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SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival 2024

The 11th annual #SSICF
January 26 & 27, 2024

Join us for the 11th annual SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival with headliner The Improvised Shakespeare Company!

SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival features teams from The Lehigh Valley, NYC, Baltimore, Boston, Toronto, and beyond!

Friday, January 26

Buy Tickets

In Advance: $30 | $28 Ages 25 & under and senior | $27 ArtsQuest Member
Week of: $35 | $33 Ages 25 & under and senior | $32 ArtsQuest Member

Saturday, January 27

Buy Tickets

In Advance: $30 | $28 Ages 25 & under and senior | $27 ArtsQuest Member
Week of: $35 | $33 Ages 25 & under and senior | $32 ArtsQuest Member

The Improvised Shakespeare Company

Based on one audience suggestion (a title of a show that has never been written), The Improvised Shakespeare Company® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes. Prepare for an evening of spontaneous comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you’re wondering where the story is going…so are they! TimeOut Chicago calls it “Staggeringly Brilliant” and “Downright Hilarious!” You’ve never seen the Bard like this before!

The Improvised Shakespeare Company® is one of the funniest and most critically acclaimed improv troupes in the world. The ISC was founded in Chicago in 2005 where it ran to sold-out audiences at the iO Theatre for over a decade. Now it performs regularly at Los Angeles’s Largo at the Coronet for audiences that the LA Times calls, “Beatlemaniacal.” The ISC has sold out raucous shows at The Kennedy Center, Bonnaroo, San Francisco Sketchfest, the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, The Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, and Outside Lands in San Francisco. It is featured regularly in NYC at 92nd St Y and Theatre 80 St Marks whereit “plays to packed theaters with an atmosphere more like a rock club than a repertory house” (The NewYork Times). In 2018 Sir Patrick Stewart presented The ISC at the Soho Theatre in London. In the 2019-2020 season, The ISC was featured in the Broadway Series at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts where it wowed audiences throughout its 178-show residency. ISC guest performers have included Jason Alexander, Bradley Whitford, and Patrick Stewart. It has been named Chicago’s best improv group by both the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Examiner and has received numerous awards in LA (Best of LA-LA Weekly), New York (New York Nightlife Awards), and Chicago (The Chicago Improv Foundation). It has been called “Staggeringly Brilliant” (TimeOut Chicago), “Indisputably Great” (Centerstage Chicago), “Mad Genius” (LA Times), Hilarious (LA Weekly, Seattle Times, Chicago Reader, TimeOut Chicago, Naples Daily News, CBC Manitoba, Winnipeg Free Press), and TimeOut New York simply says, “Don’t Miss Them. Seriously.”

Schedule

Friday, January 26

4:30 p.m. Doors Open
5:30 p.m. Good Clean Fight (Lehigh Valley)
5:45 p.m. Creamy & Crunchy (Lehigh Valley)
6:05 p.m. Hot Dog with Mustard (Philly)
6:20 p.m. Model Citizen (Lehigh Valley)
6:35 p.m. Small World (Lancaster)
6:55 p.m. Jed & Jo (NJ/NY)
7:10 p.m. Tim For Short (Lehigh Valley)
7:30 p.m. Fool Party (NYC)
7:45 p.m. Naughty By Nurture (Lehigh Valley)
8 p.m. clint (NYC)
8:15 p.m. The Great Old Ones (Lehigh Valley)
8:30 p.m. Mercy Santos (God’s Favorite Improv Team) (NYC)
8:50 p.m. Go Fish (Philly)
9:10 p.m. We’re Good, You’re Great (Lehigh Valley)
9:30 p.m. The Improvised Shakespeare Company
10:30 p.m. Improv JAM

Saturday, January 27

2:30 p.m. Doors Open
3:20 p.m. Continental Breakfast (Lehigh Valley)
3:40 p.m. Wet Blanket (Philly)
3:55 p.m. Himbos (Philly)
4:15 p.m. COBRA (Lehigh Valley)
4:35 p.m. Local Spot (Baltimore)
4:55 p.m. Barn People (Lehigh Valley)
5:15 p.m. The Offbeats (Harrisburg)
5:35 p.m. Schmooty! (Philly)
5:50 p.m. Trudy Carmichael’s Spontaneous Vegas! (NYC)
6:05 p.m. Melk (Baltimore)
6:20 p.m. Drew’s Dad (Pittsburgh)
6:40 p.m. Hooper (NYC)
7 p.m. Whatever Fate Decides (Providence, RI)
7:20 p.m. Portal (Lehigh Valley)
7:35 p.m. Staycation (Lehigh Valley)
7:55 p.m. Big Whoop (NYC)
8:15 p.m. Go Dummy (NYC)
8:35 p.m. Wry BrEd (Hartford)
8:50 p.m. Synced Up (Lehigh Valley)
9:10 p.m. Breakfast Boys (NYC)
9:30 p.m. The Improvised Shakespeare Company
10:30 p.m.21 Clap Salute a tribute to Ernie Scrandle the creator of CLAP: a tribute to the Broadway smash hit Stomp
10:35 p.m.Behind the Seams
10:40 p.m.Steal Snacks
10:45 p.m.Neighborhood Granny
10:50 p.m.Reverse Gallagher
10:55 p.m.Addy and Erica in the Nude
11:00 p.m.Improvised Doll-E Part-10

Workshops

There are currently no events scheduled. Please view the full calendar for all upcoming events!

This show will contain adult language and/or situations. Seating will be assigned by ArtsQuest staff upon arrival into the showroom. Anyone coming in between the ages of 13 and 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. No child 12 or under will be admitted. All performers and staff must adhere to our codes of conduct found here.