FAQs

If you have a question about taking a class or about Buffalo Improv House in general, it might be answered here! If not, feel free to reach out to us at email@buffaloimprovhouse.house

What is Buffalo improv house?

As of this exact moment, “Buffalo Improv House” is a growing group of people dedicated to performing and teaching improv comedy here in Buffalo New York. Despite the name, there is no actual house involved.

Our goal is to be a cornerstone of the improv comedy scene here in Buffalo by offering world-class improv instruction, by producing high quality improv shows, and by being a pipeline connecting Buffalo with the international improv comedy scene.

Our teachers have extensive experience teaching and performing improv internationally and at places in New York City such as the Magnet Theater and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. There are other folks involved in this thing, as well, including a network of performers in New York and other cities who are dedicated to making Buffalo an improv hotspot.

We are at the early stages of being an improv comedy organization, and are looking forward to seeing what this grows into.

what is “long form” improv?

There’s more than one general approach to improv comedy. Maybe you’ve seen Whose Line Is It Anyway or ComedySportz? That style of improv is usually called “Short Form” improv. In “Short Form” improv, the performers do a series of theater games, acting challenges, and short scenes, each one inspired by several suggestions from the audience.

In “Long Form” improv, things are more open-ended, often with a single inspiration driving a number of scenes or even an entire show. Long Form improv can look a lot of different ways.

Our classes primarily focus on skills for long-form improv, but we believe strongly that our approach to teaching will benefit anyone looking to perform improv. Even if your interest is in Short Form improv, learning to sustain and heighten full-length improv scenes without relying on the built-in structure of theater games will make you a stronger improviser overall.

To be clear: We don’t think that these two approaches need to be at odds with one another or anything like that. There are often performers who have success in both long- and short form improv, and there are shows that operate as a hybrid of these two approaches. Both approaches to improv can be really fun.

When are your next classes?

Our classes are registering now!

If our current offerings are not convenient for you, be sure to check back! We offer classes on a rolling basis and usually announce about 4 weeks ahead of time.

SHOULD I start at the level one class?

The Level One class is the introductory class, and is the class most people should probably start with.

If you’ve taken long form improv classes from a place that teaches it similarly to the way that we teach it (there are a lot of places that qualify) or if you’ve performed long form improv regularly at some point during the past four years, our Level Two class might be good for you. However, our Level One class is well-paced and full of great information and activities, and is probably the best place to start, overall. In Level One we cover Yes/And, building strong relationships and grounded scenes, creating characters and committing to them, initiating from a suggestion and an opening, basic scene mechanics, and editing.

If you’d like to chat about whether it might be ok for you to jump right to an upper-level class, send us an email at email@buffaloimprovhouse.house

I did improv in another city. can i join you guys?

If you’re new to Buffalo (or just moved back home) and are looking to meet people who do improv or get involved with what we do, your best bet at the moment is to show up to an event. Our Thursday Night Improv Mixers at Amy’s Place are a great choice for that! The community is growing and the vibes are fun. Feel free to shoot us a message to let us know you’re coming. We love meeting new people!

If you have extensive improv experience and would like to apply to join our teaching staff please send us message at email@buffaloimprovhouse.house. While we are not in need of instructors at this exact moment, we’ve been steadily growing our roster of highly qualified improv comedy performers and teachers, and we will likely need more people as we continue to grow.

Do you have any discounts or work-study opportunities?

We do have limited capacity for barter arrangements that essentially act as work-study opportunities. This is something that we are open to when we need an extra hand or two, and priority is given to current students who are continuing their studies. Feel free to inquire about this possibility, and apologies in advance if we are at our capacity for this type of thing when you inquire.

If you are a high school or college student, we’d be happy to extend a discount. If you are not a student and want to take a class but don’t think you could pay the full rate right away, we have done different types of payment plans in the past, and they tend to work fine. Feel free to email us at email@buffaloimprovhouse.house

Does taking a class guarantee a performing opportunity?

It is our goal to have at least one performance for every class. Since we don’t have a steady venue yet, we have partnered with three venues and your class will perform at least once at one of these venues, likely as part of a longer night of improv.

If you’ve performed improv in other cities, you might be interested in House Teams or other types of regular performance opportunities. We are not there yet, but it is on the horizon. In the meantime, check out one of our events!

What is your covid safety policy?

To start: We take COVID seriously and our policies reflect federal, state and local laws and guidance, as well as best practices that are evolving among similar performing arts organizations. Any policy we have in place may change as CDC, State and local regulations and guidance changes, or if community feedback makes it clear that the majority of our community would like to have a specific policy in place. We ask that you do not take our classes if you are unwilling to follow COVID safety measures if the COVID situation returns us to a place where face coverings or proof of vaccination become required or recommended again.

We love vaccines (and you should, too) and we acknowledge that a good N95-style respirator or KF94 face mask is the best method to prevent against COVID transmission in an any indoor event but we are not requiring either at this time. If Erie County drifts back to a “high” level of community transmission, we will revise this policy in accordance to official recommendations and industry best practices. We ask that anyone registering for our classes affirm that they will abide by any change to our COVID safety policy if a change becomes necessary, and that you will not make a big deal out of it.