Welcome to Bay Area Musical Improv, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting and expanding the musical improv community in the San Francisco Bay Area and fostering opportunities at all levels. Our goal is a thriving, inclusive musical improv community made up of people of all backgrounds, experiences and vocal abilities.
We believe that musical improv is for everyone.
About Us
Bay Area Musical Improv is run by a board composed of Kathy Groat, Jed Levine, Pat Pow-anpongkul and Molly Robertson. This organization is not directly affiliated with any theater and serves to support community development across all theaters and independent groups in the San Francisco bay area.
Kathy Groat: Kathy has been an enthusiastic and energetic improv student, teacher, producer, and performer since 2013. She trained at iO Chicago, The Annoyance, and Monkey Business Institute, where she enjoyed producing and performing in improvised Broadway-style musical shows and all-women revues. She currently performs as a member of Knockoff Broadway. When she is not on stage or laughing hysterically at an improv show, Kathy can be spotted walking her dog along Lake Merritt and serenading pigeons.
Jed Levine: Jed is a musical improv teacher, coach and performer at All Out Comedy in Oakland and Leela in San Francisco. He is a graduate of the Second City Musical Improv Conservatory in Chicago, an alumnus of the critically acclaimed musical improv company Baby Wants Candy and a co-founder and player with Knockoff Broadway. Jed currently coaches several musical improv teams, including Leela's Musical P.I.E., Sonic Boom and The Fledglings. After relocating home to the Bay Area in 2020, Jed has made building out the musical improv community one of his top goals.
Pat Pow-anpongkul: Pat got his start improvising in Atlanta before moving to the Bay Area. You can often find him performing at Oakland's All Out Comedy as part of Knockoff Broadway, San Francisco's BATS Improv, Leela, and Flash Forward. Pat has a deep history of musical theatre, which includes writing and performing original full-length musicals at UPenn's Mask and Wig Club.
Molly Robertson: Molly is a member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company, specializing in long-form musicals. She is an alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade training center in New York and a founding producer of the West Coast Musical Improv Festival.
Are We Missing Something?
If you know of a musical improv opportunity you think we should include in our classes listing, our reps page, and/or our calendar, please don’t hesitate to email us.
Our goal is to put more useful information in the hands of musical improvisers around the bay, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Support Musical Improv in the Bay
If you’d like to financially support musical improv in the bay area, we’ve started a fund to help local theaters and teams cover the cost of Musical Directors. Opportunities for musical improv reps can be both infrequent and expensive–this fund is aimed at helping to change that.
Our primary focus is reducing the cost of putting up musical improv jams and other free or low-cost public opportunities, in order to encourage more of them to happen more frequently. If we receive enough funds, our secondary focus will be to provide assistance to individual teams to cover some of their Musical Director costs.
100% of all funds collected will be used to pay Musical Directors doing work here in the bay area. You can donate here.