BATS Improv

Founding (1986)

On 10 November 1986, a sold-out Theatresports performance at the Zephyr Theater in San Francisco drew audience members who joined the original performers to form Bay Area Theatresports. Co-founders William Hall, Rebecca Stockley, and Dan O'Connor (who also co-founded Impro Theatre in Los Angeles in 1988) built the company in the Theatresports tradition established by Keith Johnstone. The founding connected the San Francisco improvisational tradition descending from The Committee and its successor companies to the competitive, game-based Theatresports methodology.

School and Bayfront Theatre (1992–1997)

In 1992, Rebecca Stockley became Dean of the BATS School of Improv, which she led until 2003. In 1997, BATS Improv established a permanent residency at the Bayfront Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, a 200-seat venue on the San Francisco waterfront.

Ongoing Operation

BATS Improv remains the largest improv theatre and school in Northern California, presenting year-round shows and training programmes. The BATS programming model distinguishes itself with single-story two-hour shows with an intermission, a format that treats improvisation as a full theatrical experience rather than a series of short scenes.

BATS Improv operates in the Theatresports tradition of Keith Johnstone: competitive, game-based improv in which teams perform before a live audience. Over time the company developed its own San Francisco long-form identity, particularly the signature two-hour single-story show format that positions improvised work as theatrical event rather than short-form comedy entertainment. The training school, led for over a decade by Rebecca Stockley, emphasised the Johnstone methodology alongside the long-form approaches developed by the company.

BATS Improv licenses and performs the Keith Johnstone formats Theatresports, Gorilla Theatre, Micetro, and The Life Game, which formed the company's core public programming from its founding. Beginning in 1988 and 1989, BATS began developing a signature long-form format in parallel with fellow San Francisco company Impro Theatre: a single-story two-hour show with intermission, treating improvisation as a full theatrical event. From 2011, BATS standardised its weekly schedule into Theatresports and other short-form shows on Fridays and genre-driven long-form shows on Saturdays.

The Laughing Stock programme, which offers improv workshops for people living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses including HIV, AIDS, and cancer, established BATS as a leader in applied therapeutic improvisation. A Young Audiences programme brings improv training into schools, extending the company's educational reach beyond its Fort Mason home.

BATS Improv is the largest improvisational theatre company and school in Northern California and has earned 18 or more Best Improv Company awards from the SF Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay poll, first receiving the designation in 1998. The company's reputation as a training institution has drawn students from across the United States and internationally, and the BATS School of Improv is regarded as one of the premier improv training programmes in the world.

The co-founding of BATS and its subsequent development of single-story long-form improvisation placed San Francisco alongside Chicago as a centre for theatrical long-form work distinct from short-form sketch comedy formats. Co-founder Dan O'Connor extended that lineage when he co-founded Impro Theatre in Los Angeles in 1988, creating a direct training and artistic connection between the Bay Area and Southern California long-form traditions.

The Laughing Stock programme, which adapts improvisational tools for participants with chronic illnesses, has been cited as a model for applied improv in healthcare contexts.