Pan Theater

I tried the Tuesday night Improv Dojo upon recommendation from a friend and I had a blast! I came in a bit nervous yet ready to get out of my comfort zone and get out of my head. Jessie creates a warm, inviting atmosphere to beginners and encourages you to not think and have fun through the use of short form improv games. I spent most of the two hours laughing and finding out that I can actually get out of my head and be in the moment. I have gone two weeks in a row and can’t wait for next week. Come check it out!

Came with the lady and had a lot of fun at the show. Support the local improv scene and check it out. Lots of good laughs!

One of the best hidden secrets in Oakland.
I have been here to see shows in the past and had a great time. Probably the best bang for your buck date night.
I recently tried the improve classes that they put on Monday and Tuesday nights. David is an awesome coach and very inspirational. I had a really great time and learned a lot. A lot of knowledge bombs were dropped and I was left with lots to ponder. Thank you. I highly recommend taking the classes even if you are not into acting or want to act. Check it out!!!

Pan Theater is a dangerous place and I will never go back there, even for free performances. I took David’s Improv from the Heart class, and was suffocated by a fellow student in one of our scenes. I was laying down and this huge guy came on the stage and smothered my face with a jacket. I screamed and tried to get him off of me, but he didn’t stop for quite a while and nobody did a damn thing. I couldn’t breathe or see or move and it was completely traumatizing. Afterwards, I actually had to explain to the guy who suffocated me, the teacher and the entire class why it was not ok that this had happened! The perpetrator said it had just seemed like the thing to do for some reason and that he would consider therapy (good for him — so glad HE got something out of it!). Other students in the class blamed me for my reaction, saying that it must have been caused by a flashback to childhood trauma, even though I had never been suffocated before and the incident was traumatizing enough on its own. David, the instructor, kept the focus on me in the aftermath, waiting for me to «get over it» so that the class could continue. As if being attacked like that wasn’t bad enough, the way everyone (even the instructor!) treated me like I was the problem made it much worse.
I ended up not returning to finish the class because I didn’t feel safe there anymore, with either the guy who attacked me or the instructor who minimized the severity of the event by allowing someone with serious psychological issues beyond the scope of the class to remain enrolled. David has refunded my tuition for the remaining classes I missed but has not responded to my request for a full tuition refund, which would be most appropriate since I wasn’t able to have the full experience of Improv from the Heart and certainly wouldn’t have enrolled at all if I knew I would be assaulted and forced to drop out halfway through for my own safety.
I am disappointed that David chose to prioritize making money over making the class as safe as it could have been, and that he does not think it important to address violence in theater groups. I do not recommend Pan Theater for anyone who doesn’t want to be assaulted on stage and then face a bunch of blank stares from everyone afterwards. David should not be conducting this kind of pseudo-​therapy in improvisational theater because he has clearly demonstrated his incompetence in handling the shit that any whacko off the street who decides to enroll might bring into the class.
David: you owe me $ 166.00. You know where to send it.

I have to second Cindi L.‘s review. I believe we went to the same performance, so I’m hoping we just caught them on an off night. Part of me was silently cheering these guys on because getting up and doing improv takes guts, but I was also just wanting them to stop because many of the scenes were just so uncomfortable to watch. I’d be hesitant to give this another try.

Saw a «theater games» show tonight with 4 improvisors, of varying talents. I admired their commitment to the scenes and their energy but while some scenes had some good moments, overall I thought the show was weak. In particular, they really need to work on figuring out how to end scenes. Many would have been better if they had simply ended sooner, while the scenes still had some life in them. I wouldn’t rule out going again but we were not at all tempted to stay for the second show tonight.

I started my first round of improv at Pan in 2012. It was so inspiring to me that I had to have more, yet I moved away for a bit. However, when I got back to the bay on 2014, I just HAD to get back! I was excited to see the auditions for the next round of troupes had started just in time for me to begin again!
Since I’ve been taking classes, I have been inspired in my own creative adventures in acting, performing and dance as well as getting to laugh as much as 3 – 4 times a week.
The «family» there at Pan is truly heart-​centered and a great community. I have nothing but HIGH REMARKS for the people that attend and also the staff. You will not be disappointed if you attend any of the Dojo classes offered or check out a show. Improv has really brightened my life in so many ways… dont miss out an opportunity to have the same experience in your own life!

Kind of an awkward space, but the improv was funny and the people are nice as hell. Thought we might need to get tickets early, turns out that’s not a huge concern. Definitely worth checking out.

The improv acting classes are awesome and fun, and it was really easy to join in. There’s lots of opportunities at PAN to practice and let go!

Watching a show at the Pan Theater is a fun way to spend an evening with a date, and gauging whether or not said date has a sense of humor.
We came to an 8pm Saturday night show of Awkward Face, and it was great. I laughed a LOT, as did the rest of the audience. Also, if you come to the 8pm show, the 9pm show is free to attend as well. (They have a short break between the two shows so you can bow out early if you wish.)
This was my second time coming here. The first time I came, the show was funny, but not as memorable as this one. Obviously, the nature of improv means it’s never the same, so if you go once and feel «ehh» about the show, give it another chance.

A true local gem in downtown Oakland that fosters a unique community of talented actors and provides highly entertaining shows from $ 0 to $ 12…a bargain at any price, considering that you will have a thoroughly enjoyable evening laughing, guffawing, tittering, sighing, giggling…
Friday nights usually offer a FREE improv drop in (yes, YOU can be on stage!) at 8pm, followed at 9pm by one of the house troupes, «Liquid Mind», a bawdy, playful, no holes barred rotating cast of about 6 – 8 who take the stage and let the improv fly wild.
Saturdays at 8pm, «Awkward Face» features many outstanding Pan veterans with years of experience intermixed with fresh new talent for some serious laugh out loud short form (like tv’s «Whose Line is it Anyway?»), followed at 9pm for delightfully witty, mind-​boggling inventive and usually quite beautiful and touching «drama-dy»…drama and comedy.
The actors are SO GOOD that you forget that this is improv, made up on the spot, NO SCRIPT… utterly amazing when you catch yourself sitting there mid-​performance and suddenly realize this fact.
Both troupes rotate their members weekly and suggestions for themes, etc. are solicited from the audience, so no two shows are ever alike and always delightfully unpredictable, satisfying original and gloriously funny. Check out their Facebook site for the most up to date info on show dates/​times.
And if you get bitten by the improv bug, as did I, a great intro class is on Tuesdays chock full of warm ups and games to acquaint you with the «rules» of improv (which is essentially being the most agreeable person in the world). Pan often runs specials on Groupon type of deal sites, so look for them if you want to great deal.
For the more committed, auditions for Pan’s «Short Form Training Troupe» are held every quarter or so. The audition is great fun and low pressure in that you’re almost always guaranteed of getting in… the «audition» part allows the instructors to group students by their abilities/​experience and create the curriculum accordingly. Averages $ 25 per 2.5 hour weekly class AND the big finale is that your class gets to put on two real live shows!!! The fee to participate in this 10 week session is very reasonable, considering that it also includes the free Tuesday night class drop in AND all Pan shows during your session weeks.
As they say, «no one is getting rich here»…and this is evident by the somewhat funky set up that Pan Theater is nested in, sharing communal space with a pyschic, a nursing school and sometimes fire arms and defense class room space. In a way, this kind of makes sense, especially when you consider all of the outlandish themes and locations audience members suggest during performances. Some may be squeamish about the Oakland location, but I’ve never run into any problems, walking to and from my car or BART at 10:00 at night.
Street parking is usually no problem IF the Paramount Theater is not having an event, otherwise you’ll have to cough up at a paid parking lot or walk several blocks.
Who takes the classes? I’ve seen actors honing their craft, aspiring actors just starting out, professionals wanting to be more entertaining in their presentations, friends looking for a fun activity to do together, college grads in between degrees, semi-​retired getting back to discovering and learning again, couples looking to share an experience, stay at home moms getting out, closet hams… all types and backgrounds and everyone always seems to have a great time.

What a fun time! I rarely give 5 stars but this place is awesome. We laughed through the whole show. These talented actors delivered a creative performance. I’m inspired to sign up for the improv classes. Pan Theater is Oakland’s best kept secret…
I highly recommend this theater if you want to have fun and laugh!

The classes are so much fun, even if you have 0.0 experience– the people are so nice, even if you are a 10.0 weirdo, and the prices are great, especially when you have –50.0 dollars (a lot of free shows/​performing opportunities!) GO PAN!

I am disheartened to learn that 95% of my photos from my two years at Pan, along with photos of my former troupe from the past year, have been removed from any public digital archives. The theater is poorly managed and you will find that you are considered the «property» of the Pan, and strongly discouraged from interacting with other local theater companies. Scrubbing 3 years of a troupe’s photos was petty and illustrates the maturity of the management. I had left Pan Theater on good terms but am still the victim of one man’s insecurities.

I had a great time when I attended the Awkward Face show at 8 pm on Saturday night. The actors are quick on their feet, and they manage to elicit many hardy laughs from the audience. In addition, the show is highly interactive, a fact that keeps the audience engaged. The venue is also intimate, which is another characteristic that I valued.
The night that I attended the show, the audience was quite small, so you should be prepared to participate by throwing out suggestions when the cast solicits them.
I tend to exercise restraint with my five star ratings. However, other than my general exercise of restraint, the primary reason that I did not give a five star rating is because I did not love the venue’s location, and I found the metal chairs to be a bit uncomfortable. In my view, venue location and seating are part of the experience, so factoring them into my review is fair and reasonable. However, if I were to subtract these issues from my consideration, then I probably would have given the show a five star rating.

The spirit of the Pan Theater is awesome. Walking in through the relatively nondescript entrance, I felt much like falling into a Charlie Kaufman script where characters run rampant within a seemingly ordinary space. And this actually rings true through my experience at Pan.
Serving as what I can only describe as a co-​op, I noticed other offices sharing a daytime space with it’s nighttime actor occupants. So venturing past the corridors, we ultimately made it inside the modest theater. Saturday nights lends itself to Awkward Face, an improv troupe with two performances.
The 8pm short form improv offers a «Whose Line Is It Anyway» take where the actors feed off audience suggestions to think-​on-​their-​feet comedy. Laughs abound. Then the 9pm follow-​up showcases the same peeps in longer, more full-​circle scenes. Gotta say, I’m a big fan of Pete; clever as ever working his way out of a state trooper ticket or fixing leaky pipes.

The improv classes are awesome! So much fun! Liberate your creative self that’s been itching to come out. And also give your brain some exercise!
Watch the performing troupes on Friday and Saturday nights! You’re guaranteed to laugh!

They have friday night and saturday night shows, each night featuring one of the two different troupes performing at the pan.
I’ve seen both the the Afters (friday) and Awkward Face (saturday) and they were fantastic. It’s worth seeing both for a couple reasons. Both of the troupes feature different actors and have different formats for their shows.
Awkward Face has a more traditional format doing a short form show first and a long form show second. The Afters have a really cool take and interview a person from the audience about their life and then perform it over the next 20 minutes. Its a fun place to see some polished improvisation and it gets out early enough to go kick some weekend ass.
Best thing is how close it is to the 19^th street bart station making it a really convenient location.

Pan Theater is fantastic! I think its really cool that we have improv performances every weekend right here in Oakland.
Every show I’ve been to, the actors have been talented, have had a great rapport with the rest of the performers, and really had a great time on stage.
The theater is intimate and some audience participation is encouraged, which is really great. It makes for a new experience at any given show.
If you are looking for something new and fun on a Friday or Saturday night in Oakland you should definitely check it out!

PAN Theater is a wonderful place both to watch and get involved in improv. I just finished up the Level 1 troupe with two successful shows this weekend. The experience was a ton of fun and by the end of just a few months, I was totally comfortable up on stage. I’ve seen a few shows there, from the Level One troupe playing short improv games (Blind Freeze Tag, Story Story Die, Tag Out, etc) to the higher level troupes performing long form, which can be funny or not, but are one act plays about 45 minutes long, totally improvised.
David is a wonderful director, very supportive of all the participants and helpful in improving our skills. For performing or just for seeing some improv, I highly recommend PAN Theater!