The Lighthouse Troupe is a nonprofit theatre group that uses improvisational theatre exercises to help people develop creative problem solving techniques and confident personal expression. The 2007-2008 season is marked by a pilot program that will creatively unite people from across the globe.

In August 2007, The Lighthouse Troupe—working in partnership with 826 Valencia—held a unique workshop called Stories in Motion: An Improv Animation Studio Workshop, where participants used improvisation to create their own animated characters. With the help of professional artists from Pixar Animation Studios, these participants animated short, solo character sketches that are currently (August/September 2007) being used in a workshop in Santiago, Chile. The Chilean participants will create a story involving all three characters that will then be sent to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where, in spring of 2008, a new group will animate the story, with the assistance of both local and Pixar animators.

In the future, The Lighthouse Troupe plans to structure the program such that each group of participants would experience all phases of the “production”. They’d create characters for the next group, write stories based on characters given to them by a previous group, as well as animate the final film of another group’s story.

This extraordinary global collaboration will give people from disparate parts of the world an opportunity to share that innate creative spirit that connects us all.

Here's a sample of the animations students created at 826 Valencia:

Boss Lady
Grandpa
Pomp
Final Boss Lady
Final Grandpa
Final Pomp