Scared Scriptless

Founding (2000)

Jason Martin, Tom Atkins, and Joan Cullins founded Scared Scriptless in 2000 at the Side Street Espresso coffee shop in Anchorage, creating Alaska's first professional short-form improv troupe. The company built a consistent show schedule from its coffee shop origins.

Ongoing Run

Scared Scriptless has performed approximately three times per month since its founding, accumulating more than twenty-five years of continuous operation. The company relocated its shows to the 49th State Brewing Company, performing rapid-fire short-form improv comedy for Anchorage audiences.

Scared Scriptless presents short-form improv comedy as Alaska's longest-running professional improv troupe, serving Anchorage audiences with audience-participation rapid-fire games approximately three times monthly.

Scared Scriptless presents regular improv comedy shows approximately three times per month, staging performances at 49th State Brewing Company in Anchorage as their primary ongoing production. Alumni Reunion Improv Shows bring back past troupe members for special one-night events celebrating the ensemble's history in Alaska. The organization has also produced Special Events featuring guest artists, including workshops and performances with notable figures from the broader improv world such as Kevin McDonald of The Kids in the Hall. Workshops including "From Improv to Sketch" and "One Line Premise" function as ticketed public education events alongside the performance series.

Scared Scriptless holds the distinction of being Alaska's first sustained professional improv comedy group. Jason Martin, Tom Atkins, and Joan Cullins founded the troupe in 2000 in a coffee shop setting, launching their first performances at Side Street Espresso in Anchorage. Over the following years the group built a performance history spanning venues including Cyrano's Theater, Alaska Wildberry Company, Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Hard Rock Cafe, and the Snow Goose, which later became 49th State Brewing Company, their current home. In 2018, the nonprofit Last Frontier of Comedy (LFC) was established as the formal organizational structure to operate the troupe and pursue its educational and charitable mission.

After more than two decades of performances, Scared Scriptless has produced over 500 shows with more than 60 troupe members, creating a legacy of community comedy infrastructure in a state that had no comparable organization before it. LFC's mission explicitly couples performance with community-building, channeling proceeds toward local charities and positioning improv as a public good rather than purely commercial entertainment. The troupe has performed beyond Anchorage in other Alaskan communities, extending access to live improv comedy across a state where touring productions rarely travel.