Tonight, the DSI Comedy Theater opens at its new location at 462 W. Franklin Street (next to Carolina Brewery) after more than eight years in Carrboro’s Carr Mill Mall.

One of the most acclaimed improv comedy theaters and schools in the Southeast, DSI has been a local institution for more than a decade; in addition to its regular schedule of weekly shows, it also hosts the annual North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival each February.

Earlier this year, though, DSI owner Zach Ward was forced to scramble after learning that the theater was about to lose its lease in Carr Mill. Fortunately, he says, local business leaders, town officials and arts lovers came together quickly to help him secure the new space – which will be four times the size of the old, counting office and rehearsal space.

Opening night features a pair of DSI house teams and the return of DSI’s hip-hop-based improv team Public Frenemy; Ward says the entire month of May will feature guest improvisers from across the country – including musical improvisers Pop Roulette and Rich Talarico, a nationally-known improviser who’s also a writer for “Key and Peele.”

Zach Ward joined Aaron Keck (who’s also a DSI company member) earlier this week on the WCHL Afternoon News to talk about the new theater.

Listen here.

Click here to contribute to a Kickstarter project to help fund renovations in the new space.