Festival Opening Pizza Party
Kick off the festival weekend in style at the Festival Opening Party! This is your chance to meet a bunch of new friends and catch up with old ones over games and free pizza from Mama's Boy Pizza. This party is for musical improvisers, musical improv enthusiasts and musical improv newbies alike, whether you're visiting from out of town or live just up the street.
Did we mention it's FREE? Start your festival weekend off right--come mingle with this incredible community and let's party!
Thrust (Los Angeles)
Get out of your head and into your body. Enter the Thrustiverse! Sound and movement. Dream ballets. Sonic landscapes. And what we have yet to discover. The Thrustiverse is always expanding!
Performers: Libby Dorot, Robin Driscoll, Chris Gale, and Sarah Reynolds.
RiOt: An Improvised Rock Opera
Hope. Struggle. Angst. RiOt is the hilarious, fiery improvised rock opera with ALL of the emotions. These rock stars take your suggestion and turn it into an entire show in the style of RENT. Every foot stomping anthem, every heart-wrenching ballad, every laugh-inducing moment, spontaneously created just for you!
Performers: Mari Amend, Ife Famojuro, Clint Gibler, Brendan Hunt, Adrienne Losch, Megan Mubaraki, Bethany Schwartz, Lukas Tannenbaum, Harmony Wicker, Nic Wong and Sarah Wulf. Musical Director: Ben Bigney.
Knockoff Broadway
It's opening (and closing) night of a brand-new Broadway-style musical comedy that is totally off-script! Every laugh-inducing lyric, every heart-melting melody and every show-stopping song, is improvised based on your suggestion.
Performers: Kathy Groat, Jade Laity, Jed Levine, Jessica Neighbor, Pat Pow-anpongkul, Adrian Vazquez, and Ming Wong. Musical Directors: Jared Hauser and Dave Moschler.
Delta Baes (Sacramento & Bay Area)
What happens when you have more instruments on stage than players? Sometimes the cast is the band, and sometimes the band is the cast, but you can always expect earnest goofiness and technical musicianship!
Performers: Kathleen Burch, Isaac Dunn, Katrina Huber, Elliott Jin, Lukas Tannenbaum, Mary Ngô , Adara Plum, and Harmony Wicker.
Un-Scripted Theater Company Presents: The Ninth Circle Lounge
Torch songs like you’ve never heard them before. We might all be dead, but the show must go on! Join us in the underworld, where the music never ends and the standards are extra hot.
Performers: Melissa Holman-Kursky, Paul Holman-Kursky, Molly Robertson, and Clay Robeson. Musical Directors: Gabe Chaparro and Elliott Jin.
Teen Girl Book: The Improvised Musical (Chicago)
This improvised musical is inspired by the classic coming-of-age stories of the early 2000s. You pick the summer plans for each of the three friends, then sit back and watch the hilarity unfold as they improvise their own "teen girl book".
Performers: Sean Buckley, Barb Jackson, Liz McCreight, and Kaitlyn Nibbelin. Musical Director: Hugh Walker.
Gail & Jess Try Their Best (Chicago)
Gail Gallagher (a Musical Director) and Jessica Landis (a musical improviser) will answer* your burning life questions by inventing songs of varying quality. *Advice provided in this manner may or may not improve your life. But do it anyway, for the plot.
Performers: Gail Gallagher and Jessica Landis.
Once Upon a Rhyme (Denver & Omaha)
Gather round everyone! Rodney, Dylan, and Megan turn your favorite stories into rap songs! Tell them your favorite book, movie, or even video game and instantly see a rap song be created in that world and as those characters.
Performers: Rodney Conyers Jr, Megan Miles, and Dylan Rohde.
Sweet Sweet Fantasy Musical (Los Angeles)
A narrative fantasy musical set anywhere but here and anytime but now.
Performers: Ryan Brookshire, Tara Copeland, Shilpa Das, Oscar Montoya, Ashley Ward, and Andrew Young. Musical Director: Aaron Wilson.
Mixer Team
This Mixer Team is made up of eight individual experienced improvisers who have never played together before! Created just for this festival, these eight improvisers will rehearse together for the first time on Saturday, then perform for you! It’s an experiment in chemistry where ANYTHING can happen!
Worlds Collide
What happens when two worlds try to exist in the same space? Worlds Collide takes your suggestion, breaks it apart, and smashes it back together in unexpected ways. Sparks fly as each show becomes a high-stakes experiment in tension, comedy, and connection, ending in a finale that will only happen once in a lifetime
Performers: Shawn Amaro, Catherine Dietrich, Ervin Dupuis, Dre Ford, Camila Frausto, Goose, Matthew Greene, Erik Mulder, Maynard Peralta, Laura Prager, Christine Welsh-Buck, and William Yap. Musical Director: Grant Ewing.
On the Road (Portland & Boston)
On the Road is an improvised musical where every show is a brand-new road trip. Inspired by audience suggestions, Deana and Betse create scenes and original songs about the places they visit, the people they meet, and what they see, do, and discover along the way. No script, no map—just an unforgettable musical adventure.
Performers: Deana Criess and Betse Green.
HOT MESS: The Musical (Chicago)
Our musical misfits find hilarity in the mundane with voices only your mom (heh) would love. From singing the Siri Blues, to playing EDM at the DMV, to going grunge with grandma, we’ll show you how anything in the everyday can be spiced up with SONG!
Performers: Carlos Rivera and Linda Taylor.
Dumped: The Improvised Musical (Los Angeles)
For years she believed finding “The One” would solve everything. Then she got dumped. This fully improvised one-woman musical comedy about what happens when the love story ends—and your actual life begins. Guided by audience suggestions, each show creates a brand-new journey through heartbreak, friendship, identity, joy, and the messy business of learning to love yourself.
Performer: Marian Yesufu.
BATS Improv
BATS Improv — at 40 years old, one of the longest-continually-running improv troupes in the world — takes a step into the unknown with a format loosely mixing the classic Harold with improvised songs, musical games, and more abstract sonic experimentation.
Performers: William Hall, Brian Lohmann, Tim Orr, Jenny Rosen, Lisa C Rowland, and Laura Wachtel. Musical Director: Joshua Raoul Brody.
Gemini (Los Angeles)
Gemini takes any movie and turns it into a musical. Even if they have never seen the movie (and most of the time, they have not.) Everything from When Harry Met Sally to The Lord of Rings, no genre or cast size is off-limits. Is it already a movie musical? Gemini happens to know the first, unreleased cut of it. Gemini is Oscar Montoya and Desireé Nash; practically twins you won’t be able to tell apart.
Performers: Oscar Montoya and Desiree Nash.
He/Hymns
An improvised musical church service tribute where a joyful collection of songs, sermons, and spirited community come together in one blessed show! Whether you grew up in the choir or have only seen church on TV, we have faith you'll leave with a spirited smile on your face and a new silly song in your heart!
Performers: Brendan Hunt, Lukas Tannenbaum, and Ming Wong. Musical Director: Ben Bigney.
USS IMPROVISE: A Parody Star Trek Musical (Portland, OR)
The crew of the USS Improvise bring to life the characters from the classic (and arguably, best) Star Trek series; Star Trek: The Next Generation in a never before seen parody episode completely improvised on the spot. Oh, and did we mention it's a musical?!
Performers: Samson Carruth, Aden Nepom, Eric Nepom, and Matthew Stowers.
Houndstooth (New York City)
More than just a fashionable pattern, Houndstooth is a Musical Megawatt team at the Magnet Theater in New York City. Stacked with seasoned performers, Houndstooth is known for their quick-playing, high-energy performances, and dramatic commitment. From their starting Houndstooth howl to the final note of their closing number, every show is a whirlwind of fun, clever, emotional play all wrapped up into a narrative musical that has never been seen before, and will never be seen again.
Performers: Nilson Burgos, Maria Nally, Sonia Nam, Jason Specland, and Brian St. Relko. Musical Director: Max Feldman.
Mixer Team
This Mixer Team is made up of eight individual experienced improvisers who have never played together before! Created just for this festival, these eight improvisers will rehearse together for the first time on the Sunday before the festival, then perform for you! It’s an experiment in chemistry where ANYTHING can happen!
Improv Cabaret (Denver)
Improv Cabaret is a fully improvised Broadway-style musical longform deconstruction inspired by the works of Fosse. A host guides the audience through short form musical games with singing, dancing, rapping, and improvising . It seamlessly combines drama, comedy, and All That Jazz!
Performers: Rachel Beckemeyer, Dre Ford, Gretchen Grunzke, Erik Mulder, Maynard Peralta, Laura Prager, and Colin Tilleman.
Call & Response
Call & Response improvises music based in the African American soul, gospel and R&B traditions. Our foundational muse is Black freedom, and we like to improvise with other subjects as story and metaphor for songs of resistance.
Performers: Aya de Leon, Chanelle Ignant, and Kaylah Marin.
Flash Mob Musical
It's opening night – and the writing team hasn't even started the musical! Flash Mob Musical takes you into the writers room for a never-before-seen musical, creating scenes and songs on the spot with the help of your suggestions. Can they finish the story before time runs out?
Performers: Michael Astrauskas, Dustin Clingman, Christine Kwong, Neil Pomerleau, and Debra Schifrin.
Warriors of Ver-Choo (Honolulu)
Sean Choo and Jose Ver, the Warriors of Ver-Choo combat the evil forces of anti-comedy with their kung fu joy improv powers!
Performers: Sean-Joseph Choo and Jose Ver.
House Party Presents: Paranoise
The lights are low, it’s eerie, silent. You receive a call from inside the house, creepily asking for a suggestion. House Party takes that offering and creates an original musical inspired by creeping dread, classic suspense, and things best left unseen. You’ll be humming these songs the whole way home…if you make it home.
Performers: Jennifer Chan, Gabe Chaparro, Peterson Cheng, Justin Cho, Kate Hetland, Lou Hoffman, Holly Johnson, Eli Ramos, Carey Shaffer, and Rochelle Urban. Musical Director: Isaac Dunn
Hell Yeah! (New York City)
Hell Yeah! is a completely improvised musical. Based on a suggestion provided by YOU, the audience, our team of professional actors and musicians will create an entire musical from scratch, right in front of your very eyes. Every line, lyric, move, and melody will be made up live on stage.
Performers: Ben Hirsch, Mark Melton, Maria Nally, PJ Nally, and Annie Raczko. Musical Director: Max Feldman.
The Incidentalists
What happens when you mix improv, Jane Eyre, and Frankenstein... and then sing about it? Come find out... if you dare!"
Performers: Jon Burnett, Rebecca Castelli, Michael Fleming, and Jennifer Simmons.
La Spazzatura
La Spazzatura [Italian: (n) trash] is low brow opera, high brow improv. Based on a single audience suggestion, they perform comedic arias, duets, and perfectly executed recitativo* accompanied by piano. *That sound you heard was Mozart rolling in his grave.
Performers: Nicole Odell, Olivia Puerta, and Meghan Trowbridge. Musical Director: Michael Risse.
OverWrought (Seattle)
A ‘D’ on your report card? Again? Don’t you wanna graduate this class of 1993? And who are you asking to the prom? Would you do anything for love? Will this be a Total ellipse of the heart? This improvsed rock opera will blow. your. mind. Inspired by music videos of the 80s and rock operas like Jesus Christ Superstar and Rocky Horror Picture show. In lights. In costume. And sponsored by the galactic vampire conclave.
Performers: Phil Geurin and friends.
Closing Party with Live-Band Improvised Karaoke
Do not miss out on this fabulous FREE event to celebrate the end of the festival weekend. This is a party unlike any other--featuring the chance to improvise songs based on random titles pulled out of a hat with a live rock band backing you!
We'll be taking over the entire All Out Comedy theater for the evening, so you can socialize, grab a drink or hop on stage. Come hang out with all your festival friends and the community for one last time and also rock your heart out with the band!