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.