Florida Studio Theatre puts its summer improv festival on ice for a year

Florida Studio Theatre will suspend its wildly popular summer improv festival for a year due to construction and project management demands for its new McGillicuddy Arts Plaza.

Founded in 2009 by FST Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins, the FST Improv Festival is one of the most anticipated events of the summer.

“We’re in the middle of this massive $57 million construction project, which is putting a lot of pressure on the theater,” Hopkins said in a telephone interview. “We decided we were going to take a year off to catch our breath.”

The Improv Festival typically runs over a weekend in July. It requires a lot of planning and coordination that isn’t possible while the 144,000-square-foot McMcGillicuddy is going up on FST’s downtown campus, Hopkins says.

She expects that enough progress will have been made to allow the FST Improv Festival to return in 2027. She says FST is eyeing a May date, rather than its typical July run.

The hiatus will give Hopkins and Sarah Durham, associate director of improv and resident artist, the opportunity to “reimagine the festival,” Hopkins says.

This is not the first pause the FST Improv Festival has taken during its history. In 2020, it was presented in digital form due to the pandemic and didn’t happen at all in 2021-22. In 2023, it came back in full force. 

Instead of booking popular improv troupes from New York, Chicago and Austin during a single festival weekend this summer, FST is spreading out their appearances, alternating them with FST’s own improv troupe.

The improv fun starts April 24-25 with Shitzprobe, whose profane name is a nod to the theater term “sitzprobe,” when singers first perform with the orchestra. Based in New York City, Shitzprobe improvises a musical based on audience suggestions.

Image courtesy of FST

During last year’s FST Improv Festival, TV host and actor Joey Panek joined the troupe as they created a musical based on the “kisscam” scandal that occurred days earlier at a Coldplay concert.

The “Coldplay Kisscam Caper” came together seamlessly with a standout performance from the troupe’s keyboardist, who apparently had Coldplay hits in his repertoire. Of course, the troupe had juicy material to work with and a built-in soundtrack.

FST’s own Improv troupe will play Bowne’s Lab from June 6-27 and again from July 11-25, presenting “Comedy Lottery.” In this show, audience members select the night’s lineup of games.

We can’t wait to see the America 250 edition of FST Improv’s annual July 4th event, “Freedom! The Musical.” It will be presented July 4. Be prepared for some events in U.S. history that you didn’t read about in school before the fireworks outside.

Orlando’s Forgotten Broadway improv troupe takes the FST stage July 31 and Aug. 1. Theater critic Marty Fugate calls its show “a love letter to Broadway flops you’ve never heard of.”

From Aug. 8 through Sept. 19, FST Improv takes over Bowne’s Lab with its “Out of Bounds.” The show is a smackdown between two teams who face off with games, skits and songs.

Those who like improv on the wild side will welcome the return of Dad’s Garage to FST on Sept. 25-26. The Atlanta troupe’s inclusive cast teams with drag queens, puppet masters and a broad spectrum of no-holds-barred performers to hilarious effect.

For more information about FST Improv, visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org. Don’t wait until the last minute to order tickets because shows for out-of-town troupes sell out quickly.