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Roo got your back

The official festival T-Shirt is here!

Support the festival and show the world who’s got your back… Besides us.

Online orders only

We use a dropship partner for our shirts. They will not be available to purchase at the festival, so order yours now.

This is a good in-vestment.
Also available in women’s sizes
Get yours

Details:

  • AS Colour Staple T (Men’s)
  • AS Colour Mali T (Women’s)
  • 100% Cotton
  • Choose Yellow, Grey, or White
  • Authentic kangaroo love on back

Note: You will be redirected to the Laugh-Masters Academy website to make this excellent wardrobe investment.

Not into T-Shirts? Show your support for the Australian Improv Festival with our new Facebook frame.

What is improv comedy & theatre?

What’s this all about?

If you’re new to improv comedy theatre, the main thing to know is trained performers will spontaneously create characters, dialogue, and an entire show using your suggestions or stories as inspiration.

Every show is unique, never to be seen or repeated again. Ever.

Eran and Happy try to answer the question: What is improv?

It will have you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next, how the performers do it (hint, they took improv classes), and laughing along as unscripted scenes evolve before your very eyes.

And while you may be familiar with Whose Line is it Anyway, Thank God You’re Here or even TheatreSports, there’s so much more to improvisational theatre. (See: What is Improv?)

In fact, most of the funny people you love to watch on TV and in films got their start in improv, from Tina Fey to Steve Carrell to Amy Poehler to Will Ferrell.

So come see what it’s all about, have a laugh, take a workshop, and make some mates.

We look forward to seeing – and laughing – with you.

WILD!

All female ensemble

WILD! Does an “Ugly Flower” which is their take on a Pretty Flower. The show consists of two mirrored core scenes, and wild and fast tags where they blow out the world. When watching a WILD show you’ll never see a typical, boring, two person scene.

If this terminology means nothing to you, then simply trust us when we say this will be unusually funny. Take a whiff of WILD!

Performer Bio

WILD is comprised of six powerhouse female UCB performers respectively known from UCB Mess Hall, and the various shows that they host themselves. In the year since they have formed, WILD has taken the Los Angeles Indie Improv scene by storm. You can see them numerous days a week at various Los Angeles Improv theaters such as: UCB Sunset, UCB Inner Sanctum, The Clubhouse, Moving Arts, Lyric Hyperion Theater etc. WILD was part of the 7th and final Los Angeles Indie Improv Festival as well as the San Diego Improv Festival.

Workshop Schedule Announced

We’ve lined up a bunch of special workshops with world-class teachers who will help you discover the many joys and benefits of improv – or if you’re already a fan, take your skills to another level.

Workshops will be held from Saturday June 8 through Sunday June 9, 2019 at the New South Wales Teachers Federation Centre.

Rego is open!
Australian Improv Festival Schedule
Early Bird Rego ends 13 May!

Personal Storytelling

Tell it like it is… or was.

First person storytelling shows are all the rage on stages and podcasts across the country. In this class, you will learn how to take true events from your own life and weave them into engaging performances. We will work on presentation, overcoming stage fright, story structure, different approaches, and creating – and celebrating – your own unique style.

Teacher: Amanda Rountree

Amanda Rountree has been performing improvisational theatre professionally since 1992, teaching since 1998, and directing since 2002. She was a faculty member with the Second City Training Center in Chicago. Amanda has entertained audiences in seven countries and countless North American cities utilizing a wide variety of styles, disciplines, and formats. She is a faculty member of Forsyth Academy of the Performing Arts and performs, teaches, and directs throughout Atlanta and beyond.

Saturday, June 8
9:30am – 12:30pm
Venue: NSW Teachers Federation (See map below)
Capacity: 20
Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes

No prior improv experience required

SOLD OUT

Note: You will be redirected to the Laugh-Masters Academy website to register for this special workshop.

Workshop venue:

Improv for School Teachers

Make life in your classroom easier. And more fun.

No matter the age of your students, utilizing improvisation skills and games to supplement your personal teaching approach helps nurture new, dynamic ways of learning in the classroom. In this workshop, you will learn the basic principles of improv and how to apply those concepts to lessons across your curriculum, fitting your classroom’s specific needs.

Teacher: Amanda Rountree

Amanda Rountree has been performing improvisational theatre professionally since 1992, teaching since 1998, and directing since 2002. She was a faculty member with the Second City Training Center in Chicago. Amanda has entertained audiences in seven countries and countless North American cities utilizing a wide variety of styles, disciplines, and formats. She is a faculty member of Forsyth Academy of the Performing Arts and performs, teaches, and directs throughout Atlanta and beyond.

Sunday, June 9
9:30am – 12:30pm
Venue: NSW Teachers Federation (See map below)
Capacity: 20
Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes

No prior improv experience required

SOLD OUT

Note: You will be redirected to the Laugh-Masters Academy website to register for this special workshop.

Workshop venue:

Musical Improv

Sing silly. Sing proud.

Every improv scene is capable of carrying enough emotion behind it for the characters to spontaneously burst into song! But… Why this scene? Why this moment? Why do we care? Well, we will care about these scenes. And all these scenes will be songs! The focus of this workshop will be toward doing good scene work and caring so you can sing good songs. We’ll also practice duet, philosophy, and “want” songs so that we aren’t just singing about “how cool sneakers are” but from a place of real feeling.

Teachers: Andrew Young and Mary Lou

Andrew Young is an improviser/coach based out of Los Angeles. He plays regularly with “Murder Murder” an improvised murder mystery team and has performed internationally with “A Team” an improvised musical genre and biopic team. He also is a writer/director on Quick and Funny musicals at the Upright Citizens Brigade. He is a musical director and accompanist. He has trained with Alex Berg, Tara Copeland, Jess Eason, Alex Fernie, Will Hines, Johnny Meeks, Billy Merritt, Gavin Speiller, Rebecca Drysdale and Rich Talarico.

Mary Lou is an improviser and singer based out of Los Angeles. She plays regularly with her musical improv team “A-Team” and her UCB Maude Team “Emerald”. She is a cast member of the long running “Trump In Space” at Second City Los Angeles and “Bachelor: The Musical” at UCB. She has also performed internationally on tour with “Baby Wants Candy” and “Thrones: The Musical Parody”.

Saturday, June 8
1:30am – 4:30pm
Venue: NSW Teachers Federation (See map below)
Capacity: 20
Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes

Level 2 and up improv experience required

SOLD OUT

Note: You will be redirected to the Laugh-Masters Academy website to register for this special workshop.

Workshop venue:

Photo credit: PlayTheTunes

Trusting Your Creative Impulse

Get out of your head and into the scene

This workshop focuses on how performers can find intimacy and familiarity with their scene partners, and create relaxed atmospheres to use as a creative impulse to drive scene work. The exercises work on getting performers out of their heads and using their energy to focus on and react to their scene partner, building narrative and relationships with depth and history.

The workshop will help you develop specific skills that enable you to perform grounded and vulnerable work that is engaging and funny. It will help people turn off the need to be clever and just be in the moment, fully.

Teacher: Luke Rimmelzwaan

Luke is a founding member and former Artistic Director of ImproMafia, one of Australia’s longest running impro companies. He has performed and taught improvisation around Australia and the world including in the Taipei, Manilla, Warsaw, Sydney and Wellington. Luke has developed many new improvised shows in a wide range of styles including Martini Time, Rock Pigs, Heartfelt High, Not 4 Kidz and Tales from the Old Country. His has also performed circus with Tofulama and has directed opera, musicals and short films. Luke has a degree in Theatre Studies from Queensland University of Technology’s Academy of the Arts.

Saturday, June 8
9:30am – 12:30pm
Venue: NSW Teachers Federation (See map below)
Capacity: 15
Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes

Level 3 improv and up experience required

SOLD OUT

Note: You will be redirected to the Laugh-Masters Academy website to register for this special workshop.

Workshop venue: