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Deana Tolliver is the Director of Education
Improv Instructors Paul Dome
Paul Dome started performing with ImprovBoston in 2001 with Micestro and then joined the Mainstage cast in 2002. A Cubs fan in Red Sox nation, Paul originally hails from the suburbs of Chicago. Over the past 7 years, Paul has studied under various improv gurus at theaters from across the country, including Second City, ImprovOlympic, Upright Citizens Brigade, ImprovAsylum and ImprovBoston. Additionally, he has performed throughout New England and the US as well as internationally in Toronto and Puerto Rico. Past performances at ImprovBoston include Secret Society, Writer's Block, Radio Hour, George & Martha, The ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular, Bert, and Phys Ed with Coach Crotchky - a character-based improv show where he played Coach Crotchky. He has written for several ImprovBoston original productions and dabbled in voice over and video work. Recently, Paul became an ImprovBoston instructor and is excited about sharing his passion for the craft with others. As a final thought, Paul contends the Chicago-style hot dog is about the most perfect food.Steve Kleinedler
Steve Kleinedler began performing at ImprovBoston in 2001 in Micetro/UnNatural Selection. He has also been an ensemble member of Secret Society, Action Comix! and Agent Spy and is one half of Steve and Dana Do It and Rennie and LouAnn's Cocktail Hour. For ImprovBoston's showcase show series, he directed Ay Diego in 2004, BackStory in 2005, and The Robert Cycle in 2006. Additionally, he has directed the Hump Show runs of One Night at TF Green, I Got Into a Fight, and Crackers In Bed. He has been involved in improvised and scripted theatre since the early 1980s. He was a founder of Spontaneous Art! at Michigan State University in the mid 80s, was in the ensemble of the very brief lived Empty Pockets in Chicago, and went through the Player's Workshop of Second City program. In 1991, he was one of the founders of the critically acclaimed Shattered Globe Theatre in Chicago, and after moving to Boston in 1996, he was a member of the cable sketch comedy ensemble Abneria. Steve is a graduate of the Player's Workshop of Second City (1987) and IB's workshop program (2001), and also has taken workshops with Del Close & Charna Halpern, Mick Napier, Susan Messing, Joe Bill, Amy Poehler, and Keith Johnstone. Sharon Leckie
Sharon is a performer, instructor, director, and Boston Certified Artist (based on a three-year body of written work and performance).
Sharon performed with the Mainstage cast on Saturday nights at the ImprovBoston theater, as well as in several of ImprovBoston's fully-improvised showcase shows. She has also performed at national festivals and venues including: Second City and ImprovOlympic, Chicago, the Upright Citizen's Brigade, New York, and the Boston Center for the Arts. She appeared on London Weekend Television's Blind Date; was a finalist in the Boston 2000 Laugh Your Bass Off Comedy competition; has appeared in the PBS movie Breaking the Mold; and was Grace in Olive Barrel Productions' independent film That's Funny Isn't It? Sharon is the creative director for two of ImprovBoston's showcase productions including Boston Creem, the first all-female troupe whose run at the theater won great acclaim from The Boston Globe and was picked as one of Boston Magazine's critic's choices; participated in the Funny Women Festival at Second City, Chicago; and was a finalist in the Bass National Search for the best comedy troupe. She is also the guest director for Newton South's award-winning SouthStage Theater Program. Sharon teaches regularly for ImprovBoston's five-level training program and has facilitated training programs for clients such as Bates College, Jack Morton, and the Harvard Business School.
Sharon studied drama at Queen Mary's College, England, appearing in productions at Central Studio. She has received training with the Improv Asylum, Boston; the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater, New York; Mick Napier, Director of Second City, Chicago; and is an alumna of ImprovOlympic, Chicago, having worked specifically with Charna Halpern and Miles Stroth.Will Luera
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 for the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the National Fire Prevention Association, Northeastern University, Boston College and numerous regional, college, and high school improv troupes. Will continues to direct the ImprovBoston Mainstage, but has also worked with Improv Asylum, The Tribe Theater, The Alarm Clock Theater, and Another Country Productions.David Marino
David has been with ImprovBoston since 1997. He played with ImprovBoston's Mainstage for 8 years, teaches regularly with ImprovBoston University, and directed Micetro as well as the non-competitive elimination shows Comedy in the Round and UnNatural Selection. He conceived and directed various showcase and special shows, including Archipelago, Pirate Lives, Groaners and Boners and Agent Spy, which was showcased at the 2004 Chicago Improv Festival. David has also performed in Red Herrings, Radio Hour, The ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular, TheatreSports, Musical the Musical, and the three-year run of the fully improvised fantasy-based serial, Quest. He was in the original cast of the Rough n Tumble Theater Company's production of The Silent Movie Play. He performed in Blazing Appalachia with Theater One, Hello Dolly with the Corinth Theater Guild, and A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Cardboard Alley players. He has also worked on various projects with The Improv Asylum and The Tribe. David has studied improvisation with many of the improv masters such as Mick Napier, Susan Messing, Joe Bill, and Keith Johnstone. David is currently the Manager of the Visitor Experience at Boston Childrens Museum. Using basic theater and improvisation techniques, he has created a unique, industry-renowned visitor interaction philosophy which is used as a customer service template for children's museums around the world. Don Schuerman
Don Schuerman has been performing with ImprovBoston since 1997, after four years with My Mother's Fleabag (Boston College). He is a member of ImprovBoston's Mainstage and appeared in the original casts of Sitcom, Musical! the Musical, Election! and Secret Society. He was director of ImprovBoston's ongoing production of TheatreSports from 1999 to 2004 and directed ImprovBoston's 2001 showcase show productions of The ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular and Red Herrings, which was selected as a feature performance at the 2002 Chicago Improv Festival. He has appeared at the Comedy Connection, the Comedy Studio, the Chicago Improv Festival, the Toyota Comedy Festival and Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. Don has studied improvisation with ImprovOlympic, The Second City, The Annoyance Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade and Keith Johnstone. He can be seen on Canadian television in the Comedy Network's World Improv Championships, where he was twice named Most Valuable Player. Don is the Director of Programming for ImprovBoston.Elyse Schuerman
Elyse Schuerman has been performing with ImprovBoston's Mainstage since the spring of 1999. In addition to Mainstage, Elyse has been a part of such showcase shows as Boston Creem, Writer's Block, Commedia dell'High School, and BackStory, and has performed and written for the Holiday Spectacular and GoreFest shows. She performed in the Del Close Longform festival and The Scene, both in New York and at the Chicago Improv Festival. Elyse graduated with a BA in Theatre and Education from Flagler College in Florida. Directing credits include ImprovBoston's Micetro, UnNatural Selection, Radio Hour, and Misunderstood. She has also directed scripted theatre in Boston and in Florida. Elyse has taught adults at ImprovBoston and ImprovNashville and young students throughout Massachusetts. Elyse has studied improvisation with Mick Napier, Susan Messing, Joe Bill, and Keith Johnstone. By day, Elyse is Managing Director of ImprovBoston.David Totty
David Totty joined ImprovBoston's TheatreSports cast as a full-time member in 2004. He has studied and performed improv, stand up, and sketch comedy in and around Boston since 1999. As the Artistic Director of The Mystery Café, David has written, produced, directed, and acted in many Boston area dinner shows. He is an instructor in ImprovBoston's training program and helped design the improv course at The Boston Center for Adult Education. He is a licensed general contractor and puts his background in mechanical systems and industrial controls to work as ImprovBoston's Technical Director. Erik Volkert
Erik Volkert has both directed and performed in the UMass Amherst chapter of Mission: IMPROVable, and has appeared in two independent films. He has been a member of the cast at ImprovBoston since 2001, and during that time has been in the Blue Screen, Writer's Block, Seasons 1 through 3 of Quest, CyberQuest, Action Comix, Pirate Lives, Holiday Spectacular, and Commedia dell'High School showcase shows, as well as Space Mission 5000 with The Tribe. Erik is currently a member of the cast of TheatreSports. Robert Woo Robert Woo's improv comedy experience includes training at ImprovBoston and workshops with various improv gurus including Armando Diaz, Asaf Ronen, Susan Messing, and Joe Bill. He has performed in showcase shows with IB and also as a cast member of the Family Show, which was formed from a group he co-founded called Wrong Kind of Funny. He has also performed with Tribe Boston in various capacities including Sister/Brother, The Rumble, The Woo Crew, the two-person show Botched, The Mainstage Tribe Players, the Dream Show, and as producer/assistant director of Sea Mission. Currently, he performs as a member of IB's TheatreSports . He is the director of a Boston-based short form improv group Flaming Awesome, and teaches improv at the Boston Center for Adult Education as well as ImprovBoston. He is also busy writing, filming, and acting in video sketches with his production company Hard Left Productions (www.youtube.com/hardleftprod).
David Mogolov, Head of Writing Department David Mogolov has been hanging around ImprovBoston in various capacities since 2002 when he performed his one-man show "One Night at T.F. Green." The show was selected to appear at Chicago's SINGLE FILE festival and was referred to by at least one attendee as "quite funny." Since then he has written and performed another one-man show, "I Got in a Fight", two oddball "Ameriprov" shows with Steve Kleinedler, and numerous other shows as part of the Sgt. Culpepper Jamboree and "The Artistic Director Presents..." He co-wrote and performed "Diptych" with Sara Faith Alterman in the fall of 2008, and is currently a writer and actor in IB's sketch troupe, "The Ruckus." He teaches in the ImprovBoston comedy writing program, and will occasionally be spotted performing standup.
Neil Reynolds Neil Reynolds hails from New Hampshire, a Boston suburb. When not playing on ImprovBoston's Mainstage, Neil tours with Code Duello: Hamilton & Burr, and writes/produces for screen, stage, and radio. Recent projects include internet audio play The Chagoon Conspiracy and postmodern variety show The Wasteland Comedy Hour with T.S. Eliot! He also teaches improv and sketch writing workshops at ImprovBoston. He's an aspiring screenwriter. He has a website. Dave Sawyer Dave Sawyer has been a sketch writer and performer for over seven years. He joined ImprovBoston in 2005 and is currently a member of the Mainstage cast as well as the new ImprovBoston sketch troupe. His two-man sketch comedy show, Sawyer & Hurley, has been performed in New York and in Boston where it became a winning act in the Tribe's World's Best Variety Showdown in 2005. He was a writer and performer with the Boston sketch troupe, The Uncommonwealth. He was also a writer for Comedy Bronze, the sketch troupe of the Tribe Theater. Other past sketch credits include The Tijuana Bible Beaters in Boston, and The Troubled Shores Comedy Lab on Martha's Vineyard. He is the producer and co-writer of the showcase, Laugh Track, which was performed at ImprovBoston in January and Feburary 2008. He is currently appearing in Off Book, a sketch comedy showcase at ImprovBoston in March and April 2008. He is a graduate of The Second City conservatory where he studied improv, sketch comedy writing and performance. Deana Tolliver Deana Tolliver joined ImprovBoston in 2005 as a member of the ImprovBoston Family Show. In addition Deana has also performed in various other IB shows including Up With Family, Save the Date, What the Dickens, and French Kiss Me Kate. Deana attended Emerson College where studied Radio and Comedy Writing. While there she was a member of the critically acclaimed sketch comedy troupe The Swollen Monkey Showcase. She was a founding member of the sketch comedy troupe Sissies and has written and performed in several live radio comedies. Deana has taught improv techniques to students all over New England ranging in age from 3 to adult. She has developed targeted workshops for children with special needs, adolescents struggling with self-esteem, and elementary school teachers looking for ways to draw out the best in every student. A graduate of the ImprovBoston University Workshop Program, Deana has also studied with Mike Bent, Susan Messing and Joe Bill.
Dana Bein
Dana Jay Bein is a comedian originally from West Springfield, Massachusetts. There, in 1997, he began doing stand-up comedy and developed a cult following who dubbed him the Bastard Son of Comedy. He has performed stand-up comedy at venues throughout New England and is the director of the stand-up comedy curriculum at ImprovBoston. You can take a stand-up class under his guidance at ImprovBoston or across the Charles where he is also an instructor at the Boston Center for Adult Education. ImprovBoston has known Dana since 2001 where he began performing in the Micetro/UnNatural Selection cast on Thursday nights. He has been a cast member in ImprovBoston Showcase shows such as Quest, Action Comix, Felt, In the Garage, GoreFest IV, Dana and Steve Do It, Law and Puppet and Fort Awesome (which was selected to perform in comedy festivals in Toronto and DC). You can find Dana in all of his graces at ImprovBoston on Friday nights at 10PM in the TheatreSports cast or in this fall's Gorefest V - Blood on the Bayou. Check out his website - www.danajaybein.com. |
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