BETHESDA IMPROV THEATER · BETHESDA, MD
Improv You Can
Jump Into
Learn It Here.
See It Come Alive on Stage
You don't have to be funny. You don't have to know what to say. Instead, in our classes, you start with simple games that get you out of your head and into the room.
There's no script to get right. No wrong moves — just choices that take the scene somewhere nobody expected. Make a few of those, and the stranger across from you becomes someone you're laughing with. Someone you're truly listening to. Your scene partner.
Then your scene starts. One minute you're old friends with a secret you can't say out loud. The next, complete strangers who somehow have to save the world together. You walked in unsure. You leave lighter, and a little braver.
Come to a show and see the same craft come alive. Precipice Improv Theater, our resident company of thirty-one years, turns your suggestions into a full-length comic play.
Every class is taught by our founding Artistic Director, who has taught improv for forty-two years — and who directs Precipice Improv Theater.
ON STAGE
The Shows
Precipice Improv Theater — An Entire Play, Invented Before Your Eyes
A bathtub. A zoo. A moon base. Precipice Improv Theater asks different people in the audience for suggestions that have nothing to do with each other. Then Precipice finds the people in them — married couples, feuding brothers, whole families — and follows them for an hour until someone finally says the thing they've been avoiding all their lives, usually at the worst possible moment. Nobody in the room, including us, knows whether one play can hold them all. Join us for our next play and find out.
NEXT SHOW
Tickets: $20
Next Shows:
July 18 (8 PM), July 19 (2 PM)
Venue:
Imagination Stage
4908 Auburn Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814
Improv-for-Everyone Workshop
Sundays at 4:00 PM · Drop-in · $30
Ninety minutes of play, laughter, and discovery — no experience required. The games have names like Order from Chaos, Endless Snake, Slap-Pass-Shrug, and Thumb Wrestling — we have hundreds. Then you build stories and scenes about anything you can imagine: an Arctic expedition, a first day at a new job, an old friend you never expected to see again. Students tell us they keep surprising themselves. Just reserve a spot and show up.
IN THE STUDIO
The Classes
Weekly and by the Semester
Whether you are trying improv for the first time, or you have improv experience, we have a workshop for you.
Master Class in Improvisation
Sundays, 4:00–7:00 PM · Drop-in · $50
Already have improv training? You'll warm up inside the 4:00 Improv-for-Everyone Workshop, then break off at 5:30 to sharpen your instincts, deepen your scene work, and strengthen your ensemble play. Come ready to be challenged.
Improv by the Semester
Multi-week Courses · $350–$440
The semester sequence runs five levels, each building on the one before — from your first exercises to improvising full-length plays with an ensemble. Small groups, detailed coaching, and steady progression from week to week.
Join Us
Come see a show, jump into a class, or help us grow. Bethesda Improv Theater is a nonprofit, and every dollar and every volunteer hour helps keep improv accessible and affordable in our community.
Want more information or interested in helping behind the scenes? We'd love to hear from you.