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BATS Improv Earns 9th, 10th "Best of the Bay" Honors from S.F. Bay Guardian
BATS named "Best Theater Company" and "Best First Date Spot" in Readers' Choice Awards
San Francisco, CA (July 26, 2007) - BATS Improv was named "Best Theater Comany" and "Best First Date Spot" yesterday by readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, bringing the total number of "Best of the Bay" honors for the theatre company to ten.
More than 7,000 ballots were received in this year's voting, an increase of 75% over the previous year's numbers. In its commentary on BATS' win for Best Theater Company, Guardian editors wrote,
"That troupe of irreverent tricksters BATS Improv has entered its second decade of interactive fun with no signs of slowing down. If screaming things from your seat, watching people make fools of themselves, and laughing until your guts hurt sounds like a great time to you - and it does to our readers - haul ass to see these perennial Bests."
Interim BATS executive director Alice Hansen said, "We're so thrilled that improvisational theatre has a welcome home in San Francisco. Our audiences are intelligent, enthusiastic and up for anything - which is an improviser's dream - so sharing such a wonderful award as well among the Company and the entire improv community is a true honor."
The Guardian and its readers also named BATS "Best Improv Company" in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003 "Best Comedy Troupe" in 2004, and "Best Theater Company" and "Best First Date Spot" in 2006, its 20th anniversary year. In addition, BATS Improv has also been named one of the "20 Best Places to Meet Your Match" by San Francisco Magazine in 2003 and "Most Spontaneous Date Night" by 7x7 Magazine in 2006.
Jenny Meyer-Rosen, company player and dean of BATS Improv's training school, said, "In addition to offering a great theatrical experience for people around the Bay Area, being at BATS seems to be a bit of an aphrodisiac for many people as well. It's been a wildly popular place for couples on their first dates, and we've heard countless stories from long-time couples who met while taking our improv classes."
Meyer-Rosen herself met her husband (company player Corey Rosen) while honing her improv skills at BATS. She added, "Anyone who becomes a fan of improv learns that taking risks, failing good-naturedly and making your partner look good are valuable skills to master in a relationship, so I guess we're a natural fit for couples and those seeking to be coupled!"
Click here for the complete text of both awards.
About BATS Improv Theatre
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 since its debut in 1986 Fifty weeks a year, BATS presents a series of completely improvised shows in a variety of formats—from short-form competitions to full-length improvised plays and 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 adults, kids, 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
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