Magnet Theater

Founding (2005)

Armando Diaz, Ed Herbstman, and Shannon Manning founded Magnet Theater in March 2005 at 254 West 29th Street in Chelsea, New York City. All three founders had trained under Del Close at ImprovOlympic (iO) in Chicago; Herbstman had also been a member of The Second City's National Touring Company. The theatre opened with a full training curriculum in long-form improv and quickly established a programme of nightly shows.

Ongoing Operation

Magnet remains at its founding address and operates one of New York's most active improv performance schedules. The training curriculum covers long-form improv (including the Harold and other forms), sketch writing, musical improv, and storytelling. Magnet's reputation as the city's centre for musical improvisation reflects a specialisation that distinguishes it from UCB and The PIT. The New York Musical Improv Festival, co-produced by Magnet, is an annual event that draws musical improv ensembles from across North America.

Magnet teaches and performs the Harold and other Chicago-derived long-form forms, with a particular institutional emphasis on musical improvisation that has made it the acknowledged New York centre for that specialisation. The training centre operates on the model of progressive levels leading to house team performance, similar to UCB, but with a programme culture that places musical improv and storytelling alongside standard long-form training as first-class offerings rather than supplementary tracks.

The Armando Diaz Experience is a long-form show in which a monologist shares a personal story that inspires a fully improvised set by the ensemble, performed weekly and central to the theater's founding identity. The New York Musical Improv Festival, founded by T.J. Mannix and co-produced by Robin Rothman, is Magnet's flagship annual event, drawing musical improvisers and musicians from Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Vancouver. Free First Fridays provides community access to shows at no charge. Livewire Sketch Teams present competitive sketch performance, Circuit Teams offer student performance opportunities, and the Magnet Genius Machine delivers applied improv workshops to corporate clients including Google, LinkedIn, and Unilever. The Magnet Touring Company performs and teaches at international improv festivals across North America.

Armando Diaz, Ed Herbstman, and Shannon Manning opened Magnet Theater in March 2005 after training together in Chicago under Del Close at Improv Olympic, bringing the long-form tradition they had developed there to New York at a moment when the city's improv scene was expanding beyond its established venues. The theater positioned itself as a training center and performance space running every night of the week, with instruction in improv, musical improv, sketch, and storytelling. Its sustained emphasis on musical improvisation became a defining characteristic, and the New York Musical Improv Festival established Magnet as an international gathering point for musical improvisers.

Performers and faculty with Magnet connections have credits including Broad City, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, This American Life, The Onion, and Reductress. Natasha Rothwell, later Emmy-nominated for The White Lotus and a writer and performer on Insecure, is among the theater's notable alumni. The touring company has performed and taught at international festivals across North America, and the Magnet Genius Machine corporate training division has brought improv methodology to major technology and media companies. The Big Sib mentorship program and diversity scholarship initiatives have shaped the institutional culture of the broader New York improv community.