Carolina Improv Company

Founding (2008)

Gina Trimarco, who had relocated from Chicago to Myrtle Beach in 2007, launched Carolina Improv Company's first class in November 2008 following a September 2008 organizational founding. Trimarco established the company in various Myrtle Beach area locations before settling in the Myrtle Beach Mall in a space called Uptown Theater, named after a Chicago venue.

Recognition

Carolina Improv Company won the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Business Innovation Award in 2009 and held TripAdvisor's number one nightlife attraction ranking in Myrtle Beach in 2010, establishing it as a prominent destination in the market.

Pandemic Closure and Revival (2020 and 2023)

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Carolina Improv Company to close in March 2020, and the permanent closure of the Myrtle Beach Mall made reopening at that location financially impossible. In May 2023 the company revived through a partnership with Long Bay Theatre at a new location in the downtown Myrtle Beach Arts and Innovation District at 706 8th Avenue North.

Carolina Improv Company presents short-form improv and multi-level training in Myrtle Beach, offering family-friendly programming for a tourist-heavy coastal market.

Gina Trimarco Klauder, a Chicago native trained at the Second City Conservatory and Players Workshop, moved to Myrtle Beach in 2007 and found no improv community in the city. She launched Carolina Improv Company in September 2008, teaching her first class at Legends in Concert in Surfside Beach despite having lost her job before the inaugural session. After moving through the Theater of the Republic in Conway and a photography studio, she funded the build-out of the Uptown Theater at Myrtle Beach Mall entirely from the proceeds of her Chicago condo sale, opening the permanent space in November 2009 as a homage to Chicago's Uptown Theatre. By 2010, audience votes had placed Carolina Improv at the top of TripAdvisor's Nightlife Attractions ranking for Myrtle Beach, a position it held through 2020, and the company received the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Business Innovation Award in 2009.

Trimarco expanded the company's reach in 2016 by founding Pivot10 Results, an improv-based corporate training firm focused on sales, customer service, leadership, and organizational culture, demonstrating how the CIC model could extend beyond performance into professional development. The theater was forced to close in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and by the time South Carolina permitted venues to reopen the financial window had closed. In May 2023 Carolina Improv was revived through a partnership with Long Bay Theatre at a downtown Myrtle Beach location, restoring improv programming to the Grand Strand after a three-year absence.