BATS Improv's Long-Form Festival Opens March 3
Special guests and themes highlight festival in 20th anniversary year

San Francisco (February 27, 2006) – BATS Improv announced the performance lineup for its 4th Annual Long-Form Festival, to be presented at San Francisco’s Bayfront Theater at Fort Mason Center, March 3 through April 1.

The month-long festival will feature 10 unique performances, including improvised shows in such genres as sci-fi kitsch, disco-romance, Shakespeare, musicals and family drama. It will also include guest performances by acclaimed Bay Area improv troupes True Fiction Magazine and 3 For All, and a night of improv history and discussion with legendary improviser Jim Cranna.

“Our pioneering long-form formats have been a signature of BATS for fifteen years,” said BATS executive director John Kovacevich. “Instead of performing the brief scenes and games that we’re known for in our Theatresports format, long-form improv offers audiences the experience of attending a full-length ‘play’. In fact, after watching our performances, audiences often assume our improvisers must have planned at least some of the plotlines and characters, but everything single thing—the story, the dialogue, the live music, the lights—is created on the spot.”

BATS’ artistic director Dave Dennison added, “Long-form storytelling is a way for audiences to experience a truly unique form of improvisational theatre. The opportunity to add plot twists and to develop depth and relationships for our characters through this format adds a layer of richness to an already entertaining form of theatre.”

Tickets range from $12-$20. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, visit the BATS web site at www.improv.org or call (415) 474-8935.

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Acclaimed by critics as “bounce-in-your seat funny,” “consistently hilarious” and “ San Francisco's premiere improvisational theatre”, BATS Improv has been a leader in the Bay Area's innovative improv theatre scene for nearly twenty years. Fifty weeks a year, BATS presents a series of completely improvised shows in a variety of formats—from comic competitions to improvised musicals and everything in between. BATS has also gained a reputation as one of the best schools of improvisational theatre anywhere in the world, and offers improv classes and workshops to individuals, corporations, non-profits and other groups. BATS attracts students from all over the United States, and as far away as Australia, England, and Japan.

Additionally, BATS offers free improvisation classes through its “Laughing Stock” program to people living with HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, cancer, and other chronic, life-threatening illnesses. Classes focus on strengthening quality of life through humor, physical activity, group interaction, risk-taking, and imagination games.

Media Contact:
Sara J. Butz
415-516-8876
sara@improv.org

General Information:
BATS Improv
www.improv.org
415-474-6776