Flying Pig Improv

Founding (2019)

Jessie Gray, a Wichita native who had spent over 35 years in the San Francisco Bay Area improv scene performing with groups including Awkward Face at Pan Theater (Oakland) and Flash Mob Musical Improv at End Games (San Francisco), founded Flying Pig Improv on April 20, 2019. The name references the improbability of succeeding with the venture. Gray designed the school around an education-first philosophy, emphasizing confidence-building alongside improv craft.

Growth and New Location (2024)

By 2023-2024 Flying Pig had hosted over 300 shows for more than 7,000 audience members and graduated over 600 students from its class programs. In 2024 Gray and creative partner John Penny relocated the school to a new vintage-style building at 2320 E Douglas Ave when the previous lease expired, giving the growing institution an improved permanent home.

Ongoing Operations

Flying Pig Improv continues to operate at 2320 E Douglas Ave in Wichita as Kansas's primary dedicated improv school and performance space.

Flying Pig Improv is an education-first improv school built around an explicit confidence-building philosophy alongside craft development. Gray's decades of Bay Area performance and teaching experience inform a curriculum designed to develop students holistically rather than purely technically. The school serves as both a training center and a performance venue for Wichita's developing improv community.

Flying Pig Improv presents two resident performance troupes in alternating weekend shows: Speakeasy, whose roster includes founder Jessie Gray alongside a larger ensemble of Wichita-based performers, and Clockwork, a second troupe offering a distinct cast and performance identity. Both troupes perform Friday and Saturday nights at the Douglas and Grove venue, combining short-form game-style improv with long-form theatrical scenes. The school's Pink Short Form and Green Short Form training cohorts produce class showcase performances as graduation events throughout the year.

Flying Pig Improv was founded on April 20, 2019 by Jessie Gray, a Wichita native who spent approximately 35 years performing, directing, and teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area improv scene, including work with Awkward Face at Pan Theater in Oakland and Flash Mob Musical Improv in San Francisco. Gray trained with notable instructors including David Razowsky and Jimmy Carrane, and served as Executive Producer for Corporate Events at a Fortune 100 company before returning to her hometown to establish Wichita's dedicated improv school and performance space. The venue relocated from its original Douglas and Hillside location to Douglas and Grove, celebrating the move with a new brand identity.

By 2023 and 2024, Flying Pig had produced more than 300 shows for over 7,000 audience members and trained more than 600 students, representing substantial growth for a mid-sized city that previously lacked a permanent improv institution. Gray's philosophy centers on creating a safe environment where students can take risks and reframe mistakes as learning opportunities, a pedagogical approach she carried from her decades of Bay Area teaching. The school's dual-troupe performance model gives graduates an immediate pathway from classroom to stage within the Flying Pig community.