Bigger, Better, More: Washington Improv Theater’s FY16 Annual Report

FY2016* was a year of historic growth and impact for Washington Improv Theater. Groundbreaking, smart, and energetic programming filled our calendar from start to finish and we reached record numbers of audience members, students, and trainees.

*For us that’s July ‘15 – June ‘16.

WIT presented more artists in more performances for more audience members than ever before in FY16. Over the course of 270 shows, 115 improv artists performed as part of WIT’s company ensembles and Harold teams. Still more improvisers lit up our stage from independent local and national troupes including Magnet Theater’s Jordache (NYC) and Minneapolis’ The Theater of Public Policy. Second City cast members even dropped in to improvise while in town from Chicago. Our total audience for performances grew to a record 21,000.

Highlights:

• Minneapolis’ T2P2 takes up residency at WIT In a first-of-its-kind residency program, Minneapolis’ The Theater of Public Policy (known as T2P2) brought their intelligent wonk-driven humor to liven up discussions about current issues and modern debates. Their special guest interviewees included a bipartisan pair of Minnesota congressmen and the editor of SCOTUSblog.

• The October Issue premieres to critical acclaim  WIT contributed the original production The October Issue to the citywide Women’s Voices Theater Festival. The show’s all-female cast created a show inspired by the traditional format of a women’s magazine, delivering an unvarnished look at life from a woman’s perspective. The Washington Post called the cast “a remarkable group of funny women.” Audiences demanded more and the ensemble continues to perform in WIT productions.

• Halloween-themed run brings WIT to Atlas District  The HOWL series at Atlas Performing Arts Center leading up to Halloween featured some seriously spooky (and spoofy) performing acts and the return of crowd fave and the bloodiest show WIT does: Die! Die! Die!

• WIT co-presents the third annual District Improv Festival  WIT co-presented the third annual District Improv Festival on our home stage at Source, featuring headliner The Boys (Susan Messing and Rachael Mason).

• Seasonal Disorder welcomes largest audiences ever  December brought the best-attended Seasonal Disorder run of holiday-themed shows in WIT’s history, including the return of Improv Actually (an improvised romantic comedy inspired by the movie Love Actually).

• Over 4,500 audience members attend tenth annual Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament  The tenth annual Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament (our annual bracket-style improv tourney where the audience determines the winners) drew in the largest audience in history. With 100 teams competing, FIST celebrated its tenth anniversary with over ten times the teams from the inaugural year. Beverly Crusher took home the FIST X title.

• WIT’s family of performers grows  Harold Teams Love Onion and Madeline ascended to company ensemble status in August and May, respectively. As they said goodbye to the Harold program, more friends said hello; the Harold program grew to include 6 teams in June. New teams Diviglio and LIZARD GIRL debuted this summer under the direction of Sam Bonar and Dan Milliken.

Highlights:

• WIT’s classes continue to grow Interest and enrollment in WIT’s classes continue to grow, with every semester surpassing prior years’ enrollment and internal projections. With a 15% increase in enrollment for another year in a row, the most notable highlight was that the winter session grew by 20% and welcomed over 400 students.

• Free Improv for All workshops reach all eight wards WIT took its ongoing free workshop program to all 8 Wards of the District for the first time in a single year. More than 750 individuals attended these workshops (double the attendance from FY15). The fun didn’t stop there. Over 12% of Improv for All workshop participants went on to take Level 1 classes, bringing more students into the WIT community.

• Subsidized classes at Anacostia Arts Center bring improv East of the River For the second year in a row, we brought low-cost improv classes to the Anacostia Arts Center through the support of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities’ East of the River grant. The Commission nearly quadrupled its support for the program in FY16, enabling us to program upper-level classes in addition to Foundations of Improv. In fall FY17, WIT plans to run a Harold class with a cohort of students who have only attended class at Anacostia Arts Center. Showcases for these classes included additional performances by WIT company ensembles, giving Ward 7 and 8 residents an opportunity to catch WIT’s most seasoned performers close to home.

• WIT U helps improvisers hone their craft The number for WIT University workshops for experience improvisers doubled, with average attendance rising to 13 participants per workshop. Our facilitators included WIT faculty like Jack Novak and Kate Symes as well as out-of-town facilitators like Improvised Shakespeare’s Greg Hess and Magnet Theater Artistic Director Megan Grey.

WIT took improv out of the theater and into the wilds of the workplace, reaching over 1,500 participants through 34 WIT@Work workshops and training experiences.

We continued developing a new core WIT@Work training curriculum and workshop design, with a greater focus on learning outcomes and skills development (collaboration, communication, and innovation), while still keeping all the engagement, play, and fun that WIT@Work participants love. After holding the first WIT@Work train-the-trainer workshop, we added amazing new trainers to our talented team.

Standout engagements from FY2016:

• Record number of engagements This was the busiest year on record for WIT@Work and we broke records in both the number of trainings we held and the amount of people we reached!
• Improv can be applied to any industry  We introduced improv’s ideas to the banking world with engagements for Wells Fargo, Capital One, and TD Bank. We also made connections in the science and medical fields through engagements with the Koshland Science Museum, Opower, MedStar Physicians, and the National Institutes of Health. We continued our work leading workshops for executives and professionals in the fields of law, public relations, finance, and international development.
  
• Improv goes to college We led applied improv workshops for graduate programs at Catholic University (Library and Information Science), George Washington University (MBA program), and the University of Maryland (MBA program).
• We’d tell you, but…  We conducted training events for two large national intelligence agencies, which we can’t really discuss.
• Developing our trainers and curriculum We continued developing a new core WIT@Work training curriculum and workshop design, with a greater focus on learning outcomes and skills development (collaboration, communication, and innovation), while still keeping all the engagement, play, and fun that WIT@Work participants love. After holding the first WIT@Work train-the-trainer workshop, we added amazing new trainers to our talented team.
• Clients keep coming back for more Along with a record number of new clients, we also had a record year of repeat engagements, signifying our high level of client satisfaction. Deloitte, Marriott, Goodwill International, The Brookings Institution, Burness Communications, the NextGen Government Summit, University of Maryland MBA Program, and MedStar were all repeat clients.

WIT@Work expanded its work with Marriott, leading three trainings for Marriott executive teams, both at Marriott’s HQ in Bethesda and at a company retreat in New Orleans.

Goodwill International remains WIT’s longest-running corporate client. WIT@Work ran two applied improv workshops for Goodwill as a component of their nation-wide management training. Training for Goodwill focuses on the company’s values on building off each other’s thoughts and ideas, respecting and including diversity, humor and laughing about yourself with others.

WIT@Work partnered with the University of Maryland’s MBA program to lead a training for a cohort of their international MBA students. The training focused on building their communication skills and their confidence in taking risks.

WIT@Work led a training for two large divisions at the NIH, building teamwork and rehearsing collaboration between them.

WIT@Work led a day-long retreat for a team at Capital One, building teamwork across a team that spanned several cities and sharing skills and techniques for product and design innovation. The retreat was capped off with a hilarious performance by a team of veteran WIT improvisers, modeling the skills and techniques covered in the workshop.

TD Bank​ Bankers know how to have fun (and collaborate and innovate) too! And to facilitate that, WIT@Work led a workshop as part of the team’s annual retreat hosted at the Right Proper Brewing Company.

Finances: Managing Growth and Seeking Stability

Stability  Organizational stability has become a hot topic in the nonprofit sector, but WIT has always been conscientious about preparing for the future and avoiding overextending ourselves. In FY2016, with the help of our third consecutive Upstart capacity-building grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, WIT increased the size of our emergency reserves to $103K. Through the Commission’s new Heritage Grant Program, WIT has already secured general operating support for FY2017.

The DC Commission on Arts & Humanities has been a major partner in WIT”s growth. Over the last 11 years WIT has received over $500,000 in essential support through the commission’s competitive grant-making programs. In FY16, WIT received more than $100,000 in funding from the Commission, which helped fuel our work at Anacostia Arts Center, bring improv workshops to local high schools, and stage performances like The October Issue.

Strategic Plan guides WIT’s leadership

FY2016 was the second year of a 3-year strategic plan approved by the board in May 2014, after a process that engaged the entire board and other stakeholders from WIT’s community. A fairly simple framework of objectives continues to guide WIT’s growth and evolution into FY2017.

Contributed revenue fuels growth

The support of people who believe in WIT’s mission has been crucial our organizational growth. Generous support from the DC Commision on the Arts and Humanities helped support projects like our subsidized Anacostia Arts Center classes as well as workshops in local schools. The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation helped us stage a bursting calendar of performances.

Corporate sponsors grew in FY2016. Lou’s City Bar continued as the official after-class destination for WIT classes. The tenth annual FIST was possible thanks to sponsorships from Caliber Home Loans, the Capitol Riverfront BID, KVS Title, Nellie’s Sports Bar, and Robert Crawford + Tyler Jeffrey.

And the WIT community itself stepped up to support WIT in a major way. From Amelia Vogel and Cicie Sattarnilasskorn stepping up as sponsors for The October Issue to our growing community of monthly donors, our community of students, audience members, players, and teachers are giving back to WIT and helping us grow bigger and better every year.

Thank you to all of our donors who make our work possible.

WIT’s FY2017 season is already underway as we complete this report and it promises to be WIT’s biggest season ever!

The extraordinary people at WIT – the audience, students, performers, teachers, volunteers, and donors – are what make the mission possible. They are the ones unleashing the creative power of Washington, DC, and for that we are extremely grateful. Thank you for supporting WIT and for being a part of this incredible community.