25 Shitzprobe Bkg
S@!#zprobe
2025 Sarasota Improv FestivalS@!#zprobe
S@!#zprobe
2025 Sarasota Improv FestivalIn the Broadway world, a "sitzprobe" is the first time the orchestra and the cast of a musical rehearse together. The cast of Shitzprobe skips rehearsal, throws away the script and makes up a musical on the spot. Every song, lyric, line of dialogue and dance move is totally improvised, accompanied by a live band who are also making up everything as they go. Each performance of Shitzprobe is the premiere of a never-before-seen musical, and YOU help create it - each show is based on an audience member’s suggestion of a title of a musical that doesn’t yet exist. Past audiences have helped to create shows like “Cindy Goes to a Yard Sale”, “Can She Even Walk in Heels?”, and “Not My First Rodeo”.
Running Time
S@#!zprobe Cast
Kiki Mikkelsen
Ali Reed
Adrien Pellerin
AJ Holmes
Nikita Burdein
Raquel Palmas
Christian Allen
Kiki Mikkelsen is an improviser, actor and musician living in Brooklyn. She has been performing and teaching improv in New York City since 2012. She has performed and taught improv internationally with Baby Wants Candy (Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Adelaide Fringe Fest, UCB, Asylum NYC), Blank! The Musical (Green Room 42, Broadway Comedy Club), Vern (The PIT, The Players Theater), Premiere (Magnet), and more. Kiki holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma City University and when she’s not improvising, she can be seen singing with Accord Treble Choir in NYC. | @kikimikkelsen
Ali Reed, an actor, improviser, and producer, dreams of bringing improvised musical theater to Broadway. She has toured globally with productions like Baby Wants Candy, Shamilton, and Thrones! The Musical Parody, and performed Off-Broadway in Once Upon A Mattress and Blank! The Musical. Reed has regional credits nationwide and has played on house teams at The Upright Citizens Brigade and The Magnet Theater. A co-creator of Shitzprobe, she showcases Broadway stars in improvised musicals. Reed facilitates musical improv as an artist-in-residence at Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect, Princeton University, and more. Currently, she performs in NYC with Baby Wants Candy, Shitzprobe, and Your Love Our Musical. Follow
@alisreed.
Adrien Pellerin is a musical comedian based in NYC. He has music directed numerous improvised musicals all over the world, including Baby Wants Candy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Shitzprobe at the New York Comedy Festival, and Blank! The Musical at Green Room 42. He co-created Stupid Music Videos, a digital series with over 3 million views. As a writer-actor, his work has been featured by Comedy Central, Adult Swim, Funny Or Die, Vulture, Mashable, UCB, The PIT, and NYC Public Access TV. Insta: @adrienpellerin More at
www.AdrienPellerin.com
A.J. HOLMES: Broadway/West End/Australia/National Tour: Elder Cunningham, The Book of Mormon. Broadway: u/s Buddy, Kimberly Akimbo. Off-Broadway: Yeah, But Not Right Now (Soho Playhouse). National Tour: Young Frankenstein. TV: Fosse/Verdon, South Park. Composer: StarKid Productions (Twisted, A Very Potter Musical). One half of the legendary musical comedy duo, 2/3rds of a Threesome. Repped by BRS/GAGE, schooled by University of Michigan. www.aj-holmes.com
NIKITA BURDEIN (he/him) was born in Ukraine, raised in Chicago, and currently resides in New York City. He's a filmmaker, theater creator, video editor, podcast producer, ad man, animator, writer, musical improviser, comedian, teacher—though very bad at sports. Nikita performs comedy all over NYC. He can be seen Tuesdays at UCB Theater NY performing on Harold Night with his team, The Prophecy. He also performs with Magnet Theater's weekend team, Premiere, and with Baby Wants Candy. He teaches musical improv at the Magnet Theater in New York. Nikita has seen hundreds of Broadway shows (and has the playbills to prove it).
Raquel Palmas is a black queer comedic actress based in New York. She has just arrived back from Amsterdam where she has been a cast member at Boom Chicago comedy theater for the past two years. She delights in making comedy reflecting the state of the world, calling out injustice, while sprinkles a bit of musical comedic joy along the way.
For the past few years, Christian has been active in teaching and performing nationally and abroad. He currently works with the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums as a drum instructor as well as several public school music programs on the Virginia Peninsula. In recent years Christian has performed for the New Musicals Lab at the Ferguson Center, Mount Olive Baptist Church, Rob White, Talk of Ghost, Seven Cities Soul Connection, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and Carnival Cruise Lines. Christian Allen graduated from Christopher Newport University with a bachelors degree in percussion performance and instrumental music education.
More Festival Performances
Festival Workshops
Our offerings allow you to learn from the experts with intimate trainings led by Festival artists from across the country and around the world. Featuring workshops in a wide range of improvisational styles and techniques, there is something for improvisers of all experience levels at the 2025 Sarasota Improv Festival. All workshops take place Saturday, July 19.