about us
the festival
»IMPRO« is Europe’s biggest festival for showcasing impro theatre. Each March since 2001, we invite impro artists from all over the world, to test new impro formats as well as perform tried and tested formats at high international level. The festival is a celebration of improvised theatre across several Berlin theatre stages. The range of shows extends wide, from improvised radio play to a musical to theatre piece created in the moment on a bus or in an actual workshop.
We have a few regular venues, aside from the Gorillas‘ home ground the Ratibor, like the English Theatre Berlin | IPAC, and the Mehringhoftheater, and various other locations.
The Berlin impro festival doesn’t receive any structural funding, it is entirely financed through ticket sales of the high-level performances, only made possible because the participating players volunteer to deliver their artistic quality.
the gorillas
»Die Gorillas« have been improvising as a freelance theatre ensemble in Berlin since 1997. We believe in the »philosophy« of improv: acceptance, trust, saying yes, flexibility, listening and continuing others‘ ideas, and we are working on methods for anchoring improvisation sustainably in social, intercultural, educational contexts and those for the common good. The result is lots of regular and also new projects for the further development and divulgence of our way of working. For all of us, improv has become an integral part our artistic expression.
Today, we run Berlin’s largest impro school, offering courses for beginners as well as acting colleagues throughout the year. We support companies and their staff with training courses in improvisational techniques. We offer businesses impro theatre shows for company parties and conferences. Every March we organize the largest European festival of the genre, The Berlin impro festival: »IMPRO«. We produce shows in long standing cooperation with other theatres, subsidized by the EU. We employ impro in the educational and therapeutic fields. Don’t forget we keep playing impro theatre, naturally, like always. On stages in Berlin and Potsdam (approximately 230 performances per year) as well as everywhere in Germany, Europe, and the world over.
