The O.C. Improv Fest is an event that brings the improv community together for performances by numerous improv groups that are ready to bring the crowds roaring with laughter.
The festival ran from Wednesday, April 19 to Saturday, April 22 at the Stages Theater located near the center of Downtown Fullerton on Commonwealth Avenue.
“Everything is awesome. It has great people, great comedy and really creative stuff,” said Shawn Michael, a Los Angeles resident that drove to Fullerton specifically for the event. “Everybody is so talented.”
Improv is the art of acting out a scenario or plot on the spot without having directions or a script. The improv group usually gets the scenarios they will act out for the evening by asking the audience.
This made the evening unique because once it was performed, there won’t be anything like it again.
Each day of the event, around nine to 13 different improv groups were set to perform. The groups were then divided into blocks with about five minute intermissions between them.
During the performances, audience members were asked to give them a scenario that would set the rest of their performance for the evening.
When the Modjeska Unscripted Theater group asked audiences to give them a fake holiday, people began shouting out comedic answers, which allowed them to play a part as well.
National Shoe Day was the chosen fake holiday and it had the entire theater laughing. The group’s act included a shoe fairy, a love story and a foot fetish.
Star Trek was also a big hit during the festival as audience members couldn’t stop talking about it after the event. Preformed by a The Improvised Generation, the plot was played after the idea was given by the audience.
“It’s so great being here,” said Sara Mountjoy-Pepka, member of The Imporvised Generation. “It’s my first time performing in Orange County, so it feels great to come out and meet a new crowd that we haven’t met before.” Sara has doing improv for nine years and has been in Los Angeles for the past 3 years.
“I think we get very safe in our little space where we always perform with the same people and so it’s just so nice to reach and make new friends,” Mountjoy-Pepka added.
For more information about the Orange County Improv Fest and future performances, visit their website here.
