{"id":357769,"date":"2026-07-30T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357769\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:03:10","slug":"the-10th-annual-countdown-improv-festival-is-happening-in-ybor-city-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357769\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10th annual Countdown Improv Festival is happening in Ybor City right now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"528\" data-attachment-id=\"365474\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/headshot2-sarah-schultz-cropped\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/headshot2-Sarah-Schultz-cropped-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1733&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1733\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"headshot2-Sarah-Schultz-cropped\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Sarah Schultz&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/headshot2-Sarah-Schultz-cropped-scaled.png?fit=780%2C528&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/headshot2-Sarah-Schultz-cropped.png\" alt=\"A headshot photograph of improv comedian Sarah Schultz smiling warmly at the camera. Positioned center frame in a medium close-up shot, Schultz features brown shoulder-length hair styled with a side part. They wear a deep purple v-neck top layered under a textured dark grey open knit cardigan sweater, set against a softly blurred, dark neutral background.\" class=\"wp-image-365474\"  \/>Sarah Schultz Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/countdownimprovfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/headshot2-Sarah-Schultz.jpeg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Countdown Improv Festival<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Improv is having its moment in the Bay area, thanks, in no small part, to the <a href=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/location\/the-commodore-17232466\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Commodore<\/a>. The theater in between Ybor City and Tampa Heights has been a haven for the art form and practice, and yesterday the nearly three-year-old venue kicked off its 10th annual <a href=\"https:\/\/countdownimprovfestival.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Countdown Improv Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 lineup includes nearly 140 acts\u2014trios, duos, and solo\u2014representing 20 states, all performing nightly. Hillsborough College\u2019s Studio Theatre, Mainstage Theatre and Rehearsal Hall, a 15-minute walk from The Commodore, also host shows like \u201cThe Absent-Minded Professor\u201d where Pittsburgh\u2019s Sarah Schultz (pictured) does an improvised lecture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All-ages and family matinee workshops and performances on Saturday expand the festival\u2019s reach, and organizers say there\u2019s something for everyone. Daily tickets are available along with full-festival passes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdwork.com\/v\/countdownimprovfestival\/shows\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tickets to the Countdown Improv Festival happening nightly in Ybor City through Sunday, Aug. 9 are still available and start at $11.64.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/altnewsfoundation.org\/cl-tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa-newslettersignup-page\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/jul-30-aug-05-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jul 30 \u2013 Aug 05, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead his 2016 intro letter\u00a0and disclosures from 2022 and 2021.\u00a0Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/author\/rroa\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Ray Roa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarah Schultz Credit: Countdown Improv Festival Improv is having its moment in the Bay area, thanks, in no&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[25651,135,137,136,25652],"class_list":["post-357769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-comedy-in-tampa-bay","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-the-commodore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}