IRTE, the Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble, welcomes you to our 2024 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 2024-2025 season has us celebrating our 13th 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 has a new improviplay, REMOTE, and we’re also bringing back a revised, revamped, remastered golden oldie from IRTE’s 2014 season (10 years ago!) The Scary!

With our 13th 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’re up to. We also host workshops for actors and improvisers every season, giving performers of every stripe an opportunity to expand their skill sets and their community. This season we are excited to host master teachers in improvisation and lead workshops ourselves.
 

Your Contributions Support IRTE’s Vision

At IRTE, we stand shoulder to shoulder with other passionate arts organizations, united by our shared reliance on the kindness of donors like you to bring our creative visions to life. Although we sustain ourselves in part through ticket sales, our annual call for contributions, this very campaign  right now, stands as the cornerstone of our ability to craft a season brimming with captivating shows and workshops.

In the heart of the fiercely competitive live entertainment scene of New York City, our ensemble shoulders the responsibility of sharing our work with an ever-growing audience and performance community. Behind the scenes, we secure rehearsal and performance space, gather our tech and creative staff, promote our shows and workshops, and much more. We're dedicated to the success of this season through dedication, sweat, and sheer determination.

Since 2014, IRTE has been a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-­profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of IRTE must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. Any contribution above the value of the goods and services received by the donor is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
 
IRTE’s Thirteenth Season
 
We are beginning our 13th season this fall with Remote, three intertwining stories about changes people make during a pandemic, followed by our spring production, the return of The Scary! Both 90 minute shows will have an 8 performance run for audiences to experience the laughter and spontaneous creativity that only live improv theatre can deliver.
 

Off-off-Broadway theatre companies face higher costs in their upcoming seasons. We project our 2024-2025 season will cost $7,500. This is the price of doing a budget friendly season.

By far, our largest expense is renting the theater and rehearsal space. Last season, it accounted for 63% of our budget. Rent is by far our largest expense, but we also pay our tech crew and the educators who conduct workshops for us. Along with those costs are other operational expenses like promotion, registration fees for festivals, dues, website costs, and taxes.

Here's some pie to illustrate our expenses last year.

 Last season, our ticket sales covered only 38% of the resources needed to fuel our artistic pursuits. Your contribution can help bridge this gap and propel us toward a continuing creative future.

2024 Rewards

Every contribution to support something you believe in is a reward in and of itself, but to show our appreciation, 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 or claim a perk as our way of saying THANK YOU for your generosity and support. Rewards range from a simple shout out or “thank you” on social media, special gifts from our talented friends, IRTE season tickets, to your own IRTE show crafted especially for you.
 

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…
 

“…the actors in this cast were so agile, so fast on their feet, that I found myself wondering how they were doing it, even with all my book learnin'. The choices they made were just...smart. And funny. And at times, moving. It was stunning.” – Tom Angelo

“...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
 

“...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

 How You Can Show Your Support