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Registration & Payment

Registration for iO classes begins roughly four weeks before each session starts. You may register for Level 1 classes at any time by coming to the theater or by calling the iO Training Center at 773-880-0199.

Classes usually consist of 14 to 18 students. Classes meet for three hours once a week. Due to our limited class sizes, placement isn’t guaranteed until your payment has been received, and payment for a Level 1 class must be received prior to the first day of class. Payment plans are available if you can’t pay the entire $275 tuition up front. The payment plan is for improv classes only and is not applicable to tuition for Writing classes, electives or workshops; call the iO Training Center, at 773-880-0199 before the first day of class to arrange a payment plan. Payment Plan tuition balances are due by 5p.m. Friday the third week of class. Any payments received after that time will incur a $25 late payment fee. Levels 2-5b are $275 per session and payment plans are also available. A $25 fee may be charged if payments are received late.

There are no refunds. All sales are final. If you discover that you cannot take the class you have paid for, before it begins, you can roll over the tuition to a future session.

After Level 1, payments are due no later than the first day of class. In addition to payment plans we also have an internship program available for our advanced-level students, in which students pay for their classes by working at the theater five hours a week; details are available via request. Your registration and payment are a promise to attend all eight classes and to make up any classes that you miss; there are no refunds for missed classes. Every student receives an iO ID card with cool benefits, including free admission to many iO shows and discounts from neighborhood businesses.

Students MUST attend the first AND last days of the class for which they signed up. iO ID cards and books are passed out during class 1. Due to the nature of class 1 and 8, make-ups will not be allowed during those classes. Contact the Training Center with conflicts.

A student may miss no more than 2 classes. This is to encourage commitment to a group and an ensemble. You may make up a class, but make-ups will still count as an absence. Students must contact the iO Training Center via email at classes@ioimprov.com to notify us of an upcoming absence and request a make up class. If a student misses more than 2 classes they are required to repeat the level. Students repeating a level due to 3 or more absences do not qualify for the 1/2 price tuition. The 1/2 price “repeat” tuition is reserved for students who are repeating a level they have successfully completed.

All students begin in Level 1, whether or not you are an MFA or a SAG actor, unless you have been trained in the Harold at iO West or iO South. If you have completed some classes, but have been away from iO for more than 1 year, you will need to retake Level 1.

If you are registering online, you are registered once you receive a confirmation number from ProStores. You will then receive a reminder email from the Training Center some point before classes begin.

All class payments must be made during regular office hours, Monday to Friday from 11am to 5pm or by appointment. Payments cannot be made Saturday or Sunday unless special arrangements have been made with the Training Center.

iO reserves the right to hold a student back or move them forward according to ability and need.

Your iO student ID grants you admission to almost every show at the theater for free, but in the event that there are not enough seats for ticketed customers, you will be asked to move. Failure to do so could result in the loss of your ID card.

Students may repeat a level as many times as they wish. Tuition for repeated levels is 1/2 price.

Performance

Each student who completes iO’s seven-level program will appear in a run of Sunday night shows directed by veteran improviser Noah Gregoropoulos that showcases a brand-new improvisational form developed in Level 5B, or, the Performance Class. Additionally, there will be a Harold performance at the end of Level 5.

Training center graduates are regularly selected to join new or existing Harold Teams that perform at iO regularly. Completion of the iO Training Center program DOES NOT guarantee placement on an ensemble nor in any future show beyond the graduation performances.

Training Center graduates who wish to list their 5B performances on their resumes should do so as a “Production of the iO Training Center”.