Larrance Fingerhut (Music Director) has been improvising on the piano since he was two years old. After spending 13 years performing and composing in the Bar Harbor area he went to Chicago where he was music director for iO, Baby Wants Candy, and Second City Touring Company, and a teacher and music director at Columbia College. In the winter months he composes string quartets and this past winter he music directed at Penobscot Theater in Bangor and taught at College of the Atlantic.
Lauren Malara is overjoyed to be returning to ImprovAcadia. She received a degree in acting from DePaul University and went on to perform for The Second City Theatricals. In June of 2017 she was crowned The Funniest Person in New Orleans.
Alan Giles is a comedian and actor based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory program as well as the improv training program at iO. You can see him perform at iO with his Harold team "Bad Bear" and at CIC Theater in the weekly variety show "Thunderdome". He loves Chicago but is so excited to join the ImprovAcadia cast and explore Maine for the first time!
Shelby Burton is delighted to be returning to ImprovAcadia for her 9th season! Shelby spends the majority of her time teaching middle school theater. She is a proud founding member of Bughouse Theater (www.bughousetheater.com) where she is the current Director of Outreach and Education, directs Hogwash: An Improvised Tall Tale ( www.hogwashkids.com), and performs in The Fowler Family Radio Hour. She would like to thank her family, husband Joe, and their two sons Crash and Greer for their love and support. She would like to also give a shout out to her in-laws for traveling to Maine with her family every summer so she and her husband can perform together on the same stage.
Tim Walsh is over the moon about being back in Bar Harbor to play at Improvacadia. He regularly performs at The Improv Shop in St. Louis, Mo., where he is on the house Harold team Burnside. In addition to performing, Tim is very fortunate to teach there as well. When he's not improvising, he loves to travel with his new bride, Annie, and spending time with his son, Ian. Tim is a believer in the holistic powers of improv. It may start in a class or on a stage, but improv can positively touch every part of your life.
Annie Niehoff is a Midwestern improviser heralding from St. Louis, Missouri. She coaches, teaches, has performed improv internationally and in nationwide festivals with her home improv troupe HOMEBURGER. Annie is a Step-mom, wife, and ESL teacher. This is her third season at ImprovAcadia and she is most looking forward to singing, sweating onstage and eating Lobster rolls at the Thirsty Whale.
VINCE KRACHT has improvised at ImprovAcadia for a decade. He studied theatre at Western Michigan University and improv at the Second City Training Center. Vince was the title role in the Midwest premiere of THE NANCE, for which he received a JEFF nomination and won Broadway World-Chicago’s Best Actor Award. Vince has worked in the Chicago area with The Goodman Theatre, TimeLine, Drury Lane, and Court theatres. He also spent time sailing on The Oasis of the Seas as Wilbur opposite Jim J. Bullock’s Edna in HAIRSPRAY—featured on the 66th Annual Tony Awards. Vince is represented exclusively by Gray Talent.
Mo Phillips-Spotts is a graduate of Williams College and has lived in Chicago since 2013. In that time she has enjoyed completing the Second City Music Improv Conservatory, performing with 2016’s Infinite Sundaes as well as other sketch and original musicals around Chicago. Currently she teaches at The Second City’s Training Center in both the Music Improv Conservatory and the kid and teen program, is a member of Storytown improv, Cosmic (a ComedySportz house team) and travels and performs with her indie team, My Old Mint Team. She is excited to join ImprovAcadia this summer!
Jason Geis is thrilled to return for his fifth summer! When not performing in Bar Harbor, Jason is running around Chicago performing at The pH Comedy Theater and with his iO house team, Uh Oh.
Jason has trained and played at The Annoyance Theater and iO Theater. Jason has also taught and coached for iO, The Playground Theater, The Basement Theater (Atlanta), Huge Theater (Minneapolis), ImprovBoston (Boston), Zoo Improv (Champaign, IL), Westside Comedy Theater (LA) and was formerly the coach of the Depaul University college improv team. Jason also likes directing and writing, some of his favorites include: The Breakfast Club Musical, The Room: The Musical, Centralia, and Not As Advertised. He is currently working on two new original musicals! Big thanks to Jen and Larrance for having me back, now everyone turns your phones to off, or you might try...off.
Erika Hakmiller is so excited to be performing at ImprovAcadia! Originally from Maine, she has spent the past five years in Chicago studying at The Second City, iO Theatre, and Zanies. Her play, Lost and Found, was workshopped and produced by The New Colony's Associate Company and in 2017 she wrote and performed with The Second City Training Center's musical house ensemble, where she co-wrote a new musical, A Better Brothers Grimm. Her work has been seen at Women’s Funny Fest, Chicago Sketchfest, The New Colony, The Crowd, iO Comedy Network, and The Mary Scruggs Works by Women Festival. She has been published in Word Brothel and The Belladonna Comedy. MFA Writing for the Screen and Stage Northwestern University 2020. Twitter: @ErikaFromMaine
Jason Preble is excited to be performing with ImprovAcadia again this summer. Jason is an actor and an improviser from Bangor Maine. When not performing with ImprovAcadia, Jason improvises throughout the year with The Focus Group out of Bangor, co-hosts The Mouthnoise Podcast, and works as an IT professional at a local credit union. Jason would like to thank Jen and Larrance for the fantastic opportunity, the rest of the incredibly talented cast, and his wonderful wife for supporting his efforts to make things up in front of people.
Emily Batek is a Rhode Island native with a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance. She has completed the Second City Conservatory Program, the iO Training Program, and the Second City’s Severn Darden Graduate Program. Last year, she wrote and starred in her first solo show, “Hillary In the Woods,” which she performed at Second City’s Judy’s Beat Lounge. She currently performs with her iO House team, State Schramps, and with her music-comedy duo, Em and Dani, around the city of Chicago.
Amy Roeder is the Executive Director of the 1932 Criterion Theatre, just down the street! Regional credits include: Penobscot Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Denver Center for the Performing Arts and the Alliance Theatre. Amy has performed with The Second City as part of their theatricals division and was also on faculty for their training center. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine. Amy has two sons who find her a constant source of embarrassment and candy.
Joe Burton is very excited to be back at ImprovAcadia. Joe spends most of his time playing legos with his four year old, Crash, running Bughouse Theater and biking around Chicago where he and his wife, Shelby, call home. He is a member of the Improvised Sheakespeare Company, Laugh Out Load Theater and is a founding member of Bughouse Theater. He would like to thank his wonderful family, for all their support and especially Joe and Linda for making the trip Maine to see shows and, in accordance with their grandparent duties, feed Crash chocolate ice cream after bedtime.
Andi Sharavsky performs with The Musical Armando, The Deltones, and Fraudway at iO Chicago, and she is an alumnus of Infinite Sundaes - the Second City Training Center's musical house ensemble. Credits also include work with Underscore Theatre, The New Colony, Adventure Stage Chicago, and Brown Paper Box Co. Andi has contributed to The Onion News Network, and her writing has also been featured in The Chicago Tribune, Reductress, McSweeney's, Splitsider, BuzzFeed, Thought Catalog, and The One-Minute Play Festival. By day, Andi works in cultural accessibility, as an Open Captioner for live theatre.
Julia Weiss is thrilled to return to beautiful Bar Harbor and her home away from home, ImprovAcadia. Hailing from Chicago, Julia is head writer at Cards Against Humanity and a former member of Second City's National Touring Company. She contributes regularly to Paper Machete, A Weekly Live Magazine at Chicago's famous Green Mill, and is part of the Improvised Star Trek podcast.
Katie Nixon (no relation to President Nixon) has entertained audiences internationally and across the USA. Katie trained extensively at The Second City, where she spent over a year with Infinite Sundaes, the Training Center’s musical house ensemble.
Katie performs regularly with Baby Wants Candy (The Second City) and The Musical Armando (iO). She has taught and performed music improv at numerous festivals with the troupe After Party, including the Reykjavik International Improv Festival.
Katie has written and performed original sketch comedy with several groups, such as Rehner & Nixon, Trifecta, and Unlikely Company. Her solo works were showcased at The Kates on Broadway (The Laugh Factory Chicago), the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, and Davenport’s Piano Bar.
Kerri Morrison is an actor and improviser based in Chicago. She currently teaches at The Second City Training Center where she is also an alumna of the musical house ensemble Infinite Sundaes. You can see her improvise around Chicago with The Improvised Sondheim Project and Bookends. Kerri is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency.
Cooper Bohn began his artistic journey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, playing with a group called The Understudies Improv. After a few years, he began taking Second City and iO classes in Chicago on weekends, in addition to his college classes in Madison, WI on weekdays. Cooper has resided in Chicago for 18 months now post-graduation, and is half of the award-winning improv group "Stoopie," which has performed at festivals in Grand Rapids and Omaha. He is also a recent graduate of iO's improv program as well as Second City's Conservatory. Cooper is originally from Genoa City, WI, and would like to thank his mother for her endless support. On Wisconsin!
Sean Sullivan is a Chicago-based improviser born in Rhode Island, trained in Boston, and excited to be back in New England. He performs with the Musical Armando at iO and is celebrating his third summer with ImprovAcadia! Past credits include: Laugh Out Loud Theater, iO Theater, Baby Wants Candy, CSz Worldwide. Sean is currently a member of the faculty of Second City and has written for Second City Network. Since 2014, he has contributed to The Onion, and yes, it was definitely that joke that you love the most. Sean also works as a facilitator and actor for Imagination Theater, a youth social issues theater. Sean would like to thank Southwest Airlines for helping him get here.
Simon Collier moved to Chicago after graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has completed the Second City Conservatory and Music Improv Program. He is a member of the CSz Theater ensemble and does stand up. Simon loves performing as part of ImprovAcadia, and has worked with Funny Bones, Laugh Out Loud, MINt and GayCo Productions. Ask him about any animal any time.
This is Cynthia Kmak’s sixth year with ImprovAcadia and she’s as happy as an over sized lobster that needs to be thrown back in! Originally from Wisconsin Dells, WI, Cynthia moved to the second city to pursue her dream to make people laugh. She performs and teaches improv and workshops all over the city and in some lucky suburbs. She’s most proud of the class she created called Improv on the Spectrum, which helps teach social skills and dealing with anxiety thru improv. Cynthia is also the Dean of Students at the ComedySportz Chicago’s Training Center and Professional School. She’s a graduate of Second City’s Conservatory, iO’s training center and completed studies at the Annoyance and at ComedySportz Milwaukee. Cynthia spends her days trying to become famous and running insane amounts of miles while coaching others to enjoy doing the same. She’d like to thank Jen and Larrance for letting her play year after year.
Tim Sniffen is thrilled to return to ImprovAcadia after taking part in their 2007 season. Since then, he hasn't stopped thinking about Mt. Desert Ice Cream. Tim has performed with The Second City, the Boom Chicago theater in Amsterdam, and is a company member of the improvised musical group Baby Wants Candy as well as The Improvised Shakespeare Company. Tim currently writes for Live From Here With Chris Thile on NPR and can be heard on the Hello, From The Magic Tavern podcast as the Mysterious Man.
Nate Miller is excited to join the cast of ImprovAcadia for its 16th season. Kansas City-born and St. Louis-based, Nate is a graduate of the training center at The Improv Shop in St. Louis, where he has performed regularly since 2015. He is currently a member of house Harold team Tucker’s Bucket and the Asssscat-inspired show Field Day. When he is not improvising, Nate plays guitar in a ‘90s rock cover band, studies programming, and obsessively follows the Kansas City Chiefs.
Allen Adams is thrilled and grateful to be joining the folks at ImprovAcadia this summer. Allen is an actor and improvisor from Bangor, Maine. He has been improvising for 10 years, primarily with the Bangor-based troupe The Focus Group; as an actor, he makes regular appearances with Penobscot Theatre Company. When he’s not on stage, Allen is the editor and chief culture critic at The Maine Edge, an arts/entertainment-focused weekly publication. He is a Tomatometer-approved film critic and a “Jeopardy!” bronze medalist. He lives in Bangor with his wife Sheridan, their dog Stella, and two elderly cats named Scooby and Mine.
Eve Krueger spent two years performing with Second City's National Touring Company. based in Chicago, IL. In Chicago she is also a member of the improv show Trigger Happy at the Annoyance Theater and is a former member of the Under the Gun Ensemble. While living in Atlanta Eve spent 8 years improvising, acting, teaching, directing, writing and day-jobbing at Dad's Garage Theater Company and 5 years improvising with Laughing Matters. She is absolutely thrilled to be back for her fourth season at ImprovAcadia.