| Jennifer Shepard is an actress with nineteen years of experience. She has done everything from Greek Tragedy to Avant Garde performance art. After graduating from the University of Iowa, she moved to Chicago to study improvisation. During her nine years in Chicago, she was fortunate enough to perform at ImprovOlympic and The Playground Theater. She also worked with The Chicago Comedy Co, touring to colleges and writing corporate comedy. While in Chicago, Jennifer helped to write over 10 sketch comedy shows with The Galileo Players, GayCo!, and Brick. She loves chamber music. |
| 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 ImprovOlympic, Second City Touring company, and a teacher at Columbia College. He composes chamber music and music for theater. His musical Narcissus and Echo and his odes for The Trojan Women are being performed in amphitheaters across Greece this Summer. |
| Becky Eldridge has been improvising for over ten years and is thrilled to be part of ImprovAcadia. Becky has performed in many venues in Chicago, including ImprovOlympic, The Playground Theatre (of which she is a co-founder) and with FuzzyCo's Neutrino Project. Becky's also written a lot of stuff too--most recently co-authored "Little House on the Parody" which played to sold-out shows in Chicago. In her day job, Becky works in advertising and teaches improvisation and writing at Second City. She'd like to thank Jenn and Larrance for this wonderful opportunity and is delighted to be performing in Maine with such a talented and fun cast. |
| Paul Grondy (Director) Has been improvising for 15 years. While performing each Wednesday night at the ImprovOlympic, with Carl & The Passions, Paul can also be seen improvising on Monday nights in The Armando Diaz Show. Paul thinks Maine is beautiful and loves his cast mates especially his wife cast mate. |
| Sue Salvi is delighted to be part of Improvacadia. She is originally from Pittsburgh, PA and is an alumnus of Penn State University. She has improvised around Chicago at the ImprovOlympic, ComedySportz, The Playground Theatre, as well as touring with the Second City National touring company for three years. She has been lucky enough to improvise all over the world, in places like Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Naples, Maui and can't wait to add Bar Harbor to her list. She can improvise in one language, but can laugh in four. |
| Tim Chidester hails from Troy, Michigan and has been improvising since 1987. Tim is the Artistic Director of ComedySportz - Chicago and as a member of ComedySportz has performed in the critically acclaimed shows Blind Date, Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway?, and is the creator/director of the of late night hit The Hot Karl which will celebrate its 5 year anniversary this August. In addition to CSz, Tim currently performs at the famed ImprovOlympic (where he just celebrated his 10 year anniversary ) with the uber-House Team Prefontaine, The Road Show - the National Touring Company of the ImprovOlympic, and with Baby Wants Candy. Tim always feels the need to end his bio with the obligatory laugh line. |
| TJ Jagodowski used to perform, teach, and direct at Chicago's Second City. Now he performs, teaches, and directs at Chicago's ImprovOlympic. He's originally from Massachusetts and thinks it's great to be back in New England. Go Red Sox! |
| Holly Laurent makes her home in Chicago, Illinois where she teaches and performs at the ImprovOlympic. When she's not at the theatre she's either on a bike ride, or trying to read more. This is her first time in Maine and she's pleased as punch about it, but trying to figure out why punch is so happy. |
| Cayne Collier has been performing stand-up comedy for the past 14 years and has been performing improvisational comedy for 13 years and 11 months. Cayne is owner and executive producer of "The Elevated" Chicago's longest running independent stand-up comedy showcase. He has also performed competitive improv for 8 years and counting with Comedy Sportz Chicago and in that time has taught high school, adult & corporate workshops and classes. In the past 3 years, Cayne has added sketch and musical comedy to his repertoire. Cayne is co-founder and performer with the sketch group Brick. A critically acclaimed and highly heralded ensemble in the sketch capital of the world Chicago. Cayne has also been performing his original musical comedy for the past 2 years at The Noble Fool Theater Cabaret in the downtown loop of Chicago. His first CD will be available this summer. For more info on Cayne - www.clickcayne.com |
| Megan Kellie has been improvising since 1994. After training with the Second City, she has performed in Chicago with ComedySportz and ImprovOlympic Theatres. Megan is a founding member of the Chicago sketch comedy group Brick and has done sketch work with Chicagoís Galileo Players. She has appeared at the New York International Fringe Festival and the Goodman Theatre. She digs writing and knitting and pretty much any art project. |
| Marion Austin Oberle is delighted to be part of ImprovAcadia. Marion comes most recently from Los Angeles where she can be seen performing weekly at Improv Olympic West and ComdeySportz Los Angeles as well as doing stand up all over the city. Prior to moving to L.A. she spent several years in Chicago writing and performing with the critically acclaimed sketch group Brick. No stranger to the North East, Marion has performed at the VAPA theatre in Bennington, Vermont and the Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, New York. Love to husband Jason. |
| Tim Mason began improvising in high school over 10 years ago and has been doing it ever since. He currently performs at Improv Olympic with the long-running team, Deep Schwa, as well as being an ensemble member at ComedySportz Chicago. Tim is also a founding member of the critically acclaimed sketch group, Brick. When he's not on stage, Tim travels the world teaching improvisational comedy to a wide variety of students ranging from mortgage brokers to blackjack dealers. Tim would like to thank, in advance, all the lobsters who will be giving their lives this fall to feed his stomach. |
| Erin McEvoy was born in Auburn NY but started her life in Chicago when she found improv and love. Erin is a founding member of the all-female improv group Sirens who recently celebrated their 5th anniversary. She is also a member of ComedySportz Chicago. When she isn't performing she enjoys cooking, teaching youngsters improv at The Second City, directing the fabulous women of Triplette and trying to knit. Erin couldn't be happier to be triumphantly returning to the east coast and working at Improvacadia. |
| Jason Pardo has been working professionally in the entertainment industry for over ten years. From his humble beginnings as an instructor for Floridaís Improv Comedy Traffic School, to his six years of work and improv actor training in Chicago, to his current career in Hollywood, Jason has fought to bring only the finest possible entertainment to those who seek it. With training and experience from The Second City, The Annoyance Theatre, ComedySportz and ImprovOlympic, he continues to learn all he can about art and comedy. Jason was a member of ImprovOlympic's celebrated Harold team People of Earth for their entire six year run in Chicago, an experience to which he credits much of his success. Jason currently teaches writing and improvisation at the ImprovOlympic West where he performs regularly. He lives with his wife Marion in North Hollywood, California, where they hope to make plenty of art, plenty of money, and live happily ever after. Please root for them. |
| Molly Erdman has spent over two years with the Second City National Touring Company, performing and teaching in 40 different states and Vienna, Austria. She has performed at Chicago's ImprovOlympic with Valhalla, The Lindbergh Babies, and The Armando Diaz Experience. Molly is a proud founding member of the all-female ensemble Sirens, and she also continues to write and perform The Winston Revue with her husband Rich. Molly's first foray into comedy occured at age 10, when she sent "Weird Al" Yankovich the lyrics to her song parody "Like Detergent." |
| Rich Prouty is a native of Arizona who has studied improvisation at Second City, the Annoyance Theater and ImprovOlympic. He spent six years on the ImprovOlympic House Team /Valhalla/ and currently performs there with /Mr. Sir/ and for the past two years he has enjoyed improvising with Chicago's ComedySportz. Rich also portrays Mr. Winston in the wildly popular /Winston Revue/, a Las Vegas-style lounge act. Mr. and Mrs. Winston have performed at the 2002 Toronto Fringe Festival, ImprovOlympic's 20th Anniversary Show and hosted the Fifth Annual Chicago Improv Festival. Rich digs his wife Molly. |