Protea Impro

Origins (November 2020)

Rowan Harris assembled the performing group in November 2020 for The Burning Desire Festival, at which point the ensemble was called the Practitioners of the Ephemeral Arts. Harris had previously founded Imprognosis, described as Tasmania's first long-form and narrative improvisation ensemble, and brought that experience into the new company's practice.

Becoming Protea Impro (2023)

The ensemble adopted the name Protea Impro and formally incorporated as an association in 2023. The company's first international trip took place that same year, performing at the Auckland Improv Festival in New Zealand. Ongoing Intro to Impro classes launched in 2024.

Venues and Programs

Protea Impro performs at Salamanca Arts Centre and the Founders Room in Hobart, and co-produces Hobart's Festival of Improvised Theatre at Salamanca. The company's stated mission is to "Grow the Impro" in Tasmania.

Protea Impro is Tasmania's narrative long-form improv company, founded in 2020 and formally incorporated in 2023, producing Hobart's Festival of Improvised Theatre alongside original shows at Salamanca Arts Centre.

Protea Impro presents Theatresports as a monthly season at the Founders Room, Salamanca Arts Centre, which the company describes as the home of Theatresports in Tasmania. The Hobart's Festival of Improvised Theatre, co-produced by Protea Impro, is a multi-week event at Salamanca Arts Centre featuring international and interstate guest artists, double-bill shows, artist workshops, Theatresports competition, and a late-night season of The Lighthouse. Our Place premiered at the Brisbane Improv Festival in November 2022, establishing the company's interstate performance presence. The Long Weekend, a narrative long-form format created by Christine Brooks, follows five friends whose shared getaway is upended by an unexpected event. Artistic director Rowan Harris has also developed original show formats including The Holey Book, Sciprov, The Chair, and MomentUs for the company's ongoing programming.

Protea Impro emerged from a group of performers assembled by Rowan Harris for The Burning Desire Festival in Hobart in November 2020, when the collective performed under the name Practitioners of the Ephemeral Arts. The same name was carried into the first Hobart's Festival of Improvised Theatre in March 2022, an event that confirmed a sustained audience for improvised performance in Tasmania. Harris and Matt Wilson formalised the organisation as an incorporated association in 2023, establishing a committee structure and naming themselves joint artistic directors. The company thus became the first incorporated long-form and narrative improvisation ensemble in Tasmania, operating in a state that had no prior professional improv infrastructure.

Harris had previously founded Imprognosis, Tasmania's first long-form improvisation ensemble, giving Protea Impro a direct lineage to the earliest efforts to develop the form in the state. The company's participation in the Auckland Improv Festival in 2023 and the Brisbane Improv Festival in 2022 extended its network across Australasia. By launching Intro to Impro training classes in 2024, Protea Impro added a training pipeline to its performance and festival work, pursuing an explicit mission to grow Tasmania's improvised theatre scene from within.