New Musical Improv Festival is Coming To The Bay Area

Musical improvisers from around the country will be descending upon the Bay Area October 25-27 for a weekend of shows, workshops and jams in the first-ever Bay Area Musical Improv Festival.

This festival is defying the odds. Since being canceled en masse in March of 2020, no U.S. musical improv festival has yet returned, making this the first post-pandemic musical improv festival in the country.

"The pandemic was incredibly tough on the arts and improv in particular," says Jed Levine, a co-founder of the festival. "The Bay Area, like everywhere else, lost so many performance spaces and I'm proud that we're coming out of that phase and creating something bold and new."

The Bay Area Musical Improv Festival will feature three nights of musical improv shows, plus daytime workshops for performers and two public musical jams where anyone can jump in and sing, all hosted at the All Out Comedy Theater in Uptown Oakland.

"It's exciting to host groups from other cities and also a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on our local talent," says Olivia Puerta, a co-founder of the festival. "We have so much diversity in our local community at different Bay Area theaters, and I can't wait to watch them come together and play in one space."

Musical improv is an artform in which performers create scenes and songs spontaneously based on an audience suggestion. Musical improv groups perform with a live Musical Director or accompanist, who crafts music inspired by the moment.

"If you've never seen musical improv before, you're in for a treat," says Pat Pow-anpongkul, a co-founder of the festival. "Watching performers invent song lyrics and rhymes and melodies right in front of you, it's electric."

This is not the first such festival in the Bay Area. The Un-Scripted Theater Company previously hosted the West Coast Musical Improv Festival (WCMIF) until its cancellation in March of 2020. Two producers from that festival, Ms. Puerta and Molly Robertson have joined on as co-founders of the new festival.

"One of the highlights of WCMIF was having a musical jam with a full improvised rock band end the festival," says Ms. Robertson. "We're excited to carry on that tradition with this new endeavor and rock out!"

The festival is being organized by Bay Area Musical Improv, a new California non-profit dedicated to providing opportunities for local musical improvisers to connect, learn and grow.

Applications are currently open for performers until June 1st. The final show roster will be announced in late June. Tickets will go on sale for the general public in August.