New Zealand Improv Festival 2025
September 26 - October 4
The New Zealand Improv Festival is back for 2025 with nine days of improvisational talent from across the motu and around the world. From delightful duos, to donkeys, to drama, suspense and Christmas in October, there's something for everyone in our massive performance programme.
Check out the full programme below:
NZIF OPENING GALA
26 September, 8:30PM
Kick off the Festival in style! Featuring a smorgasbord of local, national, and international improv talent.
Echoes of the past
26 September, 7PM
Join us to witness how past events echo through places and generations, from simple heirlooms to people and their actions.
Kōrero Paki
27 September, 8.30PM
Crack open a cold one and get set for a night of mean kōrero, cheeky banter and wild improv set in a garage party.
Split Bill: Sohn Zone & D.E.I.'s
30 September, 6.30PM
A married couple takes flight | the diversity quota fights back.
Split Bill: Friends to the End & Living is Like
30 September, 9PM
A life and death combination: one show about death, one show about life.
Oops! All Donkeys
2 October, 6:30PM
Find your inner donkey, and other donkeys as well, and let them heal.
It's Alive!
1 October, 7:45PM
A fully improvised show for kids with live puppetry and real science experiments!
Christmas in October
3 October, 7PM
Join a hand-picked selection of guests from across the Festival as we unwrap a series of delightful surprises.
Let's Get Visual! (An NZSL Interpreted Improvised show)
4 October, 6:30PM
Experience the joy of improvised theatre as we create an interactive and visual performance with this NZSL-interpreted show celebrating inclusivity.
Scene Painting
4 October, 8:30PM
For the final show of the Festival, we're painting the town red. And orange. And yellow, green, blue, pink and purple.
ABOUT NZIF
What is NZIF?
The New Zealand Improv Festival (NZIF) is an annual celebration of spontaneity in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). Founded in 2008 by Merrilee McCoy and Derek Flores under Wellington Improv Troupe, the festival has become a staple of the national and international improv communities.
Improv practitioners from around Aotearoa, Australia and the world gather to share ideas, develop skills, expand horizons, and make rad new friends, with a series of shows, workshops, conference sessions and social events.