A Clear Goal: Building an Improv Scene in Iceland

In the summer of 2013, I taught my first improv workshop at the LungA Art Festival in Seyðisfjörður. Only a few months earlier, I had taken my very first improv class at UCB in New York.

Over the next three years, I attended numerous improv classes while living in New York and regularly flew home to Iceland to teach what I was learning. In 2017, I traveled to Chicago to study improv and sketch writing at The Second City.

My goal was clear: to build a professional and sustainable improv scene in Iceland that could endure and flourish in the long term.

From the very beginning, the workshops were well received. During the first year, participants were almost exclusively actors, drama students, and amateur performers. Gradually, word spread that anyone could attend, regardless of prior training or education, and the background of participants became increasingly diverse. In the second year, enrollment tripled, and in 2015 around 300 people signed up for improv workshops, then known as “Improv-Haraldurinn.”

For nearly a decade, approximately 200 to 250 students enrolled in my workshops each year. During that period, I also brought in around 40 experienced international improv teachers to Iceland.

Students ranged in age from 18 to 80 and came from all walks of life. In a single workshop, you might find a government minister, a lifeguard, a scientist, and a professional handball player.

Some suggested that the “improv craze” in Iceland was just a bubble that would eventually burst. I did not share that pessimism. I had seen how improv had grown and flourished in the United States for decades. Even so, I chose not to begin regular performances until enough people had developed strong skills in the art form. I wanted to ensure that the quality of the shows would reflect the strength of the foundation we were building.

On Culture Night in 2014, I organized the first improv marathon, inviting everyone who had taken a workshop to perform.

In the summer of 2015, I traveled with a group of nearly twenty performers to the Del Close Marathon (DCM), the annual improv festival hosted by UCB in New York. I initially suggested registering the group under the name Improv Iceland, but in a democratic vote, The Entire Population of Iceland won. Under that name, we performed at the Del Close Marathon at the UCB Theatre in Chelsea to a warm reception.

DCM ran 24 hours a day for an entire week. The Icelandic improvisers were able to see countless performances, and for all of them it was their first time experiencing long-form improv live.

The line outside the UCB Theatre when The Entire Population of Iceland performed at the Del Close Marathon stretched down the street.

In 2015, I invited several committed students to form a board with me, and the association Improv Iceland was formally established. In February 2016, we began weekly performances at The National Theatre Cellar in Reykjavík, which continue to draw strong audiences today.

In 2017 and 2018, I directed the Reykjavík International Improv Festival, bringing international improvisers to Iceland to perform and collaborate. I initially served as Managing Director and continued as Artistic Director until 2019.

Improv Iceland performances have long since surpassed 200 shows. They are largely inspired by the UCB model in New York. The material comes from the audience, from their experiences, their environment, and their society. Each show can become a unique reflection of the present moment.

Many people have played an important role in shaping and developing the improv scene and keeping it alive today.

Over time, I have come to see that improv is not only an art form but a category in itself. It can function as a creative process, a training method, and a philosophy of life. A growing body of research demonstrates how powerful improv can be as a training tool across a wide range of contexts.

Improv teaches people to respond to the unexpected, to adapt under pressure, to work with what is available, to find solutions, and to recognize opportunities.

In recent years, I have worked with companies and institutions where I apply the principles of improv to leadership development, teamwork, and decision-making in uncertain environments.

Following the principles of improv in my own life and work has helped me navigate uncertainty, stay present, see possibilities, take risks, and, most importantly, to remain playful, resilient, and creative.