IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE CHICAGOâ„
Fridays & Saturdays
8pm
The iO Theater
1501 Kingsbury St
Box Office: 312.300.3350
CAST
Brooke Breit is a resident stage alum of the Second City e.t.c. (A Clown Car Named Desire and Apes of Wrath). She also performed with The Second City National Touring Company and numerous other shows at Second City, iO Chicago and The Annoyance. She can be seen on television shows like Easy, Shrink and Hot Date, and heard as Flower on the popular podcast Hello From the Magic Tavern
Joe Burton is co-founder and Executive Director of Bughouse Theater and a Children's Librarian at Chicago Public Library. He is a member of The Fowler Family Radio Hour. He is a former member of Improv groups such as Otis, Warden's Daughter and the Signatures. If you lived in Minnesota between 2010 and 2013, you may have seen him in a cheese commercial. You may also have heard him as a guest on the Magic Tavern Podcast or as various characters on the aforementioned Fowler Family Radio Hour Podcast. He was also a member of NC State's 1999 National Championship Ultimate Frisbee Team.
Andy Carey is a writer/performer from Boise, Idaho. After receiving his BFA in theater from the University of Idaho, he trained and subsequently taught at the iO Theater and Second City Conservatory. Andy has performed for and toured with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Goodman Theatre, The Second City Chicago, and the iO Theater. TV credits include Barry (HBO), Paper Girls (Amazon Prime Video), Justified: City Primeval (FX). You can hear him as returning characters Spurt the Elder and Grimhoof (the fifth fastest horse in Foon) on the hit podcast Hello From the Magic Tavern. He's been nominated for two SAG Awards for Barry (Ensemble in a Comedy Series). His two sons are big dudes that like to party. Find him on IG @misterandycarey
Bryan Duff is a Chicago comedian who also performs with Baby Wants Candy and his independent group, The Blue Angels. He's previously performed a few solo shows at the Chicago Sketchfest and had his comedy featured in the American Bystander, the Austin Comedy Film Festival, and McSweeneys Internet Tendency. He's the co-host of 15 Minutes With Lincoln, a comedy podcast with the returned spirit of Abraham Lincoln and performs sketch comedy online with his group Rich Parents (@parentsrich). You can find him everywhere at @bryanevansduff or at bryanevansduff.com
Erica Elam is a Chicago-based actor, director, writer, and teacher from Nashville, TN. She improvises all over the world with the critically-acclaimed improv groups, Baby Wants Candy and The Improvised Shakespeare Company. She has performed at world-renowned theaters including The Kennedy Center, The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Northlight, Peninsula Players, and The Second City. TV/Film credits include Chicago Fire (NBC) and The Merry Gentleman directed by and starring Michael Keaton. You can hear her as “The Singing Sword” on the podcast Hello, from the Magic Tavern and as the host of the Jackbox game Monster Seeking Monster. She recently earned her Masters of Applied Positive Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania, graduating with special distinction, and is a graduate of The University of Georgia, The School at Steppenwolf, and The Second City Conservatory.
Kiley Fitzgerald started their comedy career at Boston's Improv Asylum, proving: if you can make people laugh in the basement of a CVS, you can make them laugh anywhere. Kiley then spent a few years doing comedy on cruise ships with The Second City, then to the Second City Tour Co, and finally to The Second City Mainstage as a part of the 110th review: Do The Right Thing, No Worries if Not. Kiley is so truly honored to be a part of such an iconic show, like Improvised Shakespeare, where it's just brothers in blouses and short pants making the monarchy crumble.
Peter Gwinn is an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and improviser. He's performed with ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theater in NYC, the Armando show in Chicago, and is the founder of the musical improv group Baby Wants Candy. He was one of the original writers for The Colbert Report on Comedy Central and Alpha House on Amazon Prime. He currently writes for the NPR news quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!
Mike Jimerson is an actor and improvisor based in Chicago. A longtime performer at iO Chicago, he played with The Armando Diaz Experience, The Scene, and the house team Sears Tower. He was also a regular performer at Chicago's CIC Theater and an ensemble member of the sketch revues Trap and Undressed. His television credits include Fargo (FX), Chicago Fire (NBC), neXt (Fox), and Chicago Med (NBC). Film credits include Twain: Cancelled (Kernel Productions), An Exquisite Meal (Objay Dart Films) and Perpetrator (WTFilms). Mike has a degree in graphic design and illustration from the Kansas City Art Institute and he loves to paint and play music in his free time.
Sayjal Joshi grew up in Greensboro, NC where she co-founded a really cool improv comedyclub called The Idiot Box. Performance credits include The Kennedy Center, The Goodman,Wooly Mammoth Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Second City e.t.c., TheSecond City National Touring Company,Improvised ShakespeareChicago,The Annoyance,ComedySportz, Laugh Out Loud Theater, critically acclaimed Asian-American sketchensemble, Stir-Friday Night!, Proven Innocent (FOX), and Empire (FOX). Writing andpodcast credits include Second City Works, Chicago Comedy Company, Just for Laughs, andHello, from the Magic Tavern, where Sayjal created and voices the characterFoofina, asnake princess from the jungles of Spartanga in the 32nd dimension
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Katie Klein was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. After graduating from Indiana University, she moved to our nation's capital where she fell in love with improv. She began performing in Washington DC, with iMusical at the Washington Improv Theater and with friends at the DC Improv. She then moved to Chicago and trained at iO and Second City. She is an alumni of the Second City e.t.c stage, writing and performing in two reviews: Fantastic Super Great Nation Numero Uno, and previously A Red Line Runs Through It. She performs improv with The Late 90’s, and Super Human and whenever she can with her incredible husband Neil in Ed and Kath. You can catch her in a few TV shows and commercials (The Red Line, Shrink, Joe Pera Talks with You, Chicago Justice, Work in Progress). She has been working for many years as writer and facilitator for different organizations bringing the world of improv to anyone who will listen. She co owns and operates The Shalom Collaboration and Super Human Collective. thiskatieklein.com
Beth Melewski has been an actor and improviser in Chicago for over 20 years. She has performed in multiple shows at iO Chicago including, Virgin Daiquiri and The Armando Diaz Experience. Beth was a proud member of The Second City Chicago family where she wrote and performed in the Jeff award nominated shows, “The Second City Guide to the Opera” and “The Absolute Best Friggin’ Time of Your Life” in addition to the Jeff Award winning “Studs Terkel’s Not Working”. Television credits include Work in Progress (Showtime), Arrested Development (Netflix) and one season as the host of Chicago Cash Cab (Discovery). You may recognize her voice as Claudia the Witch on the podcast Hello, from the Magic Tavern. Beth loves dogs who have their own Instagram page and is a licensed professional counselor. Buy her a drink and she won’t give you therapy.
John Sabine is an actor and improviser from Dallas, Texas. He has performed in Chicago for over fifteen years with such ensembles as The Improvised Shakespeare Company, The Late 90's, and The Second City. Television Credits include Chicago Fire (NBC), Beer Money (NBC Sports Chicago), and Bull's Outsiders (NBC Sports Chicago) John has also run the social accounts for Velveeta, Claussen Pickles, Oscar Mayer, and Mavrello Bollovic. You can follow him on Twitter @JSabine214
Kevin Sciretta graduated SUNY Fredonia with a BA in Theatre and has lived in Chicago since 2002. Second City stage credits include Let Them Eat Chaos (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), The Good, the Bad and the I-5 (La Jolla Playhouse), The Incomplete Guide to Everything, #DateMe. At the Annoyance Theater, he was featured in Kevin Sciretta: King of Talking. He has also performed on numerous teams at iO Chicago. Thanks to his family, his Chicago family and Carisa. @kevinsciretta
Blaine Swen (Founder) is the creator and director of The Improvised Shakespeare Company®. He haas performed for many years at iO Chicago where his credits include the two-person group Blessing with Susan Messing and his award-winning one-person improvised musical BASH! Additional Chicago stage credits include The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pegasus Players Theatre, The Backroom Shakespeare Project, and The Second City. Television credits include Crisis (NBC), The Odd Couple (CBS), and Star vs The Forces of Evil (Disney). He has developed original pilots with NBC, Universal Cable Productions, and Pop TV. You can hear him as Arnor the Warrior on the podcast Hello, from the Magic Tavern. In 2010 the Chicago Reader named him the "Best Improviser in Chicago." Blaine also has a PhD in philosophy from Loyola University, Chicago.
Zach Thompson is a graduate of Illinois State University. In addition to The ISC, he has performed for many years in Chicago with ComedySportz Chicago, iO Chicago, and The Hot Karl. His TV/film credits include Mystery Science Theater 3000 seasons 11 & 12 (Alternaversal). He was a writer on Mystery Science Theater 3000 season 11 and has appeared on podcasts such as Those Who Aunt, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Mega the Podcast. Zach is a 2-time ComedySportz Chicago MVP. Follow him on twitter: @Pocketthunder
Ric Walker (Director) is an actor, writer, and entertainer. He is currently the director of Improvised Shakespeare Chicago and a founding member of the team. His credits include performing at The Goodman, in Chicago, the Alliance in Atlanta and for The Second City Chicago, among many other stages. He has worked internationally as an emcee and corporate spokesman for Fortune 500 companies. On Camera, he has been seen on Chicago Fire and Chicago PD and for a season on Fox TV’s APB. Ric is also a professor in the nation’s first Comedy Writing and Performance Major at Columbia College Chicago.
Matt Young is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. In addition to performing with Improvised Shakespeare since 2011, Matt is a founding member of Whirled News Tonight; the long-running improvised satire. He also performed and coached teams at the iO Theater for over a decade. He has appeared in commercials and performed voiceover for companies such as Amazon Fresh, Jobs Ohio, Ripple Milk, Fisher Nuts, PowerStop, Honda, Cameron’s Coffee, and Old Style. Matt’s film credits include Joan & Ted (Kartemquin Films), Fools (24 Truth Productions), and Speed Dating (Meghann rArtes). Matt is best known as Usidore the Wizard from the hit improvised comedy podcast Hello from the Magic Tavern for which he won a 2019 Audioverse Award; Player in an Improvised Production. He also led the crew of the U.S.S. Sisyphus as Captain Baxter in the Improvised Star Trek podcast for ten years for which he won a 2016 Audioverse Award; Best Performance of an Actor in a Fan/Adaptation Production. Matt is has a crippling addiction to collecting board games, LEGO, Transformers, and superhero toys, but to make him more palatable, he’s become a better than average home chef. You can follow him at @morepeoplehappy
TECH
Chuck Cotterman (Lead Tech)
Paige Driscoll
Aadam Jacobs