Sea Tea Improv Hosts Hartford’s First Improvisational Theater Studio Grand Opening Today, 11/9

Sea Tea Improv has just opened the doors of Hartford's first-ever studio for improvisational comedy. The professional theatrical comedy company was founded in Hartford in 2009 and immediately became a hub of the burgeoning comedy community in Connecticut. With the addition of a studio, Sea Tea will be able to expand its educational offerings for teens, adults, and professionals, and plans to rent the space out to other excellent improv performers and companies in need of rehearsal and workshop space.

The Studio is located at 75 Pratt Street, Suite 500, making Sea Tea Improv a new cornerstone of activity in downtown Hartford. "We hope to drive theater and comedy enthusiasts to park, dine, and wander around downtown," says founding member Greg Ludovici. "We've always been first and foremost a Hartford company, and we're happy to finally have a brick-and-mortar home."

To celebrate this milestone, Sea Tea Improv will host a Grand Opening today, November 9th, 2012. The party will run from 7 pm – 11 pm. Space is limited so please email comedy@seateaimprov.com to RSVP.

The first classes held in the Studio will be "The Character" and "The Second Beat"-courses for those new to improv, and those who are more experienced, respectively. All Character class meetings are from 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM on Wednesday nights, from Oct 10th through December 12th. The Second Beat class meetings are on Sunday afternoons from 3PM to 6PM, from October 7th - December 2nd. Each course is $199 and limited to 16 students. For registration and further information, visit www.seateaimprov.com/education.

Sea Tea Improv began as a troupe of seven members who met in 2008 and has grown steadily to a troupe of fifteen players. The group has performed hundreds of shows and taught dozens of classes and workshops, working with such illustrious institutions as the Butler McCook House, The Mark Twain House, ESPN, The Funny Bone, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Connecticut Forum, and the Science Center's Liquid Lounge, and the Hartford Stage. Sea Tea Improv has developed workshops for Toastmasters International, Accenture, Travelers Insurance, the Litchfield County Women's Network, and many others. The troupe has grown from a locally revered company to a nationally recognized theatrical entity.

Sea Tea has been an official selection of the Providence Improv Festival for three years running, and has performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade's Del Close Marathon in New York City, the Baltimore Improv Festival, the Boston Comedy Arts Fest, and the Portland Improv Festival.

They have been featured countless times on WNPR's Colin McEnroe Show, as well as on ESPN, Better Connecticut, Mass Appeal, Connecticut Style, and in the Hartford Advocate and in The Hartford Courant. Sea Tea Improv has been recognized by reSEt as one of Hartford's best businesses, and was recently named by iQuilt as a "Cultural Asset."