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Theater Staff

Zach Ward | Managing Director

Zach Ward currently hustles around the clock as Managing Director of ImprovBoston as well as Lead Executive Coach and Sales Director for the ImprovBoston Touring Company. Zach believes in power of comedy, improvisation and social entrepreneurship. Founder of DSI Comedy Theater and also Founder and Executive Producer of the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival, Zach has been performing comedy for 20 years. He has received critical acclaim from the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune for DUAL EXHAUST (Top 10 “Most Influential Comedy Duos of the Past Decade”) and THE BEATBOX (Critic’s Choice, Best Bet, Chicago’s “Top 5 Latenight Shows”). Zach has studied the art of improvisation with Todd Stashwick (Burn Mahattan), Mick Napier and Susan Messing (Annoyance), Craig Cackowski and TJ Jagodowski (IO), Matt Besser (UCB), Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live), Michael Gelman (Second City), and with every student he teaches. Zach translates success both in business and on stage to Professional Speaking, Business and Brand Consulting, Leadership Development and Team Building for clients including The Monitor Group, Biogen, Proctor & Gamble, Motorola Latin America, Scynexis, Cisco and The Center For Creative Leadership. (@zachward)

Mike Descoteaux | Artistic Director

Mike Descoteaux is the Artistic Director for ImprovBoston as well as the Director of the ImprovBoston Touring Company and a regular instructor in the ImprovBoston Comedy School. He is the former director of the nationally renown Charles River Creative Arts Program outside of Boston, founder of the Music Program at The Second City Training Center and former music director of the Second City ETC stage in Chicago. In addition to collaborating with many of the country's finest improvisers and respected Second City alumni, Mike has had the privilege of working alongside Tony, Emmy and Oscar Award-winning artists. He has “composed” and “conducted” over 1,000 completely improvised musicals with Musical! The Musical, Baby Wants Candy (head music director), One Night Only: Off-Broadway, I Eat Pandas, and Jazz Hands Across America (artistic director). Mike is the director/creator of the hit satire The Best Church of God (voted "best comedy in Chicago", "critic's pick" and subject of multiple feature stories in the Chicago Tribune) and has been seen on NBC, CBS, A&E, and WGN. Mike, a Northwestern grad, has received a Jeff Award, After Dark Award, Paynter Award and was named one of the top young songwriters in the country by the Johnny Mercer/AMTP association. Mike is thrilled to combine his experience in improv, teaching, directing, music and arts management into this one dream position serving this one dream community.

Emily Holland | Assistant to the Managing Director

Emily Holland gracefully attempts to keep up with Zach’s daily #hustle in the ImprovBoston office as the Assistant to the Managing Director. Emily is also a regular cast member, producer of the College Comedy Festival, and instructor at ImprovBoston’s Comedy School. She believes in the balance of life and passionately does all she can behind the scenes to ensure the best for guests and performers. Performing comedy for almost ten years, Emily has been fortunate to perform around the world. In 2011, she took the stage with ImprovBoston at the Tokyo Improv Festival to perform alongside Tokyo’s ImproJapan. Emily became a producer of the College Comedy Festival in 2012, transforming a competition between college troupes into a complete weekend festival of competition, shows and workshops. She can be found on stage Saturday nights with the Family Show or in various ImprovBoston showcase shows. Emily is also a cast member of ImprovBoston’s Touring Company, bringing customized comedy and workshops to corporate, private or school events.

Dana Jay Bein | Project Manager, Standup Director

Dana Jay Bein is a standup comedian, improviser and motivator. Dana has made his life in comedy at ImprovBoston, where he the head of the Standup Program, a company cast member (Face Off / MISTER DIPLOMAT) and a veteran instructor of the ImprovBoston Comedy School. He has brought his performances and workshops to Boston College, MIT, Stonehill College, Boston University, Wellesley College, Dartmouth College, Northeastern University and UMass Boston. In 2008, Dana was featured as a standup coach on MTV and has performed in over 1,000 shows to date. He currently produces, books and hosts The Peoples Show and The Comedy Lottery at ImprovBoston in Cambridge, MA. Voted Best Boston Comedian on Twitter in 2012 by readers of the Boston Comedy Scene Examiner (@danajaybein)

Jeff Perry | Comedy School Administrator

Jeff Perry is the producer of ImprovBoston's Harold Night as well as a cast member of Specter and the director of Rich Uncle. He has been performing at ImprovBoston since 2007, where he is an instructor and the Comedy School administrator. Jeff is an alumnus of former Harold Night teams Birthday Milk, Marjean, and Plan B, as well as Neutrino Video Projects Boston, and Rhode Island's Unexpected Company.

Blair Howell | Chair, Board of Directors

Blair Howell has served on the Board of Directors since 2007. As an Executive Producer for massAV, Blair has produced events, videos and business communication tools that have strategically and effectively communicated with audiences across the globe. Blair’s strong business, technical and theatrical experience energetically conspire to ensure that there is a sense of energy on the stage and in your video - and that your specific audience receives the carefully designed experience that we have prepared for them. Blair is an avid gardener, camper, hiker, biker and licensed skydiver – and lives with his wife Nancy, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats and 14 chickens. Blair also sits on the Board of SMEI (Sales and Marketing Executives International).

Will Luera | Artistic Director Emeritus

Will Luera joined ImprovBoston in 1997 as a member of the ImprovBoston Mainstage. Within two years he joined the TheatreSports cast and also became the director of Sitcom. In 1999, he left ImprovBoston to start his own improvisational theater company called Blue Screen, where he continued to direct Sitcom but also developed and directed Secret Society and Dropkick Bandito. In 2000, he rejoined ImprovBoston as Artistic Director, directing the Mainstage cast as well as premiere productions of Sitcom, Secret Society, Blue Screen, and Quest. He has appeared at the Chicago Improv Festival, New York Improv Festival, Greater Boston Improv Festival, and Toyota Comedy Festival and has studied improvisation with ImprovOlympic, The Second City, The Annoyance Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and Keith Johnstone. In addition to his work at ImprovBoston, Will has taught improvisation classes all over the country and around the world, representing ImprovBoston as far east as Japan.