THEY
are some of New England's best performers, presenting corporate
and private shows for some of the biggest companies in the area.
Each has years of professional experience performing live in front
of audiences, but who are THEY improv New England?
Michelle
Barbera
Michelle
is our resident powerhouse. In addition to her work with THEY
improv, Michelle is also a main stage cast member at ImprovBoston
in Cambridge, and was a founding member and Executive Artistic
Director of The Tribe.
She co-produced and acted in The Tribe's Space Mission 5000
and DVD Commentary, which was performed at the Toronto
Improv Festival in 2004. She has performed with Skitches
(sketch comedy), ImprovBoston's Project D, Grimmprov,
and George and Martha, The Tribe's Mr. and Mrs. Phelps,
Big in Japan as well as Faces for Radio, My Dinner
with Harry, Micah Sherman & Michelle Barbera, and Stand
Uprov. She directed The Sosny's, Sister Brother
and Brescia & Swaim, and alternately directed and appeared
in The Aside Project. She is currently directing a sketch
comedy show Tales from the Script, which will be performed
throughout January 2007 at ImprovBoston.
Maria
Ciampa
Maria
is our resident stand-up comedienne. An alumna of the Improv Asylum’s
Mainstage, she has been writing, performing, and directing comedy
since 2001. She does stand-up, sketch, and improv in clubs and
theaters all over the Northeast. She also provides emcee services
for corporate events and is sought after by comedy clubs. Maria
performed her self-produced solo show, Family Shmamily,
for audiences in Boston and New York. Besides being a top-notch
improv comedienne, she also performs in our murder mystery shows.
Her show schedule and videos are on her website, which you can
see by clicking
here.
Patrick
French
Patrick
is our resident Buckeye. Originally hailing from Akron, Ohio (formerly
the Rubber Capital of the World), Patrick French has been performing
as an actor and improviser throughout the Boston area since 2002.
He came to ImprovBoston in July 2005 as a member of UnNatural
Selection, and is currently performing with the amazingly
talented (and loud) cast of TheatreSports. Prior to joining
ImprovBoston he enjoyed performing stints with the Improv Asylum's
NXT cast and The Tribe. He was also recently named ImprovBoston's
2005 Rookie of the Year. Some of his other credits include the
role of Darius in ImprovBoston's GoreFest III: The Gruesome
Tale of Penny Dreadful, Donald Rumsfeld in Voice of the
White House, PigPen in The Sixth Annual ImprovBoston Spectacular:
What The Dickens?! and Walker Harris in the SouthCity Theatre's
production of Two Rooms. He also once threw a snowball
at a moving police car to impress a girl - proving he'll do anything
to make you love him.
Marc Hirsh
Marc
is our resident improv vagabond. He has performed professionally
as an improviser across the globe including the Southwest, Midwest,
New England and even New Zealand. He has performed for several
productions at ImprovBoston
including Unnatural Selection, TheatreSports, Radio Hour, GoreFest
and Micetro. He has also performed in ComedySportz
in both Houston and Indianapolis. He has a broad range of experience
in interactive shows including murder mysteries with the Mystery
Cafe and playing Mickey Finn at Flanagan's Wake.
Will
Luera
Will
is our resident improv God. There is almost not an area of improv
in New England that has not felt the touch of Will Luera. He is
the Artistic Director of ImprovBoston,
Artistic Director of the Lowell Comedy Festival, Mainstage Director
at ImprovAsylum, and Artistic Associate of the Chicago Improv
Festival. He helped to start the Boston franchise of Sitcom. He
has appeared in numerous improv festivals around the world and
has studied improvisation with ImprovOlympic, The Second City,
The Annoyance Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and Keith
Johnstone. He has taught improvisation classes for the Young Presidents
Organization (YPO), the National Fire Prevention Association,
Northeastern University, and Boston College. He has directed shows
for the ImprovAsylum,
The Tribe Theater, Another
Country Productions, and The Alarm Clock Theater. He has also
directed short films for the 48-hour film festival and Filmerica,
both of which were considered highlights of the festival. If that
weren't enough, in 2004, Will was the Boston and national winner
of PAX-TVs World Cup Comedy.
Todd
Rice (Director)
Todd
is our resident Know It All and has done just about everything
in and out of improv. He is a 2 in the Kevin Bacon game, having
had a brief but uncredited appearance in The Fugitive with
Harrison Ford. He worked for the Speaker of the House in Washington,
DC, did cost-benefit analysis for the FAA, and worked on the floor
of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Todd works in the IT world
helping companies get their sites online. He performed with Improv
Olympic in Chicago (now called IO), Cirque de so Lame,
Laughing Gas, Comics Anonymous, The One Nighters,
and THEY improv in South Florida. He trained at the
Second City, Improv Olympic, Blue Velveeta and Laughing Gas.
He trained with improv luminaries and gurus Del Close, Martin
de Maat, Don de Pollo, Jay Leggett, Ron West, Charna Halpern,
and Michael Gelman.
Zach
Sherwin
Zach
is our resident tall guy. Zach has honed his comedy chops over
the last six years performing with sketch comedy group The
Late Night Players, a nationally-touring company based
in Cambridge and Somerville. He has performed at such Boston-area
comedy venues as ImprovBoston, Improv Asylum, the
Comedy Studio, and Jimmy Tingle’s Off-Broadway Theater.
His many festival credits include the Philadelphia Fringe, the
D.C. Comedy Fest, and the Charleston (SC) Comedy Festival. Currently
Zach continues touring with The Late Night Players and
is one-half of indie hip-hop duo Headspace,
recording as his alter ego MC Mr. Napkins.
Robert Woo
Robert
is our resident improv braniac. Having attended workshops with
various improv gurus including Armando Diaz, Asaf Ronen, Susan
Messing, and Joe Bill, he brings his talents to the creation and
directing of various troupes and shows throughout the area. He
has been a mainstay at Improv Boston, The Tribe and many other
local troupes. He has performed in showcases such as the Family
Show, Wrong Kind of Funny, Sister/Brother, The Rumble, The Woo
Crew, Botched, The Mainstage Tribe Players, 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 will be teaching
improv for the YesAnd practice groups, as well as at the
Boston Center for Adult Education. He is also busy writing, filming,
and acting in video sketches with his production company Hard
Left Productions.
Headshots of Todd Rice appear courtesy
of Bob Lasky.
To communicate with us in
regards to potential bookings for corporate or private events,
improv classes or other purposes, you can contact us at info@THEYimprov.com
or call the THEY improv New England hotline at (866) 219-4FUN
(219-4386) or (305) 948-7750.
If you would like us to update you on future public shows or charity
events, please contact us and ask to be part of our mailing list.
You'll start receiving emails about our upcoming performances
along with discounts on tickets. Simply email info@THEYimprov.com.
We hope to hear from you soon and see you at a show.
