TICKETS HERE

Returning with guests Rafe Chase, Regina Saisi and Bill Stahl for another Double Feature. We had a delightful sold-out performance at the Main Stage Theater in Sebastopol in July and are excited to do it again.

Four actors, two titles from the audience, two completely improvised full-length "movies" unfolding simultaneously, live on stage.

This improv format was developed many years ago by Rafe Chase of BATS Improv and 3 For All. In it, with titles provided by the audience, four actors create two full-length stories simultaneously, jumping back and forth between them to build tension and excitement. With some of the Bay Area's best improvers guesting with ZipLine Improv, it will no doubt be a show to remember.

GUEST PLAYERS

Rafe Chase has been one of the Bay Area’s improv gems for decades. In his exploration of improv, he has been a pioneer of genre-driven longform and has created several formats which have been performed at BATS Improv. He was also a member of the critically acclaimed three-man group 3 FOR ALL. SF Weekly called Rafe one of “the most celebrated figures on the San Francisco improv scene.” Rafe is a longtime Company member of BATS.

Regina Saisi is another longtime improv maven who helped pioneer longform improv, taking improvised theatre from simple scenes into full-length, multi-act narratives. She continues to break new ground with the stellar group Improv Playhouse of San Francisco and BATS Improv. Regina has taught at Studio ACT, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and TAM High School, where she also directs improvised performances.

Bill Stahl is a favorite improv character actor on the scene. Trained at BATS and honed with a number of different troupes, he is currently with Wondertown Improv in the East Bay. Bill has also innovated a number of improv formats such as Crimes of the City, a gritty urban series.

TICKETS HERE

Part theater, part comedy, all improv.

On the heels of the well-received first swing at this show in August, we invite you to join us for an evening of laughter, unexpected moments and quirky relationships.

“A Fourth Wheel” plays with the dynamics between three long-time friends and one new partner being introduced into the fold. That’s all we know! How will the evening unfold? Easily? Awkwardly?

And there's more! We'll then throw in the additional element of our improvisers scrambling to conform to sudden changes in music or lighting to create completely unrelated short scenes — and then switch back again to the main action. Yeah, we'll try and keep up.

This is fundraiser for the Arlene Francis Center -- help us keep this gem of a spot thriving! The Arlene Francis Center is a "non-profit, community-centered cultural hub with a vision of a better world." With that in mind we have a tiered pricing option for this show. Choose the one that suits your means!

TICKETS HERE

This one is called A Fourth Wheel and it will play with the dynamics between three old friends and one new partner being introduced into the fold. We don’t know who these characters will be nor how it will go! Additionally, the players musts conform to sudden changes in music or lighting (or each other!) to create unrelated short scenes and then switch back again to the main action. It will keep us on our toes for sure. This is an adaptation of a format developed by cohorts many years ago and I’m excited to bring it to Occidental!

TICKETS HERE

TICKETS HERE

Four actors, two titles from the audience, two completely improvised full-length "movies" unfolding simultaneously, live on stage.

The last time we performed Rafe Chase’s exciting Double Feature format was in 2019 at Spreckels Condiotti Theater to a full house. Looking forward to doing it again, only this time with a first foray into the downtown Sebastopol theater (that was the much-loved and much-missed Main Stage West). Looking forward to this!

The cast: Rafe Chase, Regina Saisi, Bill Stahl and Laura Wachtel.

We recommend tickets in advance for this show.

TICKETS HERE

TICKETS HERE

This is not a ZipLine Show per se but a creative collaboration with some other local performers.

Picture, if you well, Paris, mid-century…

Your hosts: Mimi (c’est moi) and Jean Daniel (mon drôle d'ami Daniel Macken).

A tres, tres faux-French cast featuring Improv songs, scenes, and surprises.

Aussi! The scent of pastis et croissant in the air (that part is up to you and your imagination).

TICKETS HERE

The Arlene Francis Center has been a wonderful host to ZipLine Improv over the past year and it’s time for another fundraiser. Last year you helped us get stage curtains and new chairs, and this time you get to set your tushies down on those fine new chairs. Now we’re looking to upgrade the classroom a bit with window shades (my students know how that sun comes blindingly in at a certain time of day!) and perhaps a new paint job.

So! Swipe Right (concept created by the Un-Scripted Theater Company®, 2014) is a show in which we explore, yes…online dating. Whether you’ve experienced it, refuse to try it, or never had to, there’s something for everyone to relate to when it comes to the eternal madhouse that is characters searching for love and connection.

The last show sold out — shall we do it again?

Tickets $20/Advance (no fees!) or $25/Door (it’s a fundraiser!)

TICKETS HERE

Welcome to Heist! -- a fully improvised high-stakes crime show about a plot to steal something of great value, in which a crew will be assembled, plans made, and mighty risks undertaken. Complications will arise. Relationships may be tested. And who are these people anyway? Who does this when it’s so much easier to just get a job?

After developing this format for BATS Improv and doing several shows there in September, I’m excited to bring this to Occidental Center for the Arts. With special guests: Rafe Chase, Dave Dennison, Stephanie Dennison (all of BATS) and Bill Stahl (5 Deadly Improvisers, Wondertown). With improvised music by the marvel that is Win Meyerson and a musical guest — because music in a heist is a character unto itself.

TICKETS HERE

It's the second (and last) ZipLine Improv show of the summer, and it's at "home" at Occidental Center for the Arts. Looking forward to making stuff up with my cast with your suggestions: expect short-scene shenanigans and a longform so get your genres and titles lined up--or come up with them on the spot like we do!

TICKETS $20

We’re celebrating nearly seven years of ZipLine Improv with a return of (most of) the very first cast: Regina Saisi, Bill Stahl and Toni Mazzuca will be back, bringing with them some crazy talent, skill and laughter.

The theme is “Summer…and Stuff” so bring your summer-y suggestions for our scenes and shenanigans — as well as our second half longform genre story. What genre? We don’t know, you tell us!

This is also our second Fundraiser for the Arlene Francis Center, adding to our new chair fund which started with May’s successful show. Hooray, we’re aiming for padded chairs, folks!

TICKETS HERE $20/Advance (no fees) or $25/Door

Adults dating. Online. Lord help us.

Happy to be performing for the first time @ Arlene Francis Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. And it’s a fundraiser for this neat nonprofit venue—we need better chairs for audiences! and stage drapery! and curtains! etc.! Come laugh, donate, and have a beer.

ZipLine will be performing a super fun improv format called Swipe Right (concept created by the Un-Scripted Theater Company®, 2014) in which we explore, yes…online dating. Whether you’ve experienced it, refuse to try it, or never had to, there’s something for everyone to relate to when it comes to the eternal madhouse that is characters searching for love and connection.

Tickets $20/Advance (no fees!) or $25/Door

TICKETS HERE

We love Occidental Center for the Arts and are delighted that they have invited us to perform quarterly! This is the second show of the year and we’ve finally gotten a foursome together that has been an intention for years: Andy Sarouhan will be joining ZipLine regulars Jerry Ruoti, Susie Sargent (and yours truly, Laura Wachtel). Andy performed for years with Jerry and Susie at Un-Scripted Theater Co. in San Francisco, and now lives in Sacramento where he performs regularly at Stab Comedy Theater.

Join us for whatever charming? engaging? absurd? insightful? and in any case never-before-seen storytelling hijinks occur this time.

Tickets available in advance HERE or at the door.

ZipLine returns for another rollicking good time at Occidental Center for the Arts. Guests will be Steven Anacker, Paul Holman-Kursky, Jerry Ruoti and Susie Sargent, all of whom were company members of Un-Scripted Theater Company together in the before times.

TICKETS