We’ve got some great shows and workshops being pitched and I’m very much looking forward to reading through everything and programming a super awesome festival.

So what am I looking for? The headline news is that I want to programme the ‘best’ festival possible, taking into account variety and diversity of region, company, performers etc and, of course, the improv itself, from comedic to dramatic, from format heavy to very organic.

What I end up programming will very much depend on fit with a view to making the whole programme cohesive and diverse. We want to use NZIF to show off what a broad and awesome church improv is by putting on shows and workshops that demonstrate this.

For me, the most important thing is that you’re inspired by what it is you’re bringing. We want NZIF to be a humming throng of improv inspiration. Share what you love and get others excited about it.

So get submitting and feel free to get in touch to discuss your ideas! Flick me an email anytime.

Christine
NZIF Director

Submit your pitches here!

Mew Zealand Improv Festival submissions open
Workshops, performances and more sought from the best improvisors in NZ (and the world!)

Applications are now welcomed for inclusion in the New Zealand Improv Festival, a five day festival of improvisation hitting Wellington in September this year. With opportunities for premiere works, showcase slots, one-off ensemble performances, and workshops for practitioners, New Zealand Improv Festival 2013 is set to return from its hiatus with a vengeance.

“We’re really excited to see what improv has to offer the festival this year,” says Christine Brooks, tasked with the difficult job of selecting from top improv companies from New Zealand and around the world for only five nights of performances. “Comedy, drama, horror, short form, long form, or something nobody’s seen before – it’s all possible and we want as diverse a program as possible. A festival setting gives us the chance to show Wellington the very best and the most groundbreaking work all in one go.”

Being programmed at the New Zealand Improv Festival is more than a single performance opportunity; many new works presented at NZIF have gone on to successful national and international tours. ‘Austen Found’ by The Con Artists debuted in 2008 and went on to perform sold out seasons at NZ International Comedy Festival 2009 and Adelaide Fringe 2010. 2011’s ‘The Long Weekend’ by Christine Brooks (WIT) was invited to Improvention 2012, Australia’s biggest festival of improvisation, and to Impro Melbourne Classic 2012.

The New Zealand Improv Festival is excited to present improvisors around the country the opportunity to present the best of NZ improvisation to the capital alongside international guests. The New Zealand Improvisation Festival acknowledges and appreciates the ongoing support of Wellington Improvisation Troupe, both morally and financially, in undertaking the massive task that is presenting the best of improv to Wellington.

Applications now open – visit http://nzimprovfestival.co.nz/programme/

• Teaching/attending workshops
• Presenting showcase performances
• Leading ensemble performances featuring a cross-section of NZIF 2013 participants
• Volunteering behind the scenes

If you are interested in finding out more, please complete our practitioner survey and/or sign up for our practitioner mailer.

The drought is over! The New Zealand Improv Festival is utterly stoked to announce that NZIF 2013 will take place at BATS Theatre with five days of improvised theatre and workshops featuring the best of New Zealand’s improvisors and special international guests from 17-21 September.

The New Zealand Improv Festival was launched in 2008 and has featured work by New Zealand’s premiere improv companies, with many new works presented at NZIF going on to successful international tours. ‘Austen Found’ by The Con Artists debuted in 2008 and went on to perform sold out seasons at NZ International Comedy Festival 2009 and Adelaide Fringe 2010, and 2011’s ‘The Long Weekend’ by Christine Brooks (WIT) was invited to Improvention 2012, Australia’s biggest festival of improvisation, and to Impro Melbourne Classic 2012.

Following the departures of founders Merrilee McCoy (Producer and Artistic Director 2011) and Derek Flores (Artistic Director 2010), NZIF 2013 has at its helm two of Wellington’s best loved improvisors, Christine Brooks (Artistic Director) and Jennifer O’Sullivan (Producer). Both have been involved creatively and behind the scenes for previous festivals, and are excited to be part of NZIF’s return to the Wellington scene.

“I’m so excited to see the new work that I know is being produced by improvisers all around New Zealand,” says Christine. “We have so much improv talent here and it really is a treat to get it all together in one place. Improvisers are collaborators by their very nature and getting them all together in one place is like living in a powder keg and giving off sparks. The New Zealand Improv Festival is a critical opportunity to nurture the growing improvisation community in Wellington and all around the country.”

Applications will open later in the year, giving improvisors around the country the chance to present the best of NZ improvisation to the capital alongside international guests. The New Zealand Improvisation Festival acknowledges and appreciates the ongoing support of Wellington Improvisation Troupe, both morally and financially, in undertaking the massive task that is presenting the best of improv to Wellington.

Here’s a quote from the middle-ish part of the talk:

“Modern arts festivals were born in the rubble of WW2. Civic leaders created these annual events to celebrate culture as the highest expression of the human spirit… [and] the work they did was very very high art… But as the decades passed, these shows, these festivals, they really became the establishment and as the culture and capital accelerated, the internet brought us all together, high and low kind of disappeared. A new kind of festival emerged. The old festivals, they continued to thrive, but from Brighton to Rio to Perth, something new was emerging.

And these festivals were really different. They’re open, these festivals, because like [??] they understand that the dialogue between the local and the global is essential. They’re open because they ask the audience to be a player, a protagonist, a partner, rather than a passive spectator. And they’re open because they know that imagination cannot be contained in buildings, and so much of the work they do is site specific or outdoor work.

So the new festival, it asks the audience to play an essential role in shaping the performance.”

I couldn’t help but draw parallels between this idea of a new kind of arts festival, and what we and other organisers are trying to achieve with festivals of improvisation.

Improvisation as an artform is open, site specific, boundless in imagination, and I would argue rarely considered high art. Our players play in the moment, drawing on their life and experience and skills to create one-off pieces of work that so often requires the audience’s input to kick things off, to shape the narrative, to inspire the players. The audience are our partners because without them we are not performing, merely amusing ourselves.

What if we took our work outside? To site specific venues? What if our improvisation echoed, elaborated or even questioned the dialogue between our local mentality and the global picture? I have heard of work that does this and I would love to bring more of it to our audience.

We’re still in the midst of confirming dates for NZIF 2013 but I’m still getting so excited about the mere idea of it! New Zealand’s top improvisors in the one city, bringing ‘it’ and showing Wellington what can be done on a stage without a script. Watch this space for updates; as soon as we know, we’ll tell you!

Jen
Producer 2013