Sea Tea Improv

Founding (2009)

Six co-founders launched Sea Tea Improv on April 1, 2009, in Hartford. Initially self-taught improvisers who later commuted to New York City for training, the founders gradually brought UCB teachers to Hartford as the company developed its pedagogy. The company's name phonetically encodes its home state.

Sea Tea Improv Studios (2012)

In 2012 Sea Tea opened Sea Tea Improv Studios at 75 Pratt Street with four rehearsal and class rooms, adding dedicated training space. The studios expanded in 2015 and the organization launched the Hartford Improv Festival in 2014.

Comedy Theater (2016)

In 2016 Sea Tea opened a dedicated comedy theater at 15 Asylum Street in the historic Corning Building at Asylum and Main in downtown Hartford, moving the studios to 11 Asylum Street Suite 402. The full complex established Sea Tea as Connecticut's largest professional comedy organization, with six or more original comedy shows per week.

Sea Tea Improv combines improv and sketch programming with stand-up and variety under one roof in downtown Hartford, operating both a dedicated comedy theater and multi-room studio facilities. The Hartford Improv Festival extends Sea Tea's community role beyond its weekly programming.

Sea Tea Improv stages the Hartford Improv Festival annually, a multi-day event drawing dozens of teams from New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and other regional cities alongside local Hartford ensembles including Basement Ghost, Dream Logic, Campfire Dragons, and Hall of Presidents. The Sea Tea Improv Family Show is an all-ages production running on a regular schedule. "An Improvised Christmas Carol" is a recurring seasonal production that deconstructs the Dickens classic through live improvisation and has received coverage in the Hartford Courant. The organization also presents a full weekly schedule of original ensemble shows at its 15 Asylum Street theater, with six or more distinct productions per week across house teams at various training levels.

Sea Tea Improv was co-founded on April 1, 2009, by Summar Elguindy, Joe Leonardo, Greg Ludovici, Julia Pistell, Dan Russell, and Kate Sidley -- six practitioners whose phonetic wordplay on "Connecticut" gave the company its name. The group began as a nomadic performing ensemble before opening a studio at 75 Pratt Street in 2012 and then a dedicated comedy theater at 15 Asylum Street in 2016. Vulture credited Sea Tea with building "a comedy scene from scratch" in its 2015 profile, and the Hartford Courant recognized the organization for bringing audiences back to downtown Hartford. The organization has hosted the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company and Kevin McDonald of The Kids in the Hall, and its instructors and performers have trained at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, The Second City, and ImprovBoston.

Sea Tea has grown into Connecticut's largest professional comedy company, presenting hundreds of shows and classes to thousands of audience members and students since its founding. Its multi-level class program spans introductory scene work through advanced performance-level courses and sketch writing, creating a development pipeline for regional comedic talent. Paste Magazine noted the theater's ability to pack audiences into its intimate 80-seat house, and the annual Hartford Improv Festival has become a regional gathering point that brings national visibility to the Hartford comedy community.