Welcome to the third-annual Bay Area MUSICAL IMPROV FESTIVAL, bringing
together MUSICAL IMPROVISERS FROM AROUND THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR A WEEKEND OF MUSICAL IMPROV SHOWS,
workshops, jams and parties at the All Out Comedy Theater in
OAKLAND!Over the course of the four-day festival weekend, there will
be nine shows, featuring selected performers from around the Bay Area
and as far away as New York City, Chicago, Seattle, LA, and Hawaii.
Learn more about the festival on the Bay Area Musical Improv Festival
website. [https://bayareamusicalimprov.com/shows]
THURSDAY 8:00PM SHOW
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!
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!
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.
FRIDAY 6:30PM SHOW
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!
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.
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".
FRIDAY 8:30PM SHOW
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.
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.
SWEET SWEET FANTASY MUSICAL (LOS ANGELES)
A narrative fantasy musical set anywhere but here and anytime but now.
SATURDAY 4:30PM SHOW
LES MIXERABLES
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
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.
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!
SATURDAY 6:30PM SHOW
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.
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.
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.
SATURDAY 8:30PM SHOW
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!
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?!
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.
SUNDAY 1:30PM SHOW
BEMIXED
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!
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.
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?
SUNDAY 3:30PM SHOW
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!
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.
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.
SUNDAY 5:30PM SHOW
THE INCIDENTALISTS
What happens when you mix improv, Jane Eyre, and Frankenstein... and
then sing about it? Come find out... if you dare!"
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.
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
improvised 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.
music
theater
Comics
382
Views
13/10/2026 Last update