ImprovBoston is a nonprofit improvisational theater, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers shows and classes its theater in Central Square. Classes are offered in improvisation, stand-up comedy, musical improv, and sketch writing.
History
Founding 1982–1993
Let me tell you the story of ImprovBoston's rise to fame. In the summer of 1982 (I'm not actually sure it was the summer but sounds cooler) Ellen Holbrook, former student of The Second City and producer of Chicago Improv Olympic, brought the sizzle of the Chicago comedy to Boston! With the help of David Shepherd (founder of the Compass Players and the Improv Olympic) and members of The Proposition, an earlier improv comedy group, Holbrook assembled and trained several loosely knit bands of improvisers into teams that competed in the legendary Boston "Improv Olympics" at Reilly's Beef and Pub.
Holbrook arranged for David Shepherd and Second City's Michael Gellman to come to Boston to teach improv workshops to local performers. In 1983, Holbrook, along with Nicholas Emanuel and Katy Bolger, co-founded ImprovBoston. They relocated to Satch's, owned by the one and only Satch Sanders - former Boston Celtics star - where they continued to grow the ImprovBoston brand of comedy.
The ImprovBoston brand evolved rapidly and became an official not-for-profit corporation in 1984, eventually finding a new home at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge. From there, the group would flex their funny bones with improv games, sketches, musical numbers, and song parodies all inspired by that night's crowd. The 80's in Boston, what a time for comedy.
1993–2000
The story does not end there. In 1993, when Nancy Howland Walker took charge, ImprovBostoon landed their very first dedicated theatre space at the Back Alley Theater in Inman Square. They started with late night shows but soon captivated audiences with their prime time performances, and even got their hands on the New England franchise of Theatersports. With Walker's guidance, the cast grew from five little performers to an outstanding 20 members and developed an ImprovBoston Mainstage cast. Larry Pizza took over as artistic director in 1995, and Ron Jones followed in 1997. Jones brought innovation to the theater by creating new formats and shows that went beyond the traditional shortform game format used for their Friday and Saturday night shows. ImprovBoston's journey continued.
2000-2008
The story heightens! ImprovBoston welcomed Will Luera as the new artistic director. He brought with him some cool ideas from his previous improv theater (Bluescreen Productions, a different Improv theater he had established in Davis Square for those keeping score). This partnership added a third cast to ImprovBoston's line-up and even gained them the rights to Keith Johnstone's Micetro format. Luera had big plans for the theater, in 2005 the ensemble "Wrong Kind of Funny" was establish eventually forming the ImprovBostoon Family Show. Then in 2008, ImprovBoston found a home in Central Square where it is still based. This allowed ImprovBoston to expand their show offerings to include The Hump, The Great and Secret Comedy Show, Bi-monthly Showcase Shows, and the Sgt. Culpepper Improvisational Jamboree, short shows featuring independent college groups from the area followed by an audience participation 'open jam', which eventually became the ImprovBoston JAM. Not to mention annual productions like GoreFest, a scripted horror musical because who doesn't love copious amounts of fake blood?, The ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular, and the College Comedy Beanpot tournament.
ImprovBoston has also hosted some pretty awesome events in the past, like The Women in Comedy Festival, Queer Comedy Night, Geekweek, and more. In 2010, they even created an audio department with the intention of producing weekly free podcasts among other audio-only endeavors under the banner of "ImprovBoston Radio". This resulted in the flagship, and also Fireside Improv, a more instruction-oriented look at the comedic form with a panel of improv pupil, professor and philosopher. ImprovBoston was pretty ambitious, huh.
2020 to now
Then a bunch of stuff happened between 2008 and 2020. ImprovBoston had shows, tournaments, and festivals. They had famous people perform on their stages, they had people you have never heard of that are absolutely hilarious perform in their space. They had the best of times, they had the worst of times, just your classic not-for-profit comedy theater living its dreams.
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