Venue

Seoul City Improv

Founded2007
LocationSeoul, South Korea

Seoul City Improv is Korea's oldest English-language improv comedy troupe, founded in July 2007 by actress Margaret Whittum in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood. Beginning as a short-form ensemble for performers affiliated with Seoul Players, SCI has grown into a full-program organization offering regular shows, eight-week introductory courses, and long-form and musical improv formats. The group performs weekly at Funtastic Theater near Samgakji Station.

History

Margaret Whittum founded Seoul City Improv in July 2007 to create performance opportunities for actors connected to Seoul Players, which at the time offered only two shows per year. The group's first performances were short-form games in the style of Whose Line Is It Anyway, staged at the Big Electric Cat in Itaewon. SCI made its first international appearance in April 2010 with a collaborative show in Taichung, Taiwan, and performed at the Tokyo Improv Festival the same year. The group later collaborated with Korea Improv Theater to stage South Korea's first English-language Theatresports performance. In 2016 SCI was named one of the best expat performing groups in Seoul by 10 Magazine, and in 2017 it performed at the Shanghai Improv Festival and appeared at the Busan International Comedy Festival. Introductory eight-week improv courses were added to the curriculum in mid-2018.

Artistic Identity

Seoul City Improv performs in English and draws on both short-form game traditions and long-form formats including musical improv. Its identity is shaped by its founding context within an expatriate community, and it has operated as both a performance ensemble and an accessible entry point into improv for international residents and Korean performers interested in the English-language tradition. The group's international festival record reflects an outward-looking ethos that connects Seoul's improv scene to the broader global community.

How to Reference This Page

APA

The Improv Archive. (2026). Seoul City Improv. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/companies/seoul-city-improv

Chicago

The Improv Archive. "Seoul City Improv." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/companies/seoul-city-improv.

MLA

The Improv Archive. "Seoul City Improv." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/companies/seoul-city-improv. Accessed March 17, 2026.

The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.