell us to not to listen our intuition, and forget the power of we. We help people to remember their playful spirit and unlock the imagination through community-focused and heart-centered coaching, classes, and workshops.
benefits of Improv
Hi there :) My name is Tavish. I am a queer artist and a professor of applied improvisation. I fell in love with improv in 2011 and I started this company because I was thankful for what I learned.
Improv gave me permission to be myself. It helped me to come out of the closet. It helped me explore my emotional landscape. It helped me to deepen and affirm my connection to the people around me. Improv helped me to tell my story and it helped me to listen more compassionately to the stories of others. Today, I am proud to be a more authentic version of myself.
Growing creatively and growing into who you were meant to be isn't always easy. But it's worth it. If improv has taught me one thing, it is that art, love and vision are healing tools. They are the tools that I want to share with you. Let's learn, laugh, and create together.
Click to read our vision, our story, our values.
Tavish Forsyth, Founder
Pronouns (He/They)
Therapeutic Play
For us, improv is more than an art form. It's a way to be confident and feel free. It's a way of viewing the world and navigating our experiences through a practice of play. Our holistic approach is informed by three fields of study: critical improv, applied improv, and artistic improv.
Critical Improv
Critical Improvisation Studies emerged as a field of study in the early 2000s. Pioneered by interdisciplinary academics, this scholarship challenges systems of oppression by unearthing the power of spontaneous, community-focused art making.
Applied Improv
Applied Theatre formally began in the late 1800s with the emergence of psychology. As an evolving field, Applied theatre is concerned with how people relate to each other. This field of study asks, "how does performance help us connect, heal, and advocate for our needs?"
Artistic Improv
Artistic Improv is about experiencing life to the fullest through the creative act. Artistic Improv is how we participate in culture, express our most powerful feelings, share our stories and grow. Creative practice is how we find meaning and authenticity in our lived experience.
