Impro is community - An interview with our artistic director Erica Maity

Organizing a giant festival like IMPRO Amsterdam is a wild endeavor. It takes a legion of improv nerds working weird hours all year to bring eight days of shows and workshops (and friendship) to life. But it’s not all grit, time, and naps in odd places all around our venue. 

A festival as big as IMPRO Amsterdam needs a strong artistic vision. So all the awesome and fun, but disparate, elements come together to prove something fundamental and sublime about the art form we love. 

The person behind that vision is Artistic Director (AD) Erica Maity. Erica was elected as the festival’s AD last year - under our organizations guidelines, ADs have three year tenures before handing the reigns to new folks - and if 2025’s edition was any indication, she’s just getting started. 

Situated in the growing comedy and theater scene in Eindhoven, Erica has been improvising for over a decade. She’s a powerhouse character actor, a swift and exacting comedy player, and a big proponent of uniting silliness and heart in impro. As our current AD (and in her life as an artist), Erica works to bring improvised comedy and theatre to wider audiences. To expand what’s possible on stage and in our communities. And to infuse even more fun into our beloved craft. Fun fact: she’s also a professional voice actor.

All this is to say that she’s basically the impro equivalent of a rockstar. So, we thought we’d chat with her about how she got here, how she sees improvised comedy and theatre, what her goals are for IMPRO Amsterdam moving forward, and what she finds fun. Enjoy this slightly edited interview with our fearless AD!

Pictured here: IMPRO Amsterdam’s Artistic Director Erica Maity telling everyone what’s what.

IA: How’d you get into improv in the first place?

I got into improv through a very strange sliding doors moment. My partner and I like to get experiences or classes for each other as gifts, and for my birthday one year he bought me a six week butchery course at the local community college. Unfortunately (or maybe not), the course was cancelled, so I had money for a different workshop just sitting in my pocket. 

I’d been driving past Curious Comedy Theater in Portland, Oregon for awhile. I’d loved scripted theater as a kid, but didn’t have the time or energy for it. I remembered that in one theater camp I was in, the instructor had led improv games and I’d loved it. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll sign up. By the time I left the first session, I was in love. It stuck. That was over ten years ago, and I’ve been addicted every since. 

IA: How’d you get the role of artistic director at IMPRO Amsterdam?

Honestly, it was a leap of faith! I’d been going to festivals for years and I had experience organizing and producing shows in the US and The Netherlands but never anything on the scale of IMPRO Amsterdam. 

I’ve always wanted to be more active in the festival circuit myself, and I thought organizing might be a way in. I had a lot of imposter syndrome, but my friends and family were adamant that I should put myself out there and give it a try. The worst that can happen is they say no, right? Well, they said yes. It’s been a ton of work and a lot of learning, but being the Artistic Director of IMPRO Amsterdam has genuinely been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. 

IA: How do you perceive improv in The Netherlands and abroad? How would you like it to be perceived?

I came up in the US, where most improv (although not all) is seen as being a subgenre of comedy, not theater. While we definitely did character work, emotionality, etc., we also focused really strong on the idea of game and classic improv formats like the Harold.

When I came to Europe, it was my first real exposure to improv as theater. That it can be dramatic, emotional, and as well-acted as a scripted play. I love both styles of improv (and everything in between) and I think it’s served me really well to have experience in both. I love that I’m just as comfortable at this point doing fast-paced short-form as I am doing something long and narrative or abstract and dreamlike. After all, your skills from one will always help you in the others. 

That said, it’s been a little bit of an uphill battle proving that I’m not just an American-style improviser. Americans do often come into international spaces assuming that everyone does things they way, so I get people’s reticence, but I hope my work with IMPRO Amsterdam and my own performances can show that we’re not all like that, and all of us can thrive when we learn from each other. 

This is our Artistic Director. Get ready.

IA: What are your goals for IMPRO Amsterdam? 

That is a big question! First, it was such a luxury becoming the AD of a festival with such a reputation for quality. I want to maintain that quality—of shows, workshops, and the organization—and keep finessing that to make it even better. For the improvisers who attend, it’s also important to me to put up the most diverse selections of shows and workshops that we can. I know how many times I’ve been inspired by seeing something totally new to me at a festival, and I want to give our improvisers the same experience. 

That said, the biggest goal I have is the one that so many improv organizers and producers are struggling with everywhere: growing a general audience. We have some real legs up: we have a budget, a legacy, and the ability to program genuinely great shows. Now that I’ve gotten through my first year and I know how everything works, my team and I are putting lots of energy into cracking this particular nut. If we can get more people in improv through our festival, those are people who will go to other shows in Amsterdam and beyond throughout the year and create more opportunities for improvisers. A rising tide lifts all ships!

IA: What is your favorite stuff to do as an improviser?

I think my answer will be the same as a lot of other improvisers. It’s those moments where you and your troupe are so connected, so on the same frequency, that you almost feel like a single organism creating something out of nothing. It’s the closest thing to magic that I’ve ever experienced. 

At a more individual level, I think my favorite thing is discovering, developing, and really sinking into a character to the point that I know instinctually how to move, think, and react. I’m also a voice actor, so while I usually start with posture and tension, once I find the voice I know I’ve got it. 

IA: Where can we see you outside of IMPRO Amsterdam?

Well, I don’t perform as often as I’d like these days, but I do play shows periodically with my duo partner, Bodei Brouwer, and with the group As Seen On TV. I take festival and local teaching gigs as often as I can, too. I love teaching. I’ll also be in the Boom Chicago Comedy Festival with The Collage, directed by Jonathan Pitt. I’ve got a few other things percolating, so stay tuned!

IA: Finish this sentence: “Impro is…” 

Impro is community. I’ve moved around a lot as an adult, and impro has been a cheat code for finding community in every place I’ve been. Practicing improv means being curious, listening, and looking for connection, and as a result every improv community I’ve found myself in has been full of exactly the sort of people I love to spend time with. 

I think that’s why I care so much about organizing and producing. I want to help build and strengthen the same sorts of communities that have been so personally life-changing for others. 

Erica committing one thousand percent to improvised mayhem.