About Us

Actors Improv Theater, formerly known as Transactors, is the longest-running, oldest improvisational theater in the South. Our work focuses on emotion, physicality, character, collaboration, and fun.

The company formed in 1983 at The ArtsSchool in Carrboro, NC, 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.

Actors Improv Theater 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. Actors 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 Actors 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, Keith Johnstone, Annoyance Theater’s Mick Napier, Second City, Paul Sills, and Mark Sutton.

Based in Chapel Hill, NC, Actors Improv Theater 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.

What We Offer

Programs for presenters

• Performances in theaters, including community-based residencies
• Performances in schools, including school-based residencies
• Performances at festivals and trade shows
• Performances at private events: birthday and anniversary parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, debutante balls, work gatherings… (We’ve done it all.)
• Workshops and classes for students of all ages, including master classes
• 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, NC, our home theater
• Public performances at Monkey Bottom Collaborative in Durham, NC
• 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
• Medium-form improvisation: Shows constructed of stand-alone episodes that last 5-15 minutes.
• Short-form improvisation: Discrete scenes 3-10 minutes in length
• Family Friendly Improv: a show of short-form scenes appropriate for all ages, with a focus on fun and high energy
• 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.
• 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

Theaters

Andy Griffith Playhouse, Mt. Airy, NC
The ArtsCenter, Carrboro, NC
Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Fayetteville, NC
Cedarhurst/Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, IL
Columbus Area Arts Council, Columbus, IN
Common Ground Theatre, Durham
Gainesville Arts Council, GA
Hickory Community Theatre, Hickory, NC.
Manbites Dog Theater, Durham
Paramount Theater, Burlington, NC
Reston Community Center Theatre, Reston, VA
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem
Sunrise Theatre, Southern Pines, NC
Temple Theatre, Sanford, NC
Tryon Little Theatre, Tryon, NC
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