Washington Improv Theater (WIT) is an
improvisational comedy theater company in Washington, D.C., specializing in
long-form improv.[3][4] It was founded in 1986 by Carole Douglis.[5][6] Its shows are based at
Studio Theatre on the
14th Street corridor,[needs update] although its teams also use several other venues. Roughly 20,000 people attend WIT shows annually.[1]
History
WIT was founded in 1986 by Carole Douglis, but it went dormant in 1992.[5] It was revived by Douglis and several others as a consensus-based collective in 1998,[5] and performed initially in the basement of the
Universalist National Memorial Church, and soon after other venues around D.C.[citation needed] It began offering its own improv training program in 2000. In 2004, it hired its first full-time artistic and executive director, Mark Chalfant.[5] In 2008,[citation needed] it began performing at the 150-seat
black box at Source Theater on
14th Street, the former venue of
Source Theatre Company now operated by
CultureDC.[7] It continued expanding, and in FY2019 hosted 325 performances with an estimated 20,590 attendees.[2] In 2022–2023, it took up a one-year residency at
Studio Theatre.[8]
Activities
WIT hosts over 300 performances annually featuring a number of different in-house ensembles and visiting teams. Its performances have received favorable reviews from critics.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] They vary in form — for instance,
iMusical is an improvised musical.[16]
WIT's Tuesday evening pay-what-you-can Harold Night performances, begun in April 2010,[5] feature four teams each performing half-hour
harold sets.[17] WIT also hosts an annual improv marathon festival, Improvalooza,[18] a March madness-style competition, dubbed the Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament,[19] and performances or lessons at various other venues, such as local schools[2] and the
Kennedy Center.[20]
WIT's improv classes enrolled 1,728 students in FY2019[2] across a five-level curriculum.[citation needed]
WIT runs a program for corporate clients, "WIT at Work".[21][3] In 2019, the program worked with 79 clients with a total of 2900 participants.[2]