Northwest Improv Fest back for second year with more laughs and troupes

In 2024, Noah Johnson, founder of Coeur d’Alene’s Levity Theatre, was itching to attend an improv festival, but with a baby on the way, he knew traveling to one was out of the question.

So, he did the next logical thing and made his own.

In its inaugural year, the Northwest Improv Fest brought improv comedy performers from around the country to the Inland Northwest, while also celebrating local teams. The festival also offered workshops during which seasoned performers and those new to the artform could flex their improv muscles.

The fest, co-organized with the Blue Door Theatre, received good feedback from performers and attendees, making it an easy decision to start planning year two.

“Bringing a festival here lines up well with our mission of what we want to do, having more improv in Spokane, building an improv community and having the opportunity to see improv that we can’t get to see all the time,” said Blue Door Theatre Board President Jim Mohr.

The second year of Northwest Improv Fest takes over the Blue Door Theatre and the Bing Crosby Theater from Thursday through April 5.

This year’s fest kicks off at the Blue Door with an opening ceremony that features Blue Door and Levity performers as well as Bainbridge Improv Collective and Morris and Morris: Attorneys at Law, from Seattle.

On April 4, the 6 p.m. performance at the Bing features GUTS (Spokane), Formerly Known As (Seattle) and the Park (Los Angeles). The 8 p.m. performance features Teen Angst (Bozeman), Asian Takeout (Chicago), Wilmattress (Spokane) and B.A.B.E. (Portland).

On April 5, Loops and Lols with Dartanion London (Bellingham), Jet City Improv (Seattle) and Bingewatch (San Francisco) will take the Bing stage at 6 p.m., while Sleepy Boys (Pocatello, Idaho), Snooze Button (Portland and Kansas City, Missouri), Forever Improv (San Francisco) and Musical Monday (Provo, Utah) will perform at 8 p.m.

At 10 p.m., there will be an improv comedy mash-up.

Before the first festival, Johnson and a few of his fellow Levity improvisers reviewed the 16 submission tapes teams from the area and around the country submitted. This year, the team reviewed 46 tapes.

Johnson and Mohr invited a few groups from last year to perform at this year’s festival but otherwise pulled from the submissions to highlight various styles of improv, from long-form and musical to sketch and groups with themes to their acts, like Morris and Morris: Attorneys at Law, who take a “client” from the audience and litigate their defense trial onstage.

Johnson is excited for Inland Northwest audiences to see musical acts like B.A.B.E., a returning team who will perform an improvised musical in the style of “I Love Lucy,” and Musical Monday, a trio which collectively has nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram.

“It’s cool to connect with the larger names and be able to bring them to our city so that local improvisors, who may never get a chance to be able to do that, get to meet them,” Johnson said.

During the day, attendees can take advantage of workshops hosted by performers. All workshops will be held at the Blue Door.

On April 4, Jake Foerg of the Blue Door will lead “Your First Line is Mime,” about how to set yourself up for a successful scene, and Johnson will host “Inspiring Characters,” teaching the art of quickly creating dynamic characters.

After lunch, the Bainbridge Island Collective will lead “The Magic Arc,” about bringing story to your improv; Diana Brown of Bingewatch will host “The Space Between … ” about sustaining emotional choices between words; and Musical Monday will host a musical improv workshop.

On April 5, Eric and Aden Nepom of B.A.B.E. will host “Connecting in the Dark,” about building a relationship with your audience, the importance of which Johnson said many improvisers can overlook; and Andy Perkins of Snooze Button will host “Building the Playground,” about creating dynamic base realities for scenes.

After lunch, Musical Monday will host another musical improv workshop; Jaymie Parkkinen of the Park will host “Take It Further,” about letting go of caution; and Brandon Minaya and Devon Sheehan of Jet City Improv will host “The Art of Pitching an Idea,” about pitching for artistic and corporate endeavors.

“You’re getting all these great improvisers from all over together, so to be able to learn from each other, learn from these excellent acts, it provides an opportunity for people to develop their skills,” Mohr said. “You’re always learning in improv. You don’t really stop. You can always grow. There’s different types of improv, so you really get to delve into it and into different aspects of it. It’s a lot of fun. Education with improv is fun.”

Mohr and Johnson see improv as a place of acceptance, where anyone and everyone can find connections with fellow improvisers. Taking a few improv classes, they said, can help anyone build confidence in themselves, whether they go on to perform regularly or are simply there to break out of their shell.

They hope then that Northwest Improv Fest can become as big of an event as the Seattle Festival of Improv Theater and Portland’s Stumptown Improv Festival, both of which were shuttered due to COVID-19.

“We’re trying to light a fire under the community, and say ‘Hey, we have a new space. We have something new and fresh and interesting and cool, and it’ll be another big festival where you can get together and meet improvisers from all across the country to come in and see improv that you’ve never seen before,’ ” Johnson said.

Within the Inland Northwest, the pair also hopes the festival becomes as popular as Hoopfest or Bloomsday, with community members looking forward to laughing with one another while sharing in the once-in-a-lifetime magic of improv each year.

“Improv is such a great medium for audiences because it literally is going to happen once and it’s never going to happen again,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those things where every single act is going to bring a different voice, a different style, a different way that they’re going to engage with you … If you’ve seen improv and you love improv, come see it. If you’ve never seen improv, definitely come see it, because it’s really going to blow your mind.”