This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.
Happy Valley Improv’s annual XL Improv Festival is returning for a fourth year from Thursday, May 15, to Sunday, May 18, at the Blue Brick Theatre in downtown State College.
The annual festival features 12 shows, a series of workshops and events all throughout Centre County, bringing comedy performers and fans together.
“XL Fest gets bigger and bigger each year and brings more improvisers and enthusiastic audience members to the State College area,” Tyler Jones, Blue Brick Theatre stand-up comedy director, Happy Valley Improv company member and XL Fest co-organizer, said. “We’re excited for another incredible festival of shows and workshops while showing off the best of Happy Valley.”
The festival will also showcase experienced improvisers from all over the country through workshops such as Tanya Morgan of Philadelphia, Estevan J. “Chuy” Zárate of San Antonio, Texas, Radhika Rao of San Francisco, California, Greg Tavares of Charleston, South Carolina and Jaime Moyer of Los Angeles, California.
The workshops offered during the festival will cover a wide variety of topics from working with scene partners to how to avoid planning in improv and even bringing a Bollywood lens to improv performances.
Blue Brick Theatre will host 12 shows during the three-day festival with performers and acts from cities across the nation like Baltimore, Brooklyn, Akron and Portland, but also regional acts from Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and even from here in Happy Valley.
“Attendees can look forward to a blend of iconic local experiences throughout the festival, with tours of Penn State’s campus, scavenger hunts around State College’s downtown district and visits to the Berkey Creamery,” Happy Valley Improv noted in a press release.
The festival is still looking to recruit businesses for partnerships to offset festival costs. Partnering businesses will get logo placements in posters, social media and email campaigns as well as an opportunity to share merchandise with festival goers and audience members.
Workshop and ticket information can be found online at bluebricktheatre.com. More information about XL Fest, including business partnership opportunities, can be found at happyvalleyimprov.com or by contacting Jones at hviXLfest@gmail.com or by phone at 814-308-9229.
