Defrost Festival
2024 Festival Now On Sale
Shows, workshops & social events
July 31st – August 10th

Our company's mission is to foster and showcase the best improv and comedy in Australia.

Referring to our core values, we'd like to make it easier to engage students who might not otherwise be able to afford our workshops, provided they can help us in our goals of fostering diversity and/or showcasing excellence.

Our scholarships exist to build pathways to performing on or writing for our stage. It's absolutely fine to apply if that's not your immediate goal, as long as you are open to the possibility of doing that in the future.

However, if you know that you aren't interested in that long-term outcome, or that you won't be living in Melbourne for the foreseeable future, you may not be a suitable candidate.

  • Diversity Scholarships

    Improv Comedy Program
    Sketch Comedy Writing

    The goals of our diversity program are to:

    • provide an opportunity to study with us for students who might not otherwise be able to
    • increase the diversity of our student body
    • encourage the exchange of culture and ideas, allowing for better comedy

    We offer the following scholarship categories to students who would improve our institutional diversity:

    • Improv Starter 101 (Support covers single 8-week course)
    • Remainder of Improv Starter Track (Support covers 2x 8-week courses)
    • Improv Performance Track (Support covers 2x 8-week courses)
    • Intro to Sketch Comedy Writing (Support covers single 8-week course)
    • Remainder of Sketch Core Program (Support covers 2x 8-week courses)

    Each category must be applied for separately. Selected applicants will receive between 25% and 100% off of their workshops course fees

    No prior acting, writing or comedy experience is required to apply for an introductory level, and you can apply for an advanced level even if you did not receive support for an earlier level.

Interested in donating to help fund initiatives like these?

Our not-for-profit wing Improv Conspiracy Productions Limited funds these scholarships, along with other community-oriented efforts. If you'd like to help us achieve our goals, please consider making a donation.

Experiencing financial hardship and not eligible for the above?

We offer payment plans to help you spread the cost of your course fees out over the duration of our 4- and 8-week courses. In most cases a minimum 25% deposit is required to reserve our spot in a course.

We also offer work-study opportunities for students who are interested in volunteering at the theatre in exchange for class credit.

Please contact us for more information.

Our community watering hole

Enjoy some good times downstairs at Theory Bar

Fancy a beverage after your next show or class session? Our ground floor bar is open Wednesday–Sunday.

Community members and ticket-holders get 10% off*

(* Sundays and Public Holidays excepted)

Theory Bar