2017 | ImprovAcadia

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.

JENNIFER SHEPARD is one of the owners and is proud to say, "this is our thirteenth season"! Jen went to school at University of Iowa, studied improv in Chicago and then moved to Maine in 2004. During the winter, she used to run away to work on Norwegian Cruise Lines for The Second City but now she stays in Maine. One of the many highlights of this winter was co-hosting, with Amy Roeder, Oscar Night at Reel Pizza as Minnesotan sisters Olive & Dorcas. {Do you read? Start!} She's taught improv at The College of the Atlantic, the Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center, with the Sea Coast Mission on Isle Au Haut & Frenchboro, at Penobscot Theater and, of course, ImprovAcadia. This winter she had the pleasure of performing at Penobscot Theater - in The Papermaker. She also appeared in the short film This Time It’s Shopping which won a Special Jury Award at the Providence Children’s Film Festival and she had a cameo role in The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes as Susan (not Suzy) the Bank teller which was shown at several film festivals including Maine’s own MIFF.

This is Cynthia Kmak’s fourth year with ImprovAcadia and she’s as happy as can be to join Jen and Larrance as they start their 14th season. She is originally from Wisconsin Dells, WI and moved to Chicago about 5 and a half years ago. Back in Chicago Cynthia plays at the Laugh Out Loud Theater, and with ComedySportz Chicago ensembles. She also teaches advanced improv classes and created a class called Improv on the Spectrum at Laugh Out Loud Theater. 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 working with children on the Autism Spectrum and children diagnosed with Emotional Behavior Disorder in a therapeutic school. She also coaches people for endurance running, and loves being very goofy. She’d like to thank everyone who laughs with her through life.

JP Thomas is delighted to be a cast member of Improv Acadia this season! He is an actor, improvisor and voice over artist based out of Chicago. He has performed at many Chicago improv and comedy theatres, including Comedy Sportz Chicago, iO Chicago, and The Annoyance Theatre. Most recently, he performed as Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet at Fireside Theatre in Wisconsin. He is represented by Paige Talent. Thank you to Jen and Larrance for the wonderful opportunity!

Tim Walsh is a performer and instructor at The Improv Shop in St. Louis, Mo. He’s on the house Harold team Burnside, which has performed at improv festivals in Detroit and Chicago. Tim is also a cast member on Eggheads, a weekly, peer-reviewed comedy show, and Frontrunner, a mock political debate. When not doing improv, he likes to travel and spending time with his 5-year-old son Ian. Tim said that he feels very fortunate to return to ImprovAcadia and share the stage with some of the world’s best improvisers.

Annie Niehoff
comes from St. Louis, Missouri and is a big fan of long and short form improv. This is her second season at ImprovAcadia and she is looking forward to the lobster ice cream and playing "make-em-ups" for you all. Her favorite thing about performing improv is the rush of fun that happens before finding out how it all fits together in the end.

Catharine Savage is thrilled to be performing at ImprovAcadia! Originally from Boxford, Massachusetts, she graduated from Brown University with a degree in History and Gender Studies. She studied improv at iO and The Second City in Chicago and is an alumna of Under the Gun Theater. She regularly performs in the Armando Diaz Experience and with her team Artemis at iO Chicago. She is also an ensemble member at Laugh Out Loud Theater.

Sean Sullivan is a Chicago-based improviser born in Rhode Island, trained in Boston, and excited to back in New England. He is an ensemble member at both ComedySportz Chicago and Laugh Out Loud Theater, has performed at Chicago's iO Theater, and additionally tours with Baby Wants Candy and is part of the original cast of "Shamilton", an improvised biographical hip-hop musical. Sean teaches and coaches improvisation at several theatres, has written for Second City Network and contributed to The Onion since 2014. 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.

Dennis Price returns to ImprovAcadia for his fourth season. He thanks Jen and Larrance for giving him a chance to play and for keeping improvisation alive and well in Maine! When he’s not improvising in Bar Harbor, he teaches English and Drama at Monmouth Academy. Dennis is the founder of Capital City Improv, an Augusta, Maine-based improv comedy group. www.capitalcityimprov.com Dennis would like to add that he isn’t hungry, but he could eat! Enjoy the show!

Jason Geis is thrilled to return for his fourth 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 Lawrence for having me back, now everyone turns your phones to off, or you might try...off.

Adam Levin is originally from Washington D.C. and has been living in Chicago for the past five years where he writes and performs comedy at The Annoyance Theatre, The Playground Theater, and iO. He is extremely excited to be a part of ImprovAcadia.

Mel Evans is an alumni of Second City Theatricals, iO Chicago, LOL Theater, and the Playground. She is a founding member of Hitch*Cocktails at the Annoyance. As a recent transplant to Denver, she sings and dances with Hit and Run and At the Barre. She also produces and performs with Hitch*Cocktails Denver. She and her husband Mark Colomb host the podcast An Hour with Your Ex (available on iTunes.)

Cassie Schaeffer is a Chicago based improviser and writer. She is elated to be joining ImprovAcadia for her first summer. In Chicago, Cassie performs with Roundabout, an iO Harold team. She is also a cast member at pH Comedy Theater in Andersonville.

Andy Bolduc is an actor, improviser, and writer from Bangor, now living in Chicago. He's performed with Second City in #DateMe in the UP Comedy Club, as well as at sea aboard Norwegian Cruise Line. You can also see him at the Annoyance Theater in Trashboy the Musical or at Chemically Imbalanced Comedy in the news comedy show That Just Happened. Check out hot videos by his sketch group at youtube.com/cigarettesandwich.

Alice Stanley Jr.'s previous comedy credits include Longer! Louder! Wagner! at The Lyric Opera and touring the Caribbean with Second City Theatricals. As a playwright, her work has been performed in eight states and counting, most notably at the Goodman Theatre as a winner of The Chicago Dramatists’ New Play Bake-Off. You can catch Alice in Baby Wants Candy (The Apollo), Whirled News Tonight (iO), After Party (all over), and in her pop-up solo show Meat Cute. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Arizona State University and is the first recipient of the Jason Chin Memorial Scholarship. Instagram/Twitter: @AStanJr."

Sarah Collier moved to Chicago after graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has completed the Second City Conservatory and Music Improv Program. She is an ensemble member of the CSz Theater and Funny Bones Improv. She is very excired to join ImprovAcadia, and is always game to talk about or look at cute animals.

Joe Burton is very excited to be back at Improv Acadia. 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.

Glo Chitwood is excited to join ImprovAcadia for its fourteenth season. Originally from South Park, Colorado, she recently graduated from Columbia College Chicago via Second City’s Comedy Studies program. Glo has trained in improvisation at the Annoyance Theater, iO Chicago, and Maine Media. Currently, she can be seen performing around Chicago with her good friends Hot Goss and Cat Booty, who won the 2017 College Improv Tournament. She also really wants to be on Jeopardy!, but her reaction time is too slow. Darn. Many thanks to Mom and Dad. Follow along: @GuitarSeaStar.

Jason Preble is excited to be performing with Improv Acadia for the first time this summer. Jason is an actor and an improviser from Bangor Maine. When not performing with Improv Acadia, 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.

Shelby Burton is delighted to be returning to Improv Acadia 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.

VINCENT KRACHT is a Chicago actor and improvisor. He is elated to return to his second home, ImprovAcadia, for their 13th season, and his eighth! In Chicago, he has performed at Laugh Out Loud and The Comedy Shrine, been an ensemble member of GayCo, and was one of the founding members of "Cast on a Hot Tin Roof," Chicago's longest running, completely improvised play. Vincent played Wilbur (and Mr. Pinky, The Principal) in "Hairspray" on The Oasis of the Seas, a production which was featured on the 66th Annual Tony Awards. He cruised or the past three years, in the Caribbean before some Cats kicked him out.

ImprovAcadia

Our Cast of 2017