HCC’s Arts Collective Presents “IMPROVAGANZA!” March 30–31, April 1

Columbia, MD – Howard Community College’s Arts Collective presents “IMPROVAGANZA!,” Howard County’s first-ever improv festival with master classes. The event will take place at 8 p.m. on March 30–31, and April 1, 2017, in the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center’s Studio Theatre.

Arts Collective’s (AC) What Improv Group?! will host and perform each evening, along with a rotating line up of outstanding improv troupes from the Baltimore-D.C.-Virginia region. Each “IMPROVAGANZA!” show features improv sets from the classic favorites to the utterly unique, in a cabaret setting, complete with audience participation.

Thursday, March 30

Fractal, a long form team from the conservatory program at the Baltimore Improv Group.

Waiting for Steinberg, a short form troupe from Baltimore, strikes a delicate balance between endearing goofiness and scholarly respectability.

Dad Joke, a long form duo from Washington, D.C., relays the experience of having families, children and how it has changed their lives (or not).

Plan B, one of the founding troupes of the Baltimore Improv Group promises to make audiences laugh until someone makes an uncomfortable sound.

What Improv Group?! (W.I.G.), “IMPROVAGANZA!” hosting troupe performs long and short form improv, and their quintessential W.I.G.ness that defies explanation. Each festival show features different W.I.G. cast members.

Friday, March 31

The Comedy Pigs, a short form improv troupe that performs at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick, Maryland.

Trampus, a long form troupe from Baltimore performs improv with an emphasis on authentic story telling.

Door #3, a musical improv troupe from Washington, D.C., entertains audiences by creating made-up musicals right before their own eyes.

What Improv Group?! (W.I.G.)

Saturday, April 1

Charmsical, a Baltimore-based troupe provides musical madness by performing improvised musicals you have never seen before, or will again.

Frannie & Abigail, a long form improv troupe from Richmond, Virginia, featuring best friends and partners-in-neuroses. Hijinks ensue.

Middle West, a long form indie improv troupe based in Baltimore, reveals the comedy in the complexities of the real and utterly absurd.

Penthouse Basements, a short form troupe from the D.C. metro area, performs improv for the masses with the purpose of tickling your funny bone.

Silversmith, a troupe from Baltimore combines old world charm with the sharp flavor of intellectualism and the harsh sting of truth.

What Improv Group?! (W.I.G.)

All improv troupe performances start at 8 p.m. in the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center’s Studio Theatre, located at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Maryland 21044. The performances will last approximately two hours, with one intermission.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students, seniors, faculty, staff, and military, and $30 to see all three shows. The price of the ticket includes snacks. For tickets, visit www.howardcc.edu/improvaganza or call 443-518-1500. The box office will also be open 90 minutes prior to each show time and Tuesday-Friday, 12-6 p.m.

The “IMPROVAGANZA!” Improv Festival also offers three master classes, taught by a few of the area’s most exciting improv talents: Douglas Betty, Daniel Johnston, S.G. Kramer, and Tavish Forsyth. Sign up for one or two of the master classes, which are designed for those with and without experience, ages 18 and up. The price of each master class includes one complimentary ticket to one of the IMPROVAGANZA! Improv Festival shows. All workshops require major activity without shoes. Class size is limited. Registration closes March 29.

For more information, visit www.howardcc.edu/improvaganza

About HCC’s Arts Collective

Howard Community College's critically acclaimed Arts Collective engages performers, creatives, and audiences with innovative events that ignite our collective imaginations. For over two decades, Arts Collective has served as a creative cauldron, providing expert guidance and training to new and experienced artists in bringing vibrant life to diverse works on the stage; from the newly devised to the classics and all in between. Arts Collective’s positive, collaborative, educational environment is open to everyone. Join us in creating new heights of learning and possibility. Ignite your imagination.