Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce the return of the
annual Sarasota Improv Festival, the premier Festival of its kind in the Southeastern
United States. Founded by Rebecca Hopkins in 2009, the Sarasota Improv Festival has
become a destination event, drawing thousands of people from across the state of
Florida and beyond. The festival is back for its 14th year and will feature over 16 of the
top improv troupes from across the country and as far as Chile. The 14th Annual
Sarasota Improv Festival will be held on FST’s downtown Sarasota campus Friday, July
12 and Saturday, July 13, 2024. A full Festival schedule is included at the end of this
release.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming artists and audiences back to FST for this beloved
festival,” said Will Luera, FST’s Director of Improvisation. “This event is so special and
distinctive— not just to the Sarasota community, but within the larger improvisational
world on a national scale. It’s truly become a destination event. We promise that
audience members and Improv fans are going to enjoy a weekend of laughter, creativity,
and unforgettable performances.”
Headlining the 14th Annual Sarasota Improv Festival is Impro Theatre, a group that
creates completely improvised, full-length plays in the styles of the world’s greatest
playwrights, authors, and composers. This will be Impro Theatre’s second time at the
Sarasota Improv Festival. Founded as Los Angeles Theatresports in 1988, Impro
Theatre has evolved into a critically acclaimed theatre and school.
This marks the seventh year that FST has welcomed artists from around the world to its
Improv Festival. Introducing Festival audiences and performers to a wider array of
improv styles and approaches has always been a priority to Festival Producer, Rebecca
Hopkins, and Festival Organizer, Will Luera. Past Festivals have drawn international
talent from Mexico, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Making their festival debut this year is Lospleimovil, an improv group from Chile.
Lospleimovil was createdin 2000 under the direction of actor and director Claudio
Espinoza, along with actress and theater pedagogue Lissette Villegas, with the
intention of promoting and
researching stage improvisation, a genre that had not been showcased as a final
artistic event by any professional theater company in the country until then. Thus, they
became the pioneers of improv in Chile.
Returning for the Festival are several fan-favorite troupes, including Available
Cupholders (Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA), Big Bang Improv (Boston, Sarasota,
and New York City), Dad’s Garage (Atlanta, GA), Parallelogramophonograph (Austin,
TX), North Coast (New York City, NY), and of course, Florida Studio Theatre’s own
resident improv team, FST Improv.
Closing the 14th Annual Sarasota Improv Festival is the famous finale event, All Play,
where all 80+ Festival artists squeeze themselves onto FST’s Gompertz stage for a
raucous, completely unscripted performance of collaborative fun. A beloved Festival
tradition, this showdown of improvisational play turns strangers into teammates and
spur–of–the–moment ideas transform into art.
In addition to 26 performances, workshops led by Festival artists from across the
country will be held on Saturday, July 13, for those who want to learn from some of
improv’s top artists. Workshops will go on sale May 24, 2024.
Festival passes are now on sale and can be purchased at FloridaStudioTheatre.org or at
941.366.9000.
