Local, national troupes share laughs in Oklahoma City improv festival

Improv Festival Oklahoma will celebrate improvisational theater with 12 comedy troupes, two nights of live performances and workshops for beginners and experienced comics. Performances start at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at City Arts Center at State Fair Park.

"We really wanted to have the opportunity to start developing more of an improv scene here in Oklahoma. There are several local troupes, but there had never really been any interaction between them,” festival co-coordinator Christopher Curtis said. "We wanted the chance to come together and actually perform together and work together, learn from each other ... and raise the profile of improv comedy.”

Oklahoma City’s Red Dirt Improv is the host for the event and will perform. Other state troupes participating include Everybody and Their Dog, Oklahoma City; Spontaniacs!, Tulsa; Ham Wallet, Stillwater; and Obviously Unrehearsed Improv!, University of Oklahoma/Norman, along with Oklahoma City duo Twinprov.

A Red Dirt Improv member, Curtis thinks the state’s improv comedy scene is an "undiscovered gem.”

"People don’t know that it’s out there. Each of the improv groups kind of has their own fan base, and we’ll sometimes go out and support each other’s shows. ... But a lot of people just aren’t aware it exists,” he said.

Festival organizers also have invited comics from Atlanta, Denver and Austin, Texas, to perform. The headliners will be SCRAM!, the duo of nationally known improvisers Joe Bill and Jill Bernard, who also will teach advanced workshops for actors and comedians.

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