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Un-Scripted Theater Company is an improv theater company based out of San Francisco, California. Unlike most improv troupes, Un-Scripted Theater Company does not perform just one kind of improv format, but rather 4 to 7 runs of uniquely different improv formats each year. Each season is set up like a "normal" theater season with 4 to 8 week runs of shows, each with its own Director, format, and vision.
Contents
History
Un-Scripted Theater Company was founded in 2002 when the Thursday night performance group, The Belfry, was cut from the line up at San Francisco's BATS Improv. Determined to continue their performance work, 8 of the original 20 improvisors of The Belfry left and started Un-Scripted Theater Company in January 2003. Since then, Un-Scripted Theater Company has performed hundreds of shows all over the Bay Area, throughout California and across the United States.
Organizational Structure
Un-Scripted Theater Company has a permanent Ensemble who also double as the company's professional staff. Each show also brings in two or more performers from outside the Ensemble to make up the cast for that particular run. The Guest Improvisors are chosen by the Director of the show at improv auditions held before the start of the show's rehearsal period. The rehearsal period and performance schedule tend to be more rigorous than that of a regular improvisation troupe, generally on par with rehearsals for traditional, scripted theater. The Un-Scripted Guest Program allows improvisors to come work with Un-Scripted Theater Company for a few months and then go back to their regular lives without committing to the theater company full-time.
Each show has a larger cast size than the number of performers in any given night's show, so that the cast changes each night depending on who is scheduled.
Improv Style
Un-Scripted Theater Company performs both Shortform and Longform improvisation shows. San Francisco has a distinctly different style of improvisation than much of the rest of the country. Unlike Chicago where one venue will host three 30-45 minute shows in one evening, most San Francisco improvisation shows are 2 hours long, complete with their own intermission. And while Chicago and New York are full of improv companies who perform formats based on the Harold (with multiple storylines going on at the same time), San Francisco has many improvisation shows with single-story formats. Often referred to as play-length improvisation shows, these improvisation shows are rooted in the idea that if someone can perform something scripted (like a play, movie, or musical) then it can also be improvised just as well.
Show History
The shows that Un-Scripted Theater Company has performed to date are:
2012
Un-Abridged: The Best of Ten Years of Un-Scripted
Act 1: Scene 2
2011
A Tale of Two Genres: An Improvised Dickens Musical
Fear
Act 1: Scene 2
Secret Identity Crisis
2010
Un-Scripted: un-scripted
In A World
A Tale of Two Genres: An Improvised Dickens Musical
2009
Let it Snow!
Shakespeare: The Musical
Un-Scripted: un-scripted
2008
The Great Puppet Bollywood Extravaganza
Un-Scripted: un-scripted
San Francisco Improv Festival
Theater: The Musical
Three
2007
The Great Puppet Musical
You Bet Your Improvisor
The Love Show
Shakespeare: Un-Scripted
Let it Snow!
2006
Supertrain
The Impossible Film Project
Theatresports RAW
Two Man Longform at the The Bay Area Comedy Festival
You Bet Your Improvisor
The Short & the Long of It (Abridged) at the Chicago Improv Festival Nine
Love at First Sight
2005
Let it Snow!
The Impossible Film Project
The Short & the Long of It!
Love at First Sight
You Bet Your Improvisor
2004
Let It Snow!
Fear
The Short & the Long of It!
Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare
Aussie Rules Theatersports
"Three"
Bawdy Shakespeare at BATS Improv
Improv Survivor
2003
The Cafe Sappore series
FEAR. reborn
The Amazing Improvised Musical!
Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare
Impro Bingo
The Short & the Long Of It!
Spring Sing and Improv Carnival Gala