ImprovBoston

History of ImprovBoston

In 1982, Ellen Holbrook, a former student of Chicago's famed Second City, put together the first incarnation of ImprovBoston. At first, she trained several loosely knit teams of improvisers to compete in the "Improv Olympics" at Reilly's Beef and Pub in Boston by Government Center. They soon moved performances to Satch's, a nightclub behind Copley Square, owned by former Boston Celtic, Satch Sanders. Eventually the Improv Olympic format was dropped and replaced by the unified group known today as ImprovBoston. In 1984, ImprovBoston began performing at Ryles in Inman Square in Cambridge, and the local press responded with the first of a long string of rave reviews.