Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties, across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation.
Second Nature is a long-form improvisational theatre troupe based in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California.
Unexpected Productions (UP) is an improvisational comedy company in Seattle, Washington, USA. From their home at the Market Theater in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market, in Post Alley, Unexpected Productions produces year-round shows, teaches improv classes, and hosts the Seattle International Festival of Improvisation.
Unexpected Company is an improvisational comedy group founded in Hollywood, California in 1986 by Tim Hillman, and recreated in Rhode Island in 2003 by Hillman and Justin James Lang.
The San Francisco Improv Alliance is a group of actors dedicated to improvisational theater. It started in 2005 by Shaun Landry, artistic director of Oui Be Negroes. The Alliance offers master class workshops and national ensembles, co-production of pre-established ensembles, performance opportunities for upcoming ensembles, staging of self-produced shows, and community outreach in the field of improvisational theatre.
The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is a not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre group in Wellington, New Zealand. It is run by a committee elected by and from its forty to sixty active members. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Theatre Strike Force is the University of Florida's premier improv and sketch comedy troupe. The group also goes by TSF. The style of improv performed by Theatre Strike Force is a combination long form and short form. They both teach and perform improvisational comedy. They have six house teams which include both forms of improv as well as a sketch team. There are four long form house teams which are cast every semester and usually have six to eight members. The TSF Short Form Team is cast every semester as well and usually has fifteen to nineteen members. TSF Sketch is the final house team and usually has twelve to sixteen members, cast each semester.
The N Crowd is a short form improv comedy troupe that has been performing weekly since April 2005. The troupes membership has fluctuated between 14 and 6 over the last 2 years. Currently there are 10 members performing weekly in Philadelphia. The troupe has received positive reviews in the Philadelphia Weekly, the Philly Style Magazine, and The City Paper. Interviews of N Crowd members have appeared in The Philly Metro and Phillyst.com.
CRUMBS is an improvisational theatre duo based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The Fracas! Improv Festival is a three-day annual improvisational theatre festival held at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. The festival is hosted by Second Nature Improv, one of USC's improv troupes. In addition to performances, the festival hosts discussion panels with professional improvisers currently working in television, film, and/or theatre, as well as improv workshops. While the performances and panels are open to the public, workshops are available only to registered festival participants.
On Thin Ice, (OTI) is Harvard College's oldest Improvisational comedy group. OTI specializes in short-form improvisational theater taking the form of various comedy games in the style of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation.
The Lobby was an improvisational comedy group based in Southern California. Unlike many improv groups, which are composed of many members who perform on a rotating basis, The Lobby was a small, close-knit group. The audience got to know each of the players and feel they were part of the group. The Lobby also irregularly put up a podcast, which further allowed their audience to connect with the players.
The Purple Crayon of Yale, or the Purple Crayon, is an improvisational theater group at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The group specializes in longform improv, such as the Harold. The Purple Crayon is Yale's second-oldest improv group, after the Ex!t Players, and the oldest collegiate longform group in the country.
The Brown Jug is a college humor magazine founded in 1920 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Peoples Improv Theater (PIT), also known as the PIT, is a comedy theater and training center in New York City, founded by comedian Ali Farahnakian in 2002. Shows combine improvisational comedy, sketch comedy, stand-up, theater, and variety. Each show is hosted by a combination of "house teams" of comedians hired by PIT and by outside comedians.
Providence Improv Guild (PIG) is an improvisational theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. It is located in AS220 at 95 Empire Street, Providence RI, 02903.
Seoul City Improv (SCI) is a theater company and improvisational comedy troupe located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 2007, in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood by an international group of actors and creatives it known to be Korea's oldest English-language improv group and has since grown to perform all around the world, including Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, USA, Canada and more.
