Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce the return of the annual Sarasota Improv Festival, the premier Festival of its kind in the Southeastern United States. Founded by Rebecca Hopkins in 2009, the Sarasota Improv Festival has become a destination event, drawing thousands of people from across the state of Florida and beyond. The festival is back for its 14th year and will feature over 16 of the top improv troupes from across the country and as far as Chile. The 14th Annual Sarasota Improv Festival will be held on FST’s downtown Sarasota campus Friday, July 12 and Saturday, July 13, 2024. A full Festival schedule is included at the end of this release.
This marks the seventh year that FST has welcomed artists from around the world to its Improv Festival. Introducing Festival audiences and performers to a wider array of improv styles and approaches has always been a priority to Festival Producer, Rebecca Hopkins, and Festival Organizer, Will Luera. Past Festivals have drawn international talent from Mexico, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Making their festival debut this year is Lospleimovil, an improv group from Chile. Lospleimovil was created in 2000 under the direction of actor and director Claudio Espinoza, along with actress and theater pedagogue Lissette Villegas, with the intention of promoting and researching stage improvisation, a genre that had not been showcased as a final artistic event by any professional theater company in the country until then. Thus, they became the pioneers of improv in Chile. Returning for the Festival are several fan favorite troupes, including Available Cupholders (Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA), Big Bang Improv (Boston, Sarasota, and New York City), Dad’s Garage (Atlanta, GA), Parallelogramophonograph (Austin, TX), North Coast (New York City, NY), and of course, Florida Studio Theatre’s own resident improv team, FST Improv.