ImprovBoston will soon be dimming its lights for the final time.
After a 40-year run of laughter at the Cambridge comedy theater, ImprovBoston has announced that it’s shutting its doors at the end of the year. The Board of Directors is winding down all operations amid fiscal challenges for the nonprofit.
The Central Square staple tried to reemerge post pandemic, with the National Touring Company performing all over New England, and a regular roster of classes each and every week. The organization said it will fulfill all remaining contracts and classes, all staff will be released, and the theater plans on evaluating all options during the remainder of the year.
“This is incredibly difficult,” Managing Director Matt Laidlaw said in a statement. “Everyone at ImprovBoston worked extremely hard over these last three years to keep our doors open — from Leadership to our Touring Company, Instructors, Techs, Staff, Ensemble Members, volunteers and students.
“I’m incredibly proud we were able to keep performing post pandemic and offer shows and classes to our beloved fans,” Laidlaw added. “However, without a theater to call ‘our own’ our chances for surviving long-term are very low. The best decision for the business is to wind down, and wrap up operations.”
Founded in the early 1980s and performing in small bars and restaurants in Boston and Somerville, ImprovBoston started with a small home in Inman Square in Cambridge before ultimately moving to its larger, 140-seat theater in Central Square.
Just like many small arts organizations, the pandemic forced the nonprofit to leave its theatrical home, while setting up shop in a few classrooms and a small performance space across the street on Massachusetts Avenue.
“ImprovBoston has been a mainstay in Cambridge, performing for this incredible community and bringing laughter to so many,” said Board of Directors Chair Tammi Pirri Day. “While trying to maintain operations over the last three years has been incredibly challenging, ImprovBoston is proud to have taught many students the art of Improv. While we wish the outcome was different, we are honored to have served this great community for so long.”
The theater received the Small Business Administration’s “Shuttered Venue Operator Grant” in 2021, and multiple Cambridge Community Foundation grants, as well as additional COVID-relief funds to stay open post-pandemic. Ultimately, smaller audience sizes, limited commercial venue space, and the timing of new funding opportunities left little room for the theater to take on a new space.
The organization also received significant support through donations and fundraising efforts.
Laidlaw said, “We owe a tremendous amount of recognition to all who have offered donations, both large and small and all of those who have volunteered their time or expertise to help guide us through these last few years.”