PRESS
We have done hundreds of interviews with newspapers, radio and TV talk shows across Canada; and our many projects have received glowing reviews from hundreds of media outlets. Here is a very small selection!
"Army Veteran with PTSD finds hope and healing through Humour" CTV Vancouver Island/National News May 31, 2024 https://bc.ctvnews.ca/army-veteran-with-ptsd-finds-hope-and-healing-through-humour-1.6909517
Feature in Nexus March 2022
"Comedy Event Brings Holiday Cheer to Town" Nexus Nov. 2021 https://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2021/11/19/comedy-event-brings-holiday-cheer-to-town/
"Follow the Plight of the Castaways with Sin City Improv" - Monday Magazine May 2019
"Finding the fun side of Sin City" - Times Colonist Feb. 27, 2016 feature
"It’s fast, funny and completely entrancing to watch actors at the top of their game... as they hurl themselves willing into situations demanding complete trust in the abilities of their fellow performers. Whatever you thought you knew about improv throw it out the window, erase it from your memory and grab your tickets before other theatre patrons realize just what a treasure we have in our city. "
SIN CITY: CARNIES – janislacouvee.com
"Space the Funniest Frontier" - Times Colonist 2015 feature
"Calling all freaks and geeks... step right up for one of the most thrilling, sordid, astonishingly inconceivable shows you’ll ever see...
Sin City the Live Improvised Soap Opera presents season two: Carnies, a completely improvised 24-episode serial exploring the lives and exploits of a roving 1930s sideshow, presented by Broad Theatrics with live direction by Ian Ferguson...The cast includes some of Victoria’s most impressive improv artists and comedians..."
SIN CITY: CARNIES - Monday Magazine
"Kirsten Van Ritzen as the Serpentine Snake Lady was great. She is the group’s matriarch and perhaps the most mysterious of the bunch. Van Ritzen has clearly done some digging into her character’s past, and it shows. "
SIN CITY: CARNIES -The Marble Theatre Review
" I was completely intoxicated by the end of this show . . . with laughter. My new roommate and I went to see the January 15 episode of Sin City: Bedlam-By-Sea, knowing hardly anything about each other or the show we were about to see. We’re now those people who slap each other’s backs in public and smugly announce, 'You had to be there.' If you like Fawlty Towers, Monty Python or laughing, check this out."
SIN CITY: BEDLAM BY SEA - The Martlet
" I’ve been fortunate to attend more shows in season three and have laughed until I choked. ... when I watch the antics week after week, and begin to understand the high level of trust the actors must have, not only in their own abilities, but in those of the other cast and crew members, I am reminded of BASE jumping – daredevils who willing throw themselves off high buildings and fixed objects, in free fall, hoping their parachutes work. Sin City is BASE jumping for actors. These improvisers and theatre artists are among Canada’s best, with centuries of experience among them . . ." SIN CITY: BEDLAM BY SEA -janislacouvee.com
“Think of the funniest actors you have ever seen in Victoria... Sin City guarantees you won’t feel a thing when you fall off your chair and die laughing.” SIN CITY:DIE NASTY - Focus Magazine
"It's funny business as usual - A laugh riot ensued as the show's broad characters came to life..." SIN CITY:DIE NASTY - Times Colonist
"Ten years ago an unapologetic booze hound of a woman in a Hawaiian lei and shades first strutted to the fore of an alt-comedy show in Toronto. After she was done delighting and offending as only Louise can, she crawled back into Kirsten Van Ritzen’s mind, a fertile ground from which punchlines and projects flow. The comic, actor, writer and producer’s latest undertaking: Launching Victoria’s first Funny Women Festival, a chance to host professional female comics from across western Canada, while highlighting the women of Victoria’s burgeoning comedy community. It’s a scene Van Ritzen has played a key role in building since she moved to Victoria..."
FUNNY WOMEN FESTIVAL - Monday Magazine http://www.mondaymag.com/entertainment/241559161.html
" Victoria’s first Funny Women Festival brings together funny women of all kinds. Whether it’s to cheer us up, connect with friends, avoid an awkward silence, or to keep us from keying our neighbour’s car, comedy seems to do the trick. Laughter cuts tension, lightens the mood, and allows us to explore every kind of topic from airplane peanuts to racial profiling all in a way that transcends the straight-faced nature of everyday public life." FUNNY WOMEN FESTIVAL - Nexus http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2014/02/19/victorias-first-funny-women-festival-brings-together-funny-women-of-all-kinds/#sthash.VbjjT68Y.dpuf
"Army Veteran with PTSD finds hope and healing through Humour" CTV Vancouver Island/National News May 31, 2024 https://bc.ctvnews.ca/army-veteran-with-ptsd-finds-hope-and-healing-through-humour-1.6909517
Feature in Nexus March 2022
"Comedy Event Brings Holiday Cheer to Town" Nexus Nov. 2021 https://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2021/11/19/comedy-event-brings-holiday-cheer-to-town/
"Follow the Plight of the Castaways with Sin City Improv" - Monday Magazine May 2019
"Finding the fun side of Sin City" - Times Colonist Feb. 27, 2016 feature
"It’s fast, funny and completely entrancing to watch actors at the top of their game... as they hurl themselves willing into situations demanding complete trust in the abilities of their fellow performers. Whatever you thought you knew about improv throw it out the window, erase it from your memory and grab your tickets before other theatre patrons realize just what a treasure we have in our city. "
SIN CITY: CARNIES – janislacouvee.com
"Space the Funniest Frontier" - Times Colonist 2015 feature
"Calling all freaks and geeks... step right up for one of the most thrilling, sordid, astonishingly inconceivable shows you’ll ever see...
Sin City the Live Improvised Soap Opera presents season two: Carnies, a completely improvised 24-episode serial exploring the lives and exploits of a roving 1930s sideshow, presented by Broad Theatrics with live direction by Ian Ferguson...The cast includes some of Victoria’s most impressive improv artists and comedians..."
SIN CITY: CARNIES - Monday Magazine
"Kirsten Van Ritzen as the Serpentine Snake Lady was great. She is the group’s matriarch and perhaps the most mysterious of the bunch. Van Ritzen has clearly done some digging into her character’s past, and it shows. "
SIN CITY: CARNIES -The Marble Theatre Review
" I was completely intoxicated by the end of this show . . . with laughter. My new roommate and I went to see the January 15 episode of Sin City: Bedlam-By-Sea, knowing hardly anything about each other or the show we were about to see. We’re now those people who slap each other’s backs in public and smugly announce, 'You had to be there.' If you like Fawlty Towers, Monty Python or laughing, check this out."
SIN CITY: BEDLAM BY SEA - The Martlet
" I’ve been fortunate to attend more shows in season three and have laughed until I choked. ... when I watch the antics week after week, and begin to understand the high level of trust the actors must have, not only in their own abilities, but in those of the other cast and crew members, I am reminded of BASE jumping – daredevils who willing throw themselves off high buildings and fixed objects, in free fall, hoping their parachutes work. Sin City is BASE jumping for actors. These improvisers and theatre artists are among Canada’s best, with centuries of experience among them . . ." SIN CITY: BEDLAM BY SEA -janislacouvee.com
“Think of the funniest actors you have ever seen in Victoria... Sin City guarantees you won’t feel a thing when you fall off your chair and die laughing.” SIN CITY:DIE NASTY - Focus Magazine
"It's funny business as usual - A laugh riot ensued as the show's broad characters came to life..." SIN CITY:DIE NASTY - Times Colonist
"Ten years ago an unapologetic booze hound of a woman in a Hawaiian lei and shades first strutted to the fore of an alt-comedy show in Toronto. After she was done delighting and offending as only Louise can, she crawled back into Kirsten Van Ritzen’s mind, a fertile ground from which punchlines and projects flow. The comic, actor, writer and producer’s latest undertaking: Launching Victoria’s first Funny Women Festival, a chance to host professional female comics from across western Canada, while highlighting the women of Victoria’s burgeoning comedy community. It’s a scene Van Ritzen has played a key role in building since she moved to Victoria..."
FUNNY WOMEN FESTIVAL - Monday Magazine http://www.mondaymag.com/entertainment/241559161.html
" Victoria’s first Funny Women Festival brings together funny women of all kinds. Whether it’s to cheer us up, connect with friends, avoid an awkward silence, or to keep us from keying our neighbour’s car, comedy seems to do the trick. Laughter cuts tension, lightens the mood, and allows us to explore every kind of topic from airplane peanuts to racial profiling all in a way that transcends the straight-faced nature of everyday public life." FUNNY WOMEN FESTIVAL - Nexus http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2014/02/19/victorias-first-funny-women-festival-brings-together-funny-women-of-all-kinds/#sthash.VbjjT68Y.dpuf