Improtheater Bremen

Nicole Erichsen founded Improtheater Bremen in 2007 with three colleagues, engaging Gunter Lösel as artistic director. Both had substantial prior experience: Lösel had performed with INFLAGRANTI (Bremen's first improv ensemble, founded 1999) and Stupid Lovers from 1995, and had represented Germany at the Theatersport World Championship in 2006. Together they developed original formats including Click (2004), Pfadfinder der Liebe (2007), and Loop (2011).

Lösel earned a doctorate in theatre studies and published five books on improvisation theory, including Theater ohne Absicht (2004), Das Archetypenspiel (2008), Der heisse Kern von Impro (2015), and EMO STREAMING (2017). Since 2014 he has directed the Performative Practice research focus at Zurich University of the Arts, making Improtheater Bremen one of the few German improv companies with sustained academic grounding.

In 2021, Erichsen and Lösel launched K.I.S.S. (Kunst durch Improvisation, Spontanitat und Schauspiel), a two-year part-time professional training program for advanced improvisers. The ensemble of ten actors and three musicians performs regularly in Bremen.

Improtheater Bremen performs both short entertainment programs and complex long-form collages in the Chicago improvisation tradition, alongside original productions. The ensemble's self-description, "Aus Freude am Moment" (From joy in the moment), reflects a focus on presence and spontaneity rather than formal competition.

Lösel's academic publications bring a theoretical dimension unusual in German improv practice, grounding ensemble work in documented improvisation theory and research. The K.I.S.S. professional program combines performance training with artistic development across a two-year curriculum.

Improtheater Bremen brought academic rigour to German improv practice through Gunter Lösel's scholarship, connecting stage improvisation to university research. Lösel's five books on improvisation theory, published between 2004 and 2017, contributed substantially to the German-language literature on the form.