Critical Hits – Live Improvised Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is all the rage right now. It went from being a fun game that old and evil people used to demonize kids to gaining a sort of renaissance, finding wide-spread acceptance thanks to media like Stranger Things and Critical Role and just by being one of the most fun things you can do with your time.
Local genius and comedian Eric Fell is a long time player of the old Dungeons & Dragons and found some mutually interested friends and funny people to bring one of his crazier ideas to life. Once a month, the lot of them transform the stage of the Rio Theater into Eric’s parent’s basement in Delta, and then transform the theater itself into a world worthy of the best high fantasy novels or movies.
Eric Fell weaves epic and hilarious adventure for improv performers, comedians, and fellow actors Ian Boothby, Joanna Gaskell, Barbara Beall, Ellen MacNevin, Allen Morrison, and Shaun Stewart. For six years, the Critical Hits show has been the best way to end your month in Vancouver, a hilarious exhibition of some of the most talented people Vancouver has to offer.
Best still, this is an improvised game. The audience, far from being passive, are asked to participate – when our heroes get into danger it is members of the audience that get called up, given identities by Eric Fell, and are turned loose on our heroes. As a reward for their service, audience members are granted a cheesie poof from a jar that Eric keeps safely tucked behind his Dungeon Master’s screen. It is a mighty reward offered only to the best people.
This month, the Critical Hits show goes live on Wednesday, March 28th. The doors they open at 7pm and the show starts at 8pm. Tickets are $14 at the door, but you can nab ’em for $12 by clicking here.
It’s just more greatness brought to you by the Rio.
Speaking of which…
A terrible evil stalks the land. A terrible evil that can only be fought by brave adventurers like you.
There are some people that would like to demolish the Rio and replace it with Condos that no one can afford to live in, as Vancouver continues to struggle against a future where no one actually lives in the city anymore. Here is our hard line: the Rio Theater is, in many ways, a bridge between the future and the past of this city. It is everything good and great about Vancouver, representing the best aspects of the thriving creative community that would not exist without it.
And the Rio makes money. It is a solvent business, a place where people find their voices, their careers, their futures. It is a place of community and growth, and in many ways, it is the heart and soul of the Vancouver creative scene. They partner with other businesses and everyone is better for the Rio being here.
Some people that do not live in the city would like to demolish it to build a highrise that no one in that part of the city will be able to live in. They want to do to Commerical Drive what they did to Coal Harbour, turning a thriving neighborhood into a ghost town where no one lives, no one goes, an empty urban sprawl of nothing.
We need to fight back.
The people that own the land the Rio is built on have given us the means to do so, and we will fight tooth and nail to keep our home standing. We’re not alone in this – Kevin Smith, Ryan Reynolds, anyone and everyone that has lived in Vancouver understands the importance of the Rio. Kevin Smith is hosting two sold-out shows at the Rio where he plans to talk about how important this theater is.
Watch this and understand:
Can you help? #savetherio has an Indiegogo up now, which you can find by clicking here.
Help us help keep Vancouver vibrant, alive, and creative. Save the Rio. We can do this.