Court jesters

The Court Jesters is a professional improv company founded in 1989 and based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of The Court Theatre professional theatre company, acting as a second company within the theatre.

The group provide entertainment for corporate and private clients, run weekly community improv workshops and an annual Theatresports competition for high schools, as well as performing their own twice-weekly improv comedy show, Scared Scriptless.

Theatresports at The Court Theatre began in 1987 under the direction of Bryan Aitken and Judie Douglass. This was largely due to the upswing in popularity of improvised theatre internationally and the desire to introduce it to a New Zealand audience. The popularity of the style led to the formation of a permanent improvisational wing of The Court Theatre under the moniker "The Court Jesters" in late 1989.

In 1990 The Court Jesters manager Michael Robinson began a late-night improvised comedy show titled Scared Scriptless, at an 11pm timeslot every Friday at The Court Theatre. Scared Scriptless still runs to this day, and as such is the longest-running (and continuously running) show in New Zealand. Original members of the company were John Hudson, Patrick Duffy, Geoff Dolan, KC Kelly, Greg Cooper, Ross Gumbley, Cal Wilson, Simon Peacock, Susan Fogarty, Matthew Gould, Kevin Smith, Craig Cooper, Carl Nixon, Andie Spargo and Michael Robinson.

During the rest of the 1990s the Jesters expanded their repertoire with corporate entertainment and teaching improv/theatresports to high schools (as part of the "Theatresports in Schools" programme) and community improvisation classes. The Jesters also had considerable success with dinner theatre including a show at Mona Vale called The Wedding.

In 1994 The Court Jesters sent a team of improvisors to the World Theatresports Championships in Los Angeles. Teams from the UK, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Denmark, America, New Zealand, The Netherlands and other countries competed. New Zealand's team, comprising Simon Peacock, Cal Wilson, Susan Fogarty and Greg Cooper, won the competition.

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