Mar 24, 2026 | 5:45 pm
After 26 years, Austin’s longest-running improv theater has taken its final curtain call downtown. The Hideout Theatre at 617 Congress Ave. went dark for the last time over the weekend of March 20. The folks who kept the theater going hope the story will continue in a new location, but it hasn’t been easy.
For many Austinites who’ve spent significant time downtown, the Hideout needs no introduction.
Maybe it was a Thursday when they wandered in off Congress Avenue on a whim and ended up cry-laughing at a PGraph show. (That’s Parallelogramophonograph, formally). Maybe it was an improv class that offered, somewhere between the warmly lit walls and a roomful of fellow students, a little more courage than anyone walked in with. Or maybe it was just a quick cup of coffee — one of the oldest independent brews in town — that drew them in…