Award-winning lineup delivers side-splitting laughs
GUELPH, ON January 15, 2026 — Canada’s top comediennes return! Annually scheduled to beat the winter blahs, this year the show falls on Galentine’s Day, a day to celebrate women’s friendships. The happy coincidence and the girl-power lineup promise an evening of side-splitting laughs. Part of GuelphToday Comedy Series, Girls Nite Out takes River Run’s Main Stage on Friday, February 13 at 8 p.m.
Girls Nite Out features award-winning improvisers Jennine Profeta, Diana Frances, and Karen Parker as well as comedy writer and standup, Elvira Kurt. The collective delivers a new show every night, with improv scenes skillfully crafted based on audience suggestions. Now in their 20th year, the troupe has only strengthened with time, with each of the comediennes earning some of the highest industry accolades.
Elvira Kurt opens with standup. An alum of The Second City, Kurt is a trailblazer. In 1993, she was the first openly queer comedian to perform on Canadian TV. Since then, she has paved the way for decades of queer comics. She is winner of a Canadian Screen Award, Canadian Comedy Award, and Cannes Film Festival Award. She is a sought-after writer and guest, regularly co-hosting CTV’s The Social, appearing and writing on Baroness von Sketch Show, and winning an award for her writing on The Great Canadian Baking Show — among many other awards and credits as writer, producer, and director.
Jennine Profeta is an actor, improviser, teacher, and writer. She has performed across the country and aboard with The Second City’s National Touring Company and has over 20 years’ experience as an improv facilitator, including at The Second City Works in Toronto and Chicago. She has written for CBC, Chatelaine, Today’s Parent, and Best Health Magazine, appeared in various commercials and theatre productions, and was a principal player in Howie Mandel’s Howie Do It on NBC.
Diana Frances is an award-winning improviser, comedian, and writer. Her writing credits include CBC’s Still Standing, Comedy Network’s The Beaverton, and CTV’s Corner Gas: Animated, for which she won a 2020 Canadian Screen Award.She is an eight-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee and winner of a Writers Guild of Canada award for her comedy about her life with adoption, Given Up. In addition to Girls Nite Out, she tours and performs in troupes The Improvisers and Leave it to Cleavage.
Karen Parker is a five-time Canadian Comedy Award winner and alum of The Second City Toronto Mainstage. She has performed across Canada, including with Mirvish Productions’ She The People. Her comedy troupe, The Lusty Mannequins, tours internationally and won the Best Comedy Characters of the Year at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Parker’s film and TV credits include Baroness von Sketch Show, Murdoch Mysteries, and The Firm, among others.
Jordan Armstrong joins the troupe with musical accompaniment. A versatile composer, director, and performer, Armstrong has composed and directed music in three critically-acclaimed The Second City Mainstage revues and earned numerous accolades for her work on other shows.
This show is made possible with support from the Government of Canada, returning Season Sponsor Richardson Wealth, and Comedy Series Sponsor GuelphToday.com.
Tickets to Girls Nite Out are $49 for adults, $47 for patrons over 60, and $29 for those under 30 years old. For more information or to purchase, call 519-763-3000, visit River Run Centre’s Box Office at 35 Woolwich Street in Guelph, or go to https://riverrun.ca/whats-on/girls-nite-out26/.
FOR INFORMATION
Kasia Rusiniak | Program Manager, Development and Marketing
River Run Centre | City of Guelph
519-837-5662 ext. 2589
[email protected]