Panama is preparing to live a month dedicated to theatrical improvisation. From October 1 to 30, the Guild Theater in Ancón will host ImprovFest 2026, Panama’s first Theater Improvisation Festival, which will feature 14 performances in Spanish and English, workshops, live music, guest artists and the first ImprovMatch.
For Ezequiel Coniglio, one of the promoters of the initiative, the festival represents an opportunity to bring together in the same space the different expressions of this discipline that have been developed in the country. “The idea is to consolidate this entire movement,” he explained when referring to the growth that theatrical improvisation has experienced in Panama.
The programming will bring together three proposals with different styles: Elefante de Venus, ImproDrags and ImprovTGA, the resident troupe of the Teatro Guild de Ancón. Each one will bring their own way of understanding improvisation to the stage, but they will all share a fundamental element: the absence of a script and the participation of the audience.
The first week, from October 1 to 3, will be dedicated to the opening of the festival and the performances of ImprovTGA, a group that was born at the Guild in 2008 and has performed shows in both English and Spanish.
Later, from October 8 to 10, it will be the turn of Elefante de Venus, a Panamanian company with more than nine years of experience. Among its proposals will be ‘Crímenes Perfectos’, a show built from phrases suggested by viewers.
The dynamic allows a seemingly absurd idea to end up becoming a story on stage. As Ezequiel explained during the interview, someone from the audience could propose: “I killed him because he didn’t come to Impro Fest.” From that phrase, the actors must create comic characters and situations related to the crime.
The third week will incorporate proposals in English and special activities, while from October 22 to 24 ImproDrags will arrive, a combination of dragcharacters, games and improvisation starring Mr. Alpha, Karla Gretta, Lolita Lasenza and Zion. In this show, the audience’s ideas will also be a fundamental part of the creation of the scenes.
The festival will also have an international presence with Nicolás Devincente, Argentine actor, improviser and theater teacher, who will participate in the last week and offer improvisation workshops in Spanish for beginners and advanced.
One of the central moments will come during the last week, from October 28 to 30. In addition to a special Halloween performance, the ImprovMatch Grand Final will be held, in which the three participating groups will compete in different improvisation dynamics to define the first champion team of the festival.
But if there is one element that defines the ImprovFest, it is precisely the audience. “One hundred percent. Improvisation has a fundamental part, a fundamental leg, which is the participation of the public,” said one of the organizers of the ImprovFest.
Spectators will be able to contribute words, situations, actions or ideas that the actors will use to build the scenes. For Coniglio, that interaction is one of the reasons why improvisation generates a particular experience: “Maybe something they imagined ends up appearing on stage in a totally different way and that causes a lot of laughter.”
That participation also ensures that each function is different. “All improvisation shows are different. There is no show that is the same as another because, as the public proposes and the improvisers do not have scripts, everything changes constantly,” he highlighted.
The festival also has a dimension linked to the preservation of the Guild Theater itself. All proceeds will be used for the maintenance, repair and improvement of the space, founded in 1950 and considered one of the community theaters with the longest history in Panama.
For Coniglio, bringing the festival to the Guild also means recovering the historical link between this stage and improvisation. “Bringing this festival is a way to rekindle that flame of improvisation, to reposition the Ancón Guild Theater as the center of Panamanian improvisation.”
With shows in two languages, workshops, proposals of different styles and an audience that not only observes, but also participates in the creation, ImprovFest 2026 seeks to turn October into a month dedicated to discovering what can happen when actors go on stage without knowing exactly what story they are going to tell.
