The Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble welcomes you to our 2021 fundraising campaign.

IRTE is a New York City-based, award-winning company of improvisational actors, producers, and creators of original, character-driven improvisational comedy theatre. Our 2021-2022 season has us celebrating our 10th Anniversary of creating, producing and performing new and expanded theatrical productions that weave together the best elements of improvisational comedy and traditional theatre, live musical performance, and opportunities for audience interaction with every show.

This season IRTE is happy to present a new and original show: the third installment in the “Stupid Kid” trilogy, The Marvelous Mrs. McCluskey, and a new expanded version of our award winning hit, Tammy’s Bachelorette.

With our 10th season, IRTE now has over three dozen distinct productions under our collective belt that have been performed in New York City and all over the country at various theatre festivals, but that’s not all we do. We also host workshops for actors and improvisers every season, giving performers of every stripe opportunities to expand their skill sets and their community. This season we are excited to lead workshops in improvisation and to host master teachers of not only improvisation, but other disciplines, as well, such as clowning and stage combat.

IRTE is also honored to partner with High 5 Tickets to the Arts, ArtsConnection's resource for young people to experience the best dance, music, theater, film, and visual arts New York City has to offer.

IRTE is no different than any other arts organization in that we, too, count on the support of generous donors, such as yourself, to help us bring our vision into the world. Where we differ is in the size and reach of our pool of resources. While IRTE supports itself in part through ticket sales, as well as a year-end call for contributions, this fundraising campaign (the one you’re looking at right now) is our primary source of support to make our season of shows and workshops happen.

New York City is an incredibly competitive market for live entertainment, and our small ensemble does all of the heavy lifting to share what we do with our growing audience and performing community. This includes renting rehearsal and performance space, paying technical crew and the master teachers who lead our workshops, promoting our shows, attending festivals both in New York City and out of state, and much more. 

The pandemic of 2020 hit the theater world hard in New York City. All theaters were forced to shut down productions, rehearsal spaces were forced to close, and many are never coming back. In this environment, we project that IRTE’s 10th season will cost approximately $7,000, not including the costs of performing in (and getting to) festivals around the United States. That’s 2 original productions, 8 performances each, plus the costs related to mounting and promoting those shows.

As a share-based theatre company, IRTE ensemble members, contribute equally to cover the costs of each production. In return, all ticket sales are divided equally among company members after the run. Your contributions go a long way in helping to offset the burden of production and operating expenses, and helping to support artists working hard to share their gifts and talents with the world. Every dollar we receive through our fundraising campaign also helps us to keep our ticket prices down so that we can continue providing high quality and hilarious improvisational comedy theatre to a growing audience. 

This season we’re changing our look by expanding our 1 hour format to a 1 ½ hour format with 2 shows running 8 performances each. This will give us more time to explore and develop new, fun, and interesting characters that inhabit the unique worlds we create with our original productions.

Here are the productions we’re excited to bring to audiences for our 10th season!

Every contribution to support something you believe in is a reward in and of itself, AND we also love to give you free stuff! Check out our fabulous rewards for some of the different levels of giving. You’re free to contribute and leave it at that, and we also welcome you to peruse some of the goodies we have for you as another way to THANK YOU for your generosity and support. Rewards range from a simple shout out or “thank you” on social media, to great books, cd's, art, and services from some of our talented friends, to IRTE 10th season tickets, to your own IRTE show crafted especially for you. 

Here’s a little bit more about our friends contributing some of our rewards items…

The honor and privilege of creating the kind of improvised comedy theatre that we love is very rewarding, and we also greatly appreciate the awards and kind words we’ve received over the years. Here are a few highlights we’d like to share with you…

“...surprise-a-minute…” - Jay Lloyd, CBS Philly, KYW News Radio

“...wildly unique and wildly funny shows.” - Natasha Dawsen, Drama Queens

“...theatre-goers will have a phenomenal time.” - Amy Carothers, NYC Travels

“BEST. PARTY. EVER.” - Rebecca Benedict, Outer-Stage

“...raucous and a hell of a lot of fun.” - Jan Ewing, Hi Drama

“...IRTE manages to strike a balance between both well-written comedic structure and pure improv, while also using both audience engagement and a creative assortment of props and makeup to stay on a low indie budget and still be uniquely laugh out loud funny...” - Anthony Piccione, OnStage Blog

“If a John Waters movie and Ex Machina had a baby, it might look like WOWEE! ADVENTURES OF A GIRL KILLBOT… This reviewer snorted with laughter.” - First Looks - PortFringe 2018!

“Magnificent...fantastic...one of the finest improv troupes today!” - Outerstage - IRTE MITF A-OK