About Us

Our Mission | Our Story | Our People | In the News


Our Mission

We exist to nurture and champion improv in Singapore by producing professional-quality shows & talent, making improv as a philosophy and practice accessible to everyone in Singapore.


Our Story

Founded in October 2013, The Improv Company is Singapore’s home of improvisational theatre and comedy, training Singaporeans in the fun spontaneity of scriptless storytelling.

We began as NUS Stage’s Improvables, a university improv troupe comprising of fun-loving friends. When we graduated, we couldn't quit - we loved improv so much that we founded the Company to continue spreading the joy of improv. We started with one class a week at a studio in Jalan Pisang. Growing slowly, we began conducting more advanced improv classes, producing regular shows, seeding multiple new improv teams and working with improv experts, which formed the basis of what we do today.

We hope to keep advancing improv in Singapore and growing the community of improvisers until it's a local arts staple and beyond. We've had the pleasure of seeing hundreds of students come through our doors, a hundred shows under our belts, and a hundred corporate events since our humble beginnings. We've also performed internationally in Manila and Shanghai, and conducted workshops in Jakarta, Bali, and Chicago. With the help of the passionate and selfless local improv community, we hosted the first Singapore Improv Festival in 2016 to sold-out success. This led to our even more successful run of the Festival in 2018, which hosted performers from all over the Asia-Pacific.

Ultimately, we just want to keep serving the community and keep getting better at the improv we teach and do!


Our Co-Founders

 
Hazel Ho

Hazel Ho

Hazel Ho graduated from the National University of Singapore with a B.A. in Theatre Studies, and was a co-founder and Producer at The Improv Company for 7 years, devoting her energies to the creation of a thriving, sustainable improv community here in Singapore. She even once had to improvise live on Channel News Asia and prefers not to remember it.

Hazel has had extensive experience coaching and directing TIC’s many house teams and international performances. She now spearheads an offshoot of The Company Players, training the team in the ways of the Story Spine and how to use its power for good.

Hazel is also an accomplished scripted theatre director, with critically acclaimed shows in The Twenty-something Theatre Festival, Lit Up Singapore and NUS Arts Festival. She directed Dear Jay by Euginia Tan at the Esplanade Theatre Studio in December 2016. She also directed Café by Joel Tan as part of WILD RICE’s new residency programme for emerging theatre directors.

Kim Tan

Kim Tan

Kim is a cofounder and Artistic Director of TIC and has taught and performed improvised theatre for ten years. He has studied improv in Chicago, London and Oxford under some of the most experienced and venerated instructors still alive, and as a former board member of the Applied Improvisation Network, he has been and is engaged in keeping up with current trends of improv training, facilitation and performance.

As Artistic Director of the Company, he is tasked with maintaining the quality of the Company’s instruction and performances. Over a thousand people have had their first contact with improv through the programs he designed for the Company, and it was his vision, determination and desire that led to the establishment of a thriving improv scene in Singapore, including the internationally acclaimed Singapore Improv Festival.

 

Our Team

Annie Low

Annie Low

Improv Coach

Annie is an actor and teacher. Since 2014, she’s honed her improv skills at TIC and abroad, learning from teachers around the world and performing at festivals in China, Australia, France and the Philippines. As a stage actor, she was a member of WILD RICE’s prestigious Young&Wild programme (2020) and was last seen in WILD RICE’s Candide, SRT’s Caught, and a number of local indie productions.

She’s also an experienced corporate trainer and has facilitated workshops for clients in the government and other sectors. Her improv loves are working with music, physicality, narrative, and devising (most recently a show about mental health in her duo, Thick. Solid. Tight.).

Asher J Tan

Asher J. Tan

Improv Coach

Asher has been doing improv longer than he can imagine. A self-professed theatre nerd, he has been actively involved with productions since his student days in ACS (Indep.). Even while studying Medicine at the National University of Singapore, he took joy in directing and producing student productions.

These days, he is an active member of a few local improv troupes, including Thick. Solid. Tight. (2018-), HuaYuKu (2018-2019), and The Company Players (2019-). More recently, he is training under the prestigious Young and Wild theatre acting course by W!ld Rice. Juggling between his thespian passion and medical profession hasn’t always been easy, but the amazing communities that he’s met from both worlds have certainly made it worth his while.

Timothy Yeo

Timothy Yeo

Improv Coach

Getting his start with the Bristol Improv Society whilst studying in the UK, Timothy has never stopped improvising since 2011. Upon his return to Singapore in 2014, Timothy joined the Improv Company as a coach and teaches across all levels. As a corporate trainer, Timothy has worked with multiple clients over an array of industries, including Google, the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the Ministry of Education.

Timothy has been performing with ASAP improv since 2015 and, with the team, has performed in festivals in Manila, Shanghai, Beijing, Korea and Singapore. 


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