2010 Here We Come

SFIF 2010 - COMING SOON

Beginning in September 2009, Bay Area improv & sketch comedy troupe Crisis Hopkins will assume full producing responsibilities for the San Francisco Improv Festival, starting with the 2010 production (dates & locations TBD). Festival Producer and Co-Founder Shaun Landry (who is also founder of the newly formed West Coast Improv Alliance and the San Francisco Improv Alliance) offered Crisis Hopkins the producership after Landry’s move to Los Angeles in the Spring.

This transfer of ownership brings the festival full circle, as Crisis Hopkins co-founder Sam Shaw started the festival with Ms. Landry under the auspices of the San Francisco Improv Cooperative in 2004. Mr. Shaw co-produced the festival for its first two years, and left in summer 2005 to form his own company. Under the guidance of Shaun Landry the festival took over multiple stages, attracting stars like Emo Phillips, Todd Stashwick of HBO’s The Riches, Daniel Handler and writers from The Colbert Report and bringing the festival national recognition.

“The San Francisco Improv Festival has become a vital institution to support and advance innovative improvisational theater in the Bay Area. Shaun was and is an incredibly important resource for the city’s improv scene, and we’re honored and touched that she chose Crisis Hopkins to take over this important annual event”, Shaw said.

Landry, who is also part of the theater company Oui Be Negroes and also performs regularly at iO West in Hollywood, is happy with the transfer. “I’m quite pleased with the work that Sam and Crisis Hopkins has done over the years.  It is only fitting for an alternative festival to go not only to an independent theater company that does solid and strong improvisation, but it is very fitting to have Sam take the reigns again. I have always been the big mouth of the SF Improv Scene.  He is a quiet force that deserves as much credit as myself.  I’m pleased to have him and his crew run the festival.”

Crisis Hopkins member & producer Jamie Wright, a Bay Area native who got his start in improv comedy in Amsterdam, promises to keep the best elements of the SF Improv Festival, while widening its net:

“San Francisco is definitely experiencing a renaissance in local improv comedy at the moment and the SF Improv Festival has been a big part of making that happen. We’re really excited to continue that work and add to it in new ways to make The City an international destination for people who love improv – performers and audiences alike.”

Crisis Hopkins is one of the Bay Area’s fastest rising comedy ensembles, playing to sold out houses at the SF Sketchfest as well as to critical acclaim for their sketch and improv hybrid “One Nation Under Crisis” which ran in May at Stage Werx theater in Union Square. Founded in 2006, Crisis Hopkins continues its mission of promoting improvisational theater in its improv jams at the Climate Theater, as well as through its performances and classes.

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