Best Improv Classes in Philadelphia

Philadelphia's improv scene is smaller than New York's or Chicago's but has a character shaped by the city's own creative community. The training centers in Old City and Northern Liberties run programs that attract people from across the city's professional and student populations, and the resulting mix in beginner classes is one of the things that makes them work. You might be in a session with a nurse, a software developer, a high school teacher, and someone recently transplanted from another city looking for a way to meet people. Improv creates the conditions for that kind of interaction to actually happen, which is rarer than it should be in a major city.

The format of a Philadelphia improv beginner class follows the standard curriculum: physical warm-up games, group exercises that build toward scene work, and short two-person or three-person scenes where you respond to whatever emerges without a script. The key skill the format develops is listening -- genuinely hearing what your scene partner is offering and building on it rather than steering toward something you planned. That listening skill is what makes improv surprisingly useful outside of a comedy context, and it is the thing most students say they take home from the class.

Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) in Old City is the most established improv program in the city, with a full curriculum from beginner through performance tracks and a company that performs regularly. Second State Theater in Center City runs workshops with a different orientation. Both programs offer single drop-in workshops for people who want to try it before committing to a level course, which is the recommended starting point. A single session gives you enough of an experience to know whether this is something you want to pursue further, and most people leave the first class wanting to come back.