In August, 2010, I started an improvisational acting troupe at Beowulf Alley Theatre in Tucson, Arizona -- Active Imagination Theatre. We create our plays during rehearsal, using nothing but improvisation and our own active imaginations. During performance, we invite all the children in the audience to join us onstage to paint rainbows, turn into kitties or pirates, or whatever we need to make believe, and the fun and improvisation run rampant. The optimum age for our audience is 4 - 8 years old, although we have a lot of photo-snapping parents in attendance. We also do birthday parties!

The photo on the right shows a scene from our December 2010 opus, ELVES GONE BAD. When Santa Claus has to lay off the elves at the North Pole, they find an old pirate ship frozen in the ice. After they thaw out Captain Shrimp, he puts the elves through Pirate Boot Camp and turns them into pirates! In a flying pirate ship pulled by reindeer, the elves go on a life of crimes, but Santa returns to thwart Captain Shrimp and save Christmas.

As one of our cast members said, “Everything is better with pirates!”