Holiday Theatre for the Rest of Us
BATS Improv Theatre Offers Inexpensive Holiday Performances Reflecting the Comedy & Drama of the Season

San Francisco (November 22, 2005) - Everyone in the Bay Area has likely experienced The Nutcracker, The Velveteen Rabbit and A Christmas Carol at least once during a given holiday season. These fantasy-based shows are classics – but also a little hard on the wallet.

That’s why BATS Improv offers its annual alternative to “traditional holiday theatre.” At BATS’ Bayfront Theatre in Fort Mason, audiences can catch a specialized holiday show for a mere $15.00. Offering four unique holiday-themed shows during December, BATS’ professional improvisational company aims to get audience members into the spirit in the season…for a song:

• “Office Party - The Musical” — Audience members offer up typical office holiday party ideas, actors then create a musical on the spot, destined to evoke memories of office parties past; content quite possibly featuring “the one who drank too much” or “the one who made a pass at the CEO,” and the unveiling of scandalous office gossip. Friday and Saturday, December 2-3
• “Stories of the Season” — A night of improvised one-act plays, all centered around the holiday season. Dramatic, comedic and thought-provoking stories created and acted on-the-spot. Friday and Saturday, December 9-10
• “Holiday Follies” — A look at what goes on “behind the curtain” at a fictional long-running Holiday Follies (think Radio City Music Hall's “Christmas Show”), taking cues from audience suggestions and ideas. Friday and Saturday, December 16-17
• “Christmas Rock Musical” — A completely improvised holiday musical performed by BATS’ Sunday Players (advanced student actors). Sunday, December 18

“BATS’ holiday shows typically reflect (and embellish) modern-day holiday scenarios, such as family or office celebrations, shopping adventures or debates over the using the phrase ‘Merry Christmas’,” said Dave Dennison, BATS’ artistic director and a member of its main cast. “We feed off our audience’s suggestions and try to present a show that helps everyone laugh about the things that stress us all out this time of year.”

Even though the main audience response is often hearty laughter, the appeal of BATS’ improvisational theatre goes beyond mere comedy. Audience members – and actors – may sometimes be surprised at how scenes unfold. “Improv shows, while more often than not a comedic form of entertainment, can be quite dramatic at times. Just like scripted characters, improvised characters will exhibit feelings of loneliness, bitterness and introspectiveness, as required by a given storyline. And such feelings are certainly on display during the holidays!” Dennison explains.

BATS Improv shows are performed at the 200-seat Bayfront Theatre in the Marina’s Fort Mason Center (another perk for theatre-goers: there’s not a bad seat in the house and the parking is free.) Shows start at 8:00 p.m. and generally last 90-120 minutes, with one intermission.


Acclaimed by critics as “bounce-in-your seat funny” and “ San Francisco's premiere improvisational theater”, BATS Improv (www.improv.org) 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

Members of the BATS Improv Main Company are available to the media for interviews and short improvised vignette performances and songs; please contact Sara Butz for more information or photos.

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