ImprovBoston's 9th Annual Boston Comedy Arts Festival to Showcase Diverse Voices

ImprovBoston unites more than 90 celebrated improv, sketch, and standup comedy acts from around the world for the 9th annual Boston Comedy Arts Festival (BCAF).

From September 6-10, acclaimed acts from Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Germany, and more showcase diverse comedy talents for Boston audiences. This year, ImprovBoston brings in festival headliners who represent diverse voices.

In addition to a marathon of comedy performances across multiple stages, the festival includes workshops with festival headliners, a talk show with influential comedians from across the nation, industry panel discussions, and a host of ImprovBoston-sponsored events. The festival celebrates comedy both mainstream and alternative including musical improvisation, storytelling historical improv, hip-hop comedy, and family-friendly shows.

"Every year, BCAF brings home some of the best, edgiest, and most captivating comedy from around the world. To ring in ImprovBoston's 35th year as a nonprofit arts organization, we're curating headliners and acts that get meaningful conversations started," says Mike Descoteaux, ImprovBoston's Artistic Director. "At a time when we feel politically polarized and our human connections are strained, laughter can bring us together."

Festival headliners include:

Aparna Nancherla (Late Night with Seth Meyers, Inside Amy Schumer, Love (Netflix))

DeAnne Smith (Last Comic Standing, The Late Late Show)

The Defiant Thomas Brothers (winners of best sketch group at HBO's prestigious U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, The Second City)

The Magnet Theater (NYC improv mainstay).

The collection of acts at BCAF this year proudly represents the increasingly diverse and powerful international comedy family:

Aparna Nancherla is fast becoming a household name not just for comedy but for stoking dialog about the non-white, non-male American experience.

DeAnne Smith is an award-winning Canadian-American comedian, writer, and columnist who gives a bitingly funny voice to an LGBTQ perspective.

The Defiant Thomas Brothers are a comedy duo known for their fearless approach to material about race, stereotypes, and human nature.

"Boston has always been an influential comedy town, and we are thrilled for this festival to showcase the best of the best, both from our home turf and across the nation. If you like comedy, there will be something for you at BCAF ," says Tom Spataro, ImprovBoston Managing Director and BCAF Executive Producer.

Tickets for the 9th Annual Boston Comedy Arts Festival are available now online at BostonComedyArtsFestival.com. Visit the site for a complete list of show and workshop schedules.

For over 30 years, ImprovBoston has been New England's leading theater and school dedicated to the art of comedy in all its forms. Voted "Best of Boston" by The Phoenix, The Improper Bostonian, and The Weekly Dig, ImprovBoston performers, teachers and students have included film stars, Emmy Award-winning comedians, and acclaimed producers, directors, musicians and writers. ImprovBoston alumni are featured on Conan, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, America's Got Talent, Funniest Wins, Playboy, Last Comic Standing and John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, to name a few. In 2014, the Independent Reviewers of New England honored ImprovBoston with an award recognizing its longstanding contributions to the Boston theater community. As a nonprofit arts organization, ImprovBoston serves the community through laughter with youth outreach programs, workshops for businesses, scholarships, a national touring company and, of course, performances at its theater complex in Central Square, Cambridge.

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