VIF 2025 Virtual Pig-In-a-Poke Improv Festival

Can’t make it to Ferry Beach this year for the in-person festival?

Coming to the in-person festival but just can’t get enough improv?

Between September 8 and October 18, we are bring back an exciting and update version of history-making virtual festival  with some of our greatest  international teachers!

We are calling this a Pig-in-a-Poke version, because you sign up without knowing who or when your options may occur. You will be able to register as the slots become available and you may change your session at any time up until we reveal the complete schedule. The reveal will only come  when we are ready to sell full-price tickets.

Who can sign up:

Anyone 18 years or older from anywhere in the world. They will be delivered in English. You may even sign up if you are attending the live festival.

What you get

unlimited space available seats in improv intensives that will lead to a virtual performance

virtual performance opportunities that are near the festival. Perhaps even a hybrid performance.

VIF membership for 2025 and 2026 ($50 Value)

A 10% discount off one future live festival fees ( not the lodging or food costs)

Discount on Limited International Version VIF2025 festival T-shirt delivered to your residence

Cost :

$400 Zelle or Credit Card

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Do this now. These tickets at these prices will not be available beyond September 9.

And if you get to sign up and fewer than 6 hours of sessions or performance spots  are available to you, we will give you a tax-deductible donation statement or $40 for each hour less than 6. We can’t give you credit for the Membership fees as this is a value added.

This is a special opportunity to be part of the festival, support our international travelers and scholarship participants and take as much improv as you dare.

As a VIF Virtual Festival Participant, you will have first dibs on all classes we end up offering.

Why grab this now?

There are a limited number of tickets we can sell and keep our promises. Once we reach that limit, the sales stop.

Yu can wait and see but once we start selling individual classes, they will price out between $17-25 per hour depending on the teacher. So a 5-hour intensive with a performance will be running up to $150 and a 9 hour one will price out at up to $250.

What is a pig in a poke

A "pig in a poke" is something offered or acquired without its true nature or value being known beforehand. The phrase is a warning to be careful when purchasing something unseen, as it may be worthless or of poor quality.

Well, VIF is reappropriating the idiom. Nothing worthless or of poor quality here. You know our reputation-we are trustworthy and give great courses with a diverse faculty to an international and intergenerational group of improvisers. There is a built-in guarantee if the courses we offer do not work with the times you have available. While we  do not promise who your faculty will be in advance it is more than offset by the fact that you can sign up for as many courses as you wish.

Then there is the 8-hour guarantee. We would prefer if you get to take at least 7 hours that you let us keep the prorated credit  as a tax-deductible donation but if you wish we will refund minus any fees we are charged by our ticketing service.

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And here is the origin of the phrase

• A historical scam: The idiom's origin comes from a confidence trick that dates back to the Middle Ages. "Poke" is an old word for a sack or bag, from the French word poque.
• The market con: Unscrupulous merchants at a market would try to sell customers a "suckling pig" in a tied bag.
• The reveal: The bag actually contained a worthless cat instead of a pig. If the buyer didn't inspect the contents until they got home, they would be cheated. This practice also gave rise to the related idiom, "to let the cat out of the bag," meaning to reveal a secret.