Our Studios are home to our classes, rehearsals, end-of-class shares, and other drop-in events for Sea Tea Improv and the Connecticut improv community at 11 Asylum St, Suite 402, Hartford, CT 06103.
About Our Studios
On December 1st, 2019, Sea Tea Improv moved our Studios from one block from Pratt Street to space on the 4th floor of 11 Asylum Street — upstairs in the very same building as Sea Tea Comedy Theater! Our latest Studios consist of eight spaces:
Upon entering the Studios, you’ll be in our lounge space, the new Tea Room. This room features couches (for sitting), refrigerators and a snack cabinet with refreshments ($1 each, please!), our comedy library (books and DVDs for our students to borrow), a TV (for educational, recreational, and promotional purposes), and our community corkboard for upcoming events and other notices.
Off the Tea Room and through two French doors, is Room 1, our loveliest room by far. This room is available for rent.
If you head our from the Tea Room down our space’s internal hallway, you’ll first encounter Room 2 on the right. This smaller room is usually home to our keyboard. This room is available to rent (as is the keyboard).
Continuing down the hallway, the next room on the right is Room 3, a room that was once two rooms, but we here at Sea Tea Improv like to break down walls. This room is available to rent.
After passing our utility closest, you’ll next encounter the smaller Room 4. This room is available to rent.
Next up is Room 5, which is currently full of props and costumes, so while not available to rent at the moment, it’s definitely fun to visit.
At the very end of our internal hallway is Room 6. This is our largest room. This room is also available to rent.
Finally, back at the beginning, also off the Tea Room, is Room 0, which is also just a storage space for now, but someday (someday) it will probably become the Captains’ Quarters once again.
Remembering Our Old Studios
Sea Tea Improv opened Hartford, CT’s first studios dedicated to improvisational comedy in 2011. Located at on the 5th floor of 75 Pratt St in downtown Hartford, CT, our first studio space consisted of eight rooms:
Our main room was Studio 500, with its black stage wall with a curtained exit. This room had 19 folding chairs available, 2 bentwood cafe chairs & 4 wooden stools for the stage area, and a rolling desk chair. Soundproofing panels (dubbed our “guilt absorbers” by Will Hines) on the walls & ceiling focused the room’s acoustics. The walls were decorated with our show posters by artist Brian Cook and an improv community board featuring information about upcoming events, classes, workshops, shows, and more by Sea Tea Improv and other area improv and sketch groups.
Beyond the curtain from the Studio Room’s stage wall was our backstage lounge area known as the Tea Room. This room featured several chairs and couches, a media area for research and recreation, snacks and a mini-fridge stocked with beverages available for a suggested donation of $1 each, and our comedy library (books & DVDs for loan to our students & improv community members).
From the Tea Room, a door lead to our smaller studio room, the Vlad Room, named for Vlad Perez who spent a lot of time in there making that room part of Sea Tea Improv Studios before moving to Los Angeles. This room featured a folding table for collaborative writing sessions, and soundproofing panels for rehearsal.
Across the hall from the elevator was our 501 Studio, a second large studio room equipped with a table, a few dozen white folding chairs, and a mirrored wall. This carpeted room was our biggest single space. Three smaller rooms (502, 502 1/2, and 503) are adjacent to 501.
Between our main Studio 500 and Studio 501 was our small office, the Captains’ Quarters. Here, Sea Tea Improv tended to our business of creating opportunities for comedy in and around Hartford.