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After 4 years, Manila Improv Festival returns bigger, better

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Leah C. Salterio

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="SPIT from the Philippines. " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/09/06/spit-090626023.jpg"/><figcaption>SPIT from the Philippines. </figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Four days, 14 shows, 70 acts, 12 workshops, over 15 countries and more than 350 improvisers. No two shows are the same.Improvisational theater is back. Manila Improv Festival, Asia’s biggest improv festival, reels off after four years on September 7 to 10 at Ayala Malls Circuit Makati.Improv is a form of theater where scenes and stories are created spontaneously and on the spot, inspired by audience suggestions. The results are one-of-a-kind shows that are filled with laughter and joy from the magic of spontaneity “The performances are done on the spot based on suggestions from the audience,” Manila Improv Festival producer Aia Mendoza told ABS-CBN News.&quot; The shows that you will see tonight, you will not see them anywhere ever.The Manila Improv Festival has been happening since 2012 and is one of Asia’s biggest festivals. With this year’s theme, “Brave the New,” the festival, presented by Third World Improv, celebrates creative courage and fearless authenticity even in the face of change.“We want to emphasize ‘Brave the New’ as our theme,” Mendoza said. “This being the first festival back from the pandemic. Everything changed for us.“We didn’t know if we could still improvise again. During the pandemic, it was online improv that kept us all together. Even if we were stuck in our room for two years, we were able to pretend for a little while that we were elsewhere in the world.“We were in Jupiter, we were at the beach, we were in the mall because of improv. This Manila Improv Festival is so special because it’s the one where we can come back. As theater practitioners, especially now that it’s our first time back, is so amazing.&quot;The presentation is a “labor of love” for all the performers who are joining the shows. “We are doing this because we want to honor the art form and tell the world that the Philippines is an improv theater world stage,” Mendoza said. “Not just in Chicago or Canada, you can also find it here in the Philippines.“This is the sixth festival, although the last one was in 2019, before the pandemic happened. So you can just imagine a lot of improvisers from all over the world ready to display their talents. It will be a meeting of the minds and collaboration of countries that will happen.“We are here to show you what improv is. A collaboration of Housekeeping Improv and SPIT (also the creators of the festival), A II Z, Memeprov, Looney Chups among many others. There are also 44 international acts performing.”Be ready to be treated to a hilarious festival loaded with diverse stories, brave comedy and never-before-seen antics and performances. This time, there will be performers from South Korea to Slovakia, Australia to Austria, Israel to India, Canada to Chicago, Taipei to Tokyo.“We are turning Ayala Circuit Makati into a world stage,” Mendoza said. &quot;We are going to see a lot of first time performers in the festival fueling their creative expression.”Director Dingdong Rosales admitted it is really a “full circle” for Manila Improv Festival.“In 2012, 11 years ago, just a few blocks from Ayala Malls Circuit, was where we all started,” recalled Rosales.. “In the intersection of Ayala Avenue, Kamagong and Bagtikan in Makati, was where it all started in Quantum Café with only eight groups – four foreign and four local groups.“Today we have 70 performing groups, 350 plus delegates from all over the world. It is indeed the biggest improv festival in Asia, maybe even the world. And most diverse, for sure.”The theme “Brave the New” is boldly adopted by this year’s presentation because of the new venue.“There are ‘unusual’ spaces for our performances,” Rosales said. “Stage A is a cinema converted into a theater. Since it is a cinema, the acoustics are different. There is no stage, no backstage, no dressing area. We are doing everything from scratch.“Another space is an empty unit inside the mall. It was designed to be a store and we are turning it into a theater space.“Another space is the Manila Symphony Orchestra [MSO] rehearsal hall. It’s actually a nice space, but in the middle of the stage is the very prized possession grand piano that we cannot simply move.”Since they are an improv company, the Manila Improv Festival will find a way to make the venue work to their advantage and perhaps weave the piano into their performances.“We are excited to show the world and the Philippines what all these groups from all over the world are doing with us,” Rosales said.“When we called for participation and proposals for our shows, we encouraged a lot of collaborations. There will be groups involving different people from different countries in one set.”“We also have first timers from Vietnam, Slovakia, Austria. The usual ‘suki’ from Tokyo, Singapore will all be back. In fact, there are more Singaporeans in the festival than any performers.”Mendoza said the performing collaborations like Australia with the Philippines, there’s another group with Southeast Asia, India, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines. “Many of them meeting only a few weeks beforehand. Some of them met online during the pandemic and this is probably only the second time they are performing before a live audience,” added Mendoza.

Improvisational theater is back. Manila Improv Festival, Asia’s biggest improv festival, reels off after four years on September 7 to 10 at Ayala Malls Circuit Makati.