The Collective was founded in 1999 as a place for students of the University of Washington to learn and perform improvisational theater. At our regular performance space, the Ethnic Cultural Theater, we've performed over 40 shows including short-form games and scenes, long-form styles including Campfire, Thread, Harold, and Lotus, and original formats such as Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, a masks show, the UWWF, and our two original long-forms Sunny Nickels and DnDprov (an improvised Dungeons and Dragons Adventure).

Outside of the university we've performed at Operation Husky Stadium, at camps for terminally ill children, and retirement homes. We've appeared in the Festival of Fresh Faces in the Freehold Facility, raised money for Relay for Life, and have done cooperative performances with college improv troups from around the state. We were the first performers in the inaugural Seattle Festival of Improv Theater (SFIT) in 2002, and continue to perform at the annual festivals.

Our mission as The Collective is to bring the art of improvisation to the University and community, to create an open environment where students can watch, learn and perform improvisation and to connect with people through storytelling. Most importantly, our mission is to have fun and help people remember what it is like to play.