About the company

Transactors Improv is the oldest active improvisational theater in the South. Our work focuses on emotion, physicality, character, commitment, teamwork, and fun.

Transactor Group Photo The company formed in 1983 at The ArtsSchool in Carrboro, N.C., as a children's theater. Much of its work was scripted, but over time the group metamorphosed into a professional touring company performing improvisational theater for audiences of all ages.

Transactors Improv performs primarily in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill although it has appeared coast to coast and from Florida to Canada. The company has been heard on National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Co. Transactors Improv also teaches people of all ages in a wide variety of venues, from corporations and colleges to elementary schools and arts camps.

Members of Transactors Improv have had the opportunity to study individually and collectively with the leading lights of improv, including Groundlings founder Gary Austin, Joe Bill, Del Close, Martin de Maat, Charna Halpern of iO, Keith Johnstone, Annoyance Theater's Mick Napier, Second City, Paul Sills, and Mark Sutton.

Based in Chapel Hill, N.C., Transactors Improv is a not-for-profit corporation and has been supported in part by grants from the Orange County Arts Commission and the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency receiving partial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

What we offer

Programs for presenters

Performances in theaters, including community-based residencies

Performances in schools, including school-based residencies

Performances in festivals and trade shows

Workshops and classes for students of all ages, including master classes: Improv is an exhilarating art form to learn in almost any setting.

Contact us at transactors@transactors.org or 919.824.0937 and tell us what you have in mind! We customize our programs to fit our clients' needs and desires.

Self-produced programs

Public performances at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, our home theater

Public performances at Common Ground Theatre in Durham

Courses and workshops:

Applied Improv (FIZ): An exciting, effective, and fun educational/training program utilizing the principles and techniques of improvisational theater in non-traditional venues

See our Events Calendar for what's happening now!

Performance styles

Long-form improvisation: One- and two-act pieces 30-120 minutes long, composed of interrelated shorter scenes, in which narrative, characters, and themes arise and evolve--kind of like scripted plays

Short-form improvisation: Discrete scenes 3-10 minutes in length

The Professors: a new monthly series set at a fictional Triangle-area institution of higher learning.

The Musical! : We employ the styles and conventions of post--World War II Broadway to create a big show, replete with overture, show-stoppers, dance numbers, ballads, choral sections, and a rousing finish.

Transactors Experimental Theater (TET): Open workshops dedicated to exploring new improv forms and principles and developing company members

We don't perform scripted sketches, stand-up comedy, or a lot of theater games (although we are certainly not against any of these things).

Some Places Where We've Performed and Taught

Festivals | Educational Venues | Theaters | Corporate and organizational venues

Festivals

Artsplosure, Raleigh, N.C.
Atlanta Arts Festival
Big Stinkin' Improv Festival, Austin, Tex. (twice)
Chicago Improv Festival
First Night (Annapolis, Charleston [S.C.], Charlotte,
Raleigh, and Winston-Salem)
Forest Theater Festival, Chapel Hill
iO South Improv Invitational, Raleigh
Just for Laughs Improv Tournament, Montreal
A Love Affair, Tifton, Ga.
Miami Improv Festival
Minnesota Fringe Festival, Minneapolis
North Charleston (S.C.) Arts Festival
Panoply, Huntsville, Ala. (twice)
San Francisco Improv Festival
Spoleto Festival Theatre Fringe, Charleston, S.C. (six times)
Spontaneous Combustion improv festival, Kansas City, Mo.
Stoneleaf Theatre Festival, Asheville, N.C. (twice)

Educational venues

Augusta State University, Augusta, Ga.
Averett College, Danville, Va.
Brenau University, Gainesville, Ga.
Columbia College, S.C.
Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Durham Academy, N.C.
East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.
Firespark Summer Arts Program, Gainesville, Ga.
Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C.
Medical University of S.C., Charleston
Morehead Foundation, Chapel Hill, N.C.
N.C. School of Science and Math, Durham
N.C. Teaching Fellows Program, Charlotte
Pfeiffer University, Albemarle, N.C.
Piedmont Arts Assoc., Martinsville, Va.
Presbyterian College, Clinton, S.C.
Princeton Day School, Princeton, N.J.
Rockingham Community College, Wentworth, N.C.
S.C. Governor's School, Charleston
StArts, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C.
State University of West Georgia, Carrollton
Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Va.
Tri-District Arts Consortium, Columbia, S.C.
University of North Carolina: Asheville, Chapel Hill
Greensboro, Pembroke, and Wilmington campuses
William & Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.
Woodberry Forest School, Va.
School systems throughout the Southeast

Theaters

Andy Griffith Playhouse, Mt. Airy, N.C.
The ArtsCenter, Carrboro, N.C.
Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Fayetteville, N.C.
Cedarhurst/Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Ill.
Columbus Area Arts Council, Columbus, Ind.
Common Ground Theatre, Durham, N.C.
Gainesville Arts Council, Ga.
Hickory Community Theatre, Hickory, N.C.
Manbites Dog Theater, Durham, N.C.
Paramount Theater, Burlington, N.C.
Reston Community Center Theatre, Reston, Va.
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem
Sunrise Theatre, Southern Pines, N.C.
Temple Theatre, Sanford, N.C.
Tryon Little Theatre, Tryon, N.C.
Arts councils throughout the Southeast

Corporate and organizational venues

Burroughs-Wellcome
CSC Index
DuPont
First Bank of S.C.
Glaxo
Mobius Group
N.C. Society for Quality Assurance
Northern Telecom
Professional Secretaries International
Prudential
Rhone-Poulenc
SAS Institute
Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute
Southern Company