Lady Bits brings all-women improv comedy to centre stage in Saskatoon

It's a different kind of ladies' night when the Lady Bits take to the stage in Saskatoon. The all-women improvisational theatre group are encouraging women to get in the spotlight and embrace their inner comedy.

Founder Jenny Ryan said the idea for the group came out of her experiences in the male-dominated comedy scene in Saskatoon.

"Over 10 years I watched women come and go from the troupe I was with," Ryan said on CBC's Saskatoon Morning. "And I noticed that the girls who came or the women who came often left. They didn't stick it out; they seemed intimidated sometimes."

Ryan said she began to ask herself what was causing women to leave the scene.

"I thought maybe what's happening is that women don't feel like there is an environment where they can let loose and explore how improv works in a place where they feel like they are not going to be judged," she said, adding that men in the scene do work hard to make it inclusive.

Lady Bits has now been bringing women to the stage for almost a year during their monthly shows. Shirley Cusheri is one of the members but she used to do improv in Toronto.

"I think performing in Toronto with groups, with men and women, you can see that women either try to be one of the guys… [or]  it also gets them pigeon-holed a lot of time into characters. You have to be the female in this scene; you have to be the wife," Cusheri said.

Being a part of an all-female group, those barriers disappear, Cusheri said.

"It's interesting that when we play together it's nice that we can be anything, we can be anyone we want. It is a safe space," she said. "It's a nice creative environment."

The Lady Bits Comedy Night is at Amigos Cantina Monday night starting at 7:30 p.m. CST.