FAQs
The Basics
Improvised theatre, often abbreviated to ‘improv’ or ‘impro’, is the art of writing and performing theatre simultaneously. Performers will often get a suggestion from the audience, and then work together to create a sketch, scene or story inspired by that suggestion. At ITS we tend to focus on improv comedy, applying these skills to create moments that are absurd, silly, relatable and delightful, but the skills are just as applicable to creating improvised drama.
Improv is an ancient artform, connecting all the way back to oral storytelling traditions, to Atellan farce (300 BCE), 15th Century Basque Bertsolaritza and Italian Commedia dell’Arte. The work we do has connections to other contemporary art forms like jazz, clowning, slam poetry, performance art and immersive theatre, among others.
As a performance medium in its own right, the Western tradition of contemporary improvised theatre emerged from recreational therapy work in early 20th Century Chicago, which was picked up by teacher and director Viola Spolin, originally to enhance scripted acting, but soon became popular when performed on its own by ensembles that improvised scenes, stories and whole plays together.
We’re Sydney’s first and only dedicated improv theatre. Our teachers are proven industry professionals in acting, theatre education, writing and directing, who work at a national and international level on stage and screen. We hold our teaching to a very high standard and work hard to stay at the top of our game.
Our curriculum has been honed from years of international industry experience, and is regularly updated to align with the latest thinking, philosophies and techniques.
Countless ITS graduates have formed improv or comedy groups, going on to perform at festivals like the Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, The Del Close Marathon in New York, and beyond!
Classes at ITS are fun, friendly and approachable, and we have a super cool community. Our students often become close friends, attending shows together, performing together, and having a great time in classes.
ITS students get an exclusive discount to attend our shows and take workshops with guest teachers from our extensive international network of experts, along with occasional other goodies and freebies.
We’d love for you to come and join us.
A good time! You’ll arrive in our cosy foyer (we recommend getting there 10–15 minutes before the time on your ticket), shortly before the show we’ll check you in and you’ll head into the theatre.
Performers at ITS shows will often ask audience members for suggestions. Don’t worry about coming up with something clever or funny, we’re happy to do that heavy lifting. And please don’t be upset if they don’t choose your suggestion — different things inspire different people.
On less frequent occasions, performers may ask audience members to participate on stage with them. You are welcome to participate or not participate, at whatever level of comfort they feel. A simple “No thanks” will be respected by our performers and won’t hurt their feelings.
While we enjoy enthusiastic responses, we expect audience participation to be initiated by the performers and not by the audience. Heckling isn’t welcome.
Audience members who behave in a way that disrupts or disrespects a show may be asked to leave by ITS staff or performers without warning or refund.
Not yet! Audience members are welcome to BYO, provided they are not inebriated or intoxicated. Failure to comply with this will result in being asked to leave the premises.
Improv Theatre Sydney strives to make its workshops and shows accessible.
Mobility
- The main entrance to the theatre has a small 5cm step. Alternative entrances are step free, and access will need to be arranged separately.
- The venue interior is step-free
- All doorways are at least 850mm wide
- Doors do not have automatic buttons
- The venue toilets contain one accessible bathroom
Auditory
- The venue does not contain hearing loops
Visual
- The venue does not contain braille signage
When we have shows in venues that aren’t our own, we always do our best to ensure they are fully accessible, but unfortunately we can’t always guarantee this.
We work hard to keep the content of our classes accessible and will do our best to adapt workshop exercises or games to accommodate any accessibility requirements.
Please email us if you have further accessibility requirements or concerns not covered here.
Yes. On occassion, we take photos in class for educational and promotional purposes. We take educational photos or videos to show the class an example of a certain exercises that we want them to be able to revisit after having experienced. Our photos taken for promotional purposes are only used on our social media and only in relation to the context of the photo taken.
You have absolute license to tell us you do not want your likeness distributed in photo or video on ITS social media, just tell your teacher or contact info@improvtheatresydney.com.au. You do not have to explain yourself, just let us know.
Registration and Attendance
If you cannot attend your workshop or class, or would like to drop out for another reason please let us know as soon as possible before your workshop or class begins.
If you let us know with more than 7 days’ notice, you are entitled to a full refund (minus a non-refundable 7.8% transaction fee). You may also choose to defer your registration to the following term.
We will not issue a refund if you cancel with less than 7 days’ notice, or after the course/workshop has started. You may be entitled to have your fees deferred until the following term if you let us know you are discontinuing within the first two weeks of the term. After two weeks, your full fee will be applied to the term you originally paid for. We can only defer your registration only once.
In some special circumstances, we may consider special deferments. Please email us to discuss your case.
Potentially! This depends on the number of registrations for both your class and the class you would change to. Please email us to discuss.
Please see our Scholarships information.
If you’re going to miss a class, or have just missed one, please fill out the Missing Class Form as soon as possible.
You are entitled to one make-up class per term. This means that you can attend a class from the same level on a different day. If there are no other classes of your level this term, we will arrange for you to attend a class from a different level, or offer a make-up class in the following term.
If you need to miss more than one class due to illness, misadventure or change of circumstances, you may request one additional make-up class per term. This class is at the discretion of the General Manager.
Attending at least 6 out of 8 classes in a term is one of the conditions to take the next course level at ITS. If you miss more than two weeks of a term, access to the next course level is at the discretion of your teacher and ITS management.
We love it when the same group of people can work through all the levels together in one go. They form an amazing connection! But we also get that life happens, people are busy, and sometimes you need to step away.
Our policy allows for students to take up to a year’s break and pick up where they left off. If you finish Level 2 then take a term off, you can come back and carry on with Level 3. If you’ve been away for more than a year, ITS management and teachers will work with you to find the right level to return to.
Welcome! That’s great!
Every improv theatre has its own philosophy and style of play, and we encourage you to get to know ours. Like most reputable improv schools around the world, we expect students new to ITS to begin with our Level 1 course.
This isn’t a criticism of you or your experience. Our Level 1 explores the fundamental elements of improv: play, creative flow and an ensemble mindset. We feel these ideas are crucial for improvisers of any level. Our own teachers and players sign up to it regularly to reconnect with the basics.
In rare cases we do allow people to begin in our program past Level 1. You can come to a tryout after one of our Taster Classes, or provide a letter of recommendation from your previous improv theatre, school or company.
If you want to get involved in improv at ITS without signing up for classes, we’d love to see you at one of our drop-in Jams! We also have a few open performance opportunities like Tinyprov, Big Swings, Sketchibition, and more. Please speak to the organisers, sign up to our mailing list (see footer), or email us for more information.
Absolutely! We encourage everyone to keep their skills sharp with ongoing education.
Some people want to revisit the basics, some want to get more experience with a particular format or topic, or get a new perspective from a different teacher, and some want to link back up with classmates who fell behind.
In fact, we offer a 50% discount to anyone retaking a class they’ve already done! Please contact us to arrange this.
At the end of each level, we assess three factors in our students: Attendance, Advancement and Attitude.
- Attendance: You must attend at least 6 classes in an 8-week course. This is to make sure you have encountered enough of the material in each level to be ready for the next one. If you’ve missed more than two classes and wish to enrol in the next level, please talk to your teacher or the General Manager. It will be at their discretion whether you are able to continue.
- Advancement: We expect our students to meaningfully engage with the content of the course throughout the term. By the end of the course, we’re looking for our students to achieve and demonstrate a solid understanding of the concepts, mindsets and skill sets each level covers. We know that different people have different strengths and weaknesses, and not all growth is linear. Sometimes it can take a few tries to really get to grips with the ideas in a course.
- Attitude: We expect everyone at ITS to be supportive, positive members of our community and to help create and maintain a safe, constructive environment in line with the ITS Bill of Rights. If any participants in a workshop or course are counter-productive to this environment, they may be asked to leave a class or the course. ITS has no space for jerks.
Based on these three factors, we may recommend or require you to repeat a current level, or return to an earlier level rather than taking the next level. This does not mean that you have failed the class or are less talented than your peers — we just want to make sure that you get the most out of your education at ITS. It would be unfair to you if we allowed you to take a class covering material we didn’t think you were ready for. And remember, you get a 50% discount when you retake a course! (See Can I re-enrol for a class I’ve already done?)
If you disagree with a decision made by a teacher or have questions about this policy, please email us.
Auditions for House Teams are held every 3–4 months. Please see the House Teams page for more information.
What to expect in class
Improvised theatre, often abbreviated to ‘improv’ or ‘impro’, is the art of writing and performing theatre simultaneously. Performers will often get a suggestion from the audience, and then work together to create a sketch, scene or story inspired by that suggestion. At ITS we tend to focus on improv comedy, applying these skills to create moments that are absurd, silly, relatable and delightful, but the skills are just as applicable to creating improvised drama.
Improv is an ancient artform, connecting all the way back to oral storytelling traditions, to Atellan farce (300 BCE), 15th Century Basque Bertsolaritza and Italian Commedia dell’Arte. The work we do has connections to other contemporary art forms like jazz, clowning, slam poetry, performance art and immersive theatre, among others.
As a performance medium in its own right, the Western tradition of contemporary improvised theatre emerged from recreational therapy work in early 20th Century Chicago, which was picked up by teacher and director Viola Spolin, originally to enhance scripted acting, but soon became popular when performed on its own by ensembles that improvised scenes, stories and whole plays together.
Having fun! We try to keep our classes pretty practical, so a lot of the time you’ll be working in pairs, small groups or as a whole class to try playful exercises that develop your improv skills. We’ll also get students to try exercises or play scenes in front of the rest of the class. This is to balance an individual learning experience with a shared one — you can learn a lot by seeing how somebody else tackles the same activity.
Our work is often playful and absurd. Occasionally, especially in later levels, scenes in classes may be dramatic or involve serious issues. Your teacher will work with you to make sure these are handled safely and sensitively, in line with our Bill of Rights.
If you want to get a feel for what our courses are like, come along to one of our no-obligation taster classes!
Levels 3–6 of our improv courses and many of our elective courses (stand-up, musical improv) gives students the opportunity to perform with their class in a showcase at the end of term. Several classes will perform each night, and each class is sometimes divided into two groups, depending on size.
The performances are optional, but we highly recommend taking part. Presenting everything you’ve learned in a term to a supportive audience of friends and family can be a transformative experience and deepen your understanding of the work.
Teachers have discretion over who can perform in the showcase and in what combinations. If you’ve missed a few classes and don’t have a full understanding of the format you’ve been learning, or if you haven’t developed enough of the skills a course is teaching, your teacher may ask you to take the course again before participating in the showcase (see If I finish a level, am I automatically eligible for the next one?) This is to make things fair for the rest of the class.
Our teachers are industry professionals who sometimes become unavailable due to professional commitments. They’re also human beings who some become unwell or have family issues to attend to.
We try our best to avoid conflict in scheduling as best we can, but in the event there is conflict, we will either substitute your teacher for another with comparable skill and experience (at ITS, all teachers are of a high standard) or we will postpone the class and reschedule when appropriate to accommodate as much of the class as possible.
Please read the ITS Students Bill of Rights. It’s also up on the wall in every room of our venue, if you want to refer to it on the go.
For issues that relate to attendance, questions about the curriculum or general questions about performing improv or comedy, ask your teacher first — they love to chat, are often improv nerds, and want you to get the most out of your classes!
We take issues that potentially breach our Bill of Rights very seriously. Again, your first point of contact should be your teacher, as they will have the most context for what is happening. You can talk to them during or after class, or by email (their first name, followed by @improvtheatresydney.com.au).
If you’re unable to communicate your concerns to your instructor, or you feel it would be inappropriate to do so, we have a dedicated Student Welfare Officer, Laura Hart, to hear your concerns. They have experience in mediation, deal with questions or concerns attentively and thoroughly, and in most circumstances can maintain your anonymity if required. Laura is available at welfare@improvtheatresydney.com.au.
If the Student Welfare Officer is unable to handle your concerns to your satisfaction, or they are not an appropriate point of contact, you can also email info@improvtheatresydney.com.au. This address is directed to ITS management.
We have very clear anti-harassment, anti-discrimination and anti-bullying policies, and clear processes to manage them, in line with contemporary Australian law and best practice. If necessary, we are prepared to use third-party mediation to manage concerns.