News

What’s new with HTA?

HTA Returns to the Fringe will ALL “Classic!” material!

by HTA | Jun 27, 2018

HTA is heading back to the Winnipeg Fringe for our TENTH TIME with “Classic!” We’ve been performing at the Fringe since 2006 when the five tender, young, recent theatre school graduates banded together to create Hands On! It was a surprise success and we’ve been going strong ever since, doing a million things as a troupe we never would have envisioned back in the mid 2000s!

After Hands On came:

Hands Off (2008)

Hands Down (2009)

Look Ma, No Hands! (2010)

A Show Of Hands (2011) (Our last Greatest Hits Show)

Body Language (2012)

Hot Thespian Action (2013)

Back In Black (2015)

Fourplay (2017)

And now, for 2018’s “Classic!,“ we’re compiling all our our most fan-favourite sketches from all 12 years of performing and allowing YOU to pick what you want to see! That’s right. Fans get to vote for their favourite Classics (at our Fringe page) and EACH NIGHT we’ll take the most requested sketches and perform them. That means that you can have a hand in CUSTOM ORDERING your show! Do you and your friends still quote “Pizza Shack?” Have an inside joke with your parents about “Whaat the?!?” Can’t get the song about bleaching a certain part of your body out of your head? Then just vote for them to make sure you get to see them again!

And out of those 10 shows, we’re sure there’s plenty of sketches you missed! So if you want to make sure you see all of those, then you better vote! And get everyone else you know to vote as well!

We can’t wait to perform our most exciting, comedy-loaded show EVER for you! Just make sure you get tickets while you still can!

Head on over to our Fringe page to get all the info you need, buy your advance tickets, and vote for your faves!

FRINGE PAGE

Busy Busy Busy

by HTA | Feb 14, 2018

HTA is in the thick of one of our busiest times ever!

We travelled to Chicago in January to perform at Chicago SketchFest and it went amazingly well! As always, we were welcomed like kings and queens by the great people at Stage 773 who put on the festival. Thanks for having us!

The second we got back we went into crazy turbo mode to get ready for filming the pilot of our new Web Series. For those of you who don’t know much about it, this is the latest incarnation of the comedy series we’ve been writing since late 2011. It’s been a LONG journey to this point, and the project has morphed and grown a lot over the years, but it was amazing to finally put our ideas to film and see it come to life! The project has had a lot of names over the years, but we’re ready to reveal it’s name officially:

DOWN A PEG

We’ll tell you alllll about it soon. But for now, enjoy these behind the scenes pics by Kristen Sawatsky.

Somehow, we managed to get some amazing, talented people involved which made the whole process a dream! Right now we’re in the middle of post production, getting it ready to be seen. So far it’s looking better than we ever could have imagined. We don’t know yet exactly what the plan will be to release it. So stay tuned for more details. And in the mean time, subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be sure to hear about it as soon as it’s released!

HTA returning to Chicago Sketch Fest for the 3rd time!

by HTA | Jan 2, 2018

We’re returning to the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival in early January for what will be our 3rd performance at the festival, the largest of its kind in the world!

Both our previous appearances in 2015 and 2017 received a lot of buzz and were both sold out so we’re very excited to be asked back again. Time Out Magazine singled out our 2017 performance as one of the 12 acts to see, out of all 154 performing groups. Some of the other groups singled out included TJ Miller (Silicon Valley) and Danny Pudi (Community).

They seem to really like what we do there! Winnipeg and Chicago: our two comedy homes. Scientists are still studying it, but there appears to be a link between cold winters, Chicago style architecture, and liking our comedy.

We can’t wait to perform alongside the best of the best in the world for sketch comedy, and to watch them perform and then meet them afterwards and pick their brains.

Chicago Sketch Fest is the largest sketch comedy festival in the world. It features approximately 180 groups from around the US and a few from around the world. Each year it draws crowds of 11,000 patrons over its 8 day run.

We’re performing two shows over two nights at the festival: January 11th and 12 at 8pm.

In other news, right when we get back we’re diving in to filming the pilot to our web series that has been in the works for over 5 years now. You may remember us pitching a sitcom concept to networks in Toronto in December 2012. Well we’ve adapted the sitcom into a shorter web series and we’re filming episode 1 as a proof of concept. We couldn’t be more excited to finally see something come of our work! We’ll let you know all about it once it’s ready to be seen!

HTA Returns to the Winnipeg Fringe with Fourplay

by HTA | Jul 10, 2017

We’re only a few days away from the start of the most wonderful time of year: Fringe!

HTA is returning for our 11th year together! And our 9th Fringe show. We’re currently putting the finishing touches on a year of truly weird, fun, and “extremely HTA” sketches! Physical, musical, inspired, timeless! We can’t wait for you to see them. Which is why you should get your tickets now. Tickets tend to sell out for every show, so to save yourself waiting in line for hours on end, we really recommend getting your tickets online now. That’s not sales spin, that’s an actual pro-tip. We don’t want our audiences to have just survived a gruelling ordeal sweating in line. We want you stroll in like a VIP, ready to laugh! Click below for all Fringe related info, and to buy your tickets.

We have a show every single night from July 19th to July 30th, with only one night off: Monday, July 24th. 7pm Nightly at the Gas Station Arts Centre.

FRINGE INFO

Get Ready for the Return of HTA!

by HTA | Jun 26, 2017

Lots more information will be coming out in the coming weeks, but HTA is as happy as a piranha at a feeding frenzy to announce that we’re heading back to the Winnipeg Fringe this year which runs from July 19th to 30th! Our show Fourplay will be on every night a 7pm at the Gas Station Arts Centre (with the exception of our one night off: Monday, July 24th.) It’s a brand new batch of sketches all done in our trademark fast, stripped down, physical style, HTA style. Tickets are already on sale. Head to our Fringe page to get your tickets before they sell out!

5 Become 4

by HTA | Jul 8, 2015

HTA has been together since the spring of 2006, 9 years. When it started, for the first couple months, it was just the girls. Until they brought on Garth and fellow UofW theatre student Grant Burr. Our first show was at the Winnipeg Fringe that summer and it was a...

The Shows to Come

by HTA | Apr 15, 2015

Winnipeg Comedy Fest may be done (and what a great time we had) but we're far from retreating back into the pits from whence we came. We're very excited to be partaking in TWO exciting shows in the coming weeks. Here's everything you need to know: HTA + H.U.N.K.S...

Welcome to HotThespianAction.com 2.0!

by HTA | Apr 5, 2015

We couldn't be more excited to be launching our brand-spanking-new website! Welcome! Here you will find everything you've ever needed to know about HTA. And I'm sure lots of stuff you didn't care to know at all! Take a minute to explore. This week is the Winnipeg...

Returning Home

by HTA | Feb 19, 2015

We're back from our great American adventure, performing at both the Chicago SketchFest and San Francisco SketchFest, within the span of a few weeks! It was a whirlwind adventure, but we had a great time performing to sold out, super receptive crowds and meeting some...

Heading South!

by HTA | Jan 3, 2015

Big News! We've been sitting on a big announcement for a while now because we've been waiting to get all our ducks in a row with all the legalities of it all... but we can't hold back the news any longer, so screw it! HTA has been invited to attend Chicago Sketch...

W.H.A.A.T. T.H.E?!?

by HTA | Dec 11, 2014

Merry Christmas from HTA! To thank you all for your part in an exciting year for HTA, we're launching a brand new Video Sketch today. Children, share it with your parents. Parents, share it with your kids. Head on over to our Web Vids section to watch it...

Funny or Die!

by HTA | Oct 19, 2014

Today our video "Pizza Shack" was launched on Funny or Die's Youtube channel. Funny or Die has been really great with allowing content creators a moment in the spotlight by showing our videos mixed in with all their in-house content. It gives us a way to connect to a...

Off to Ottawa!

by HTA | Sep 11, 2014

This year HTA took the summer off to recharge our batteries, and boy are we glad we did, because this is gearing up to be a busy fall! First on the docket, we're flying out to Ottawa for the Canadian Comedy Awards where we're nominated in the category of Best Sketch...

A summer off!

by HTA | Jul 14, 2014

So Winnipeg Fringe is once again upon us, but this time, for the first time in 6 years, HTA is taking the summer off! Alas, it's true, no HTA show at the Fringe this year. It's not you! It's us! We just needed a summer off for the first time in forever. With that...

The rule of three!

by HTA | Jun 17, 2014

It was announced this morning that HTA has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for best sketch comedy troupe in Canada, for a third time! In comedy writing, the "Rule of Three" dictates that all things are funnier in threes, and we couldn't agree more. So this...