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Un-Scripted
Theater Company Ensemble
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Alan
Goy (Staff)
Alan Goy is an improvisor, actor, director, and internationally produced, award-winning playwright. Alan's play, Il Lago, was performed in Bologna, Italy in May 2005. He performed with BATS Improv for over 3 years and has been with The Un-Scripted Theater Company since 2003. He will be directing Impact Theatre's annual production of locally written one-acts, Impact Briefs: Puberty, in Berkeley in May. He blogs at experimentfarm.com.
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Alex Curtis
Alex Curtis is a Bay Area actor and improvisor and a proud member of the Un-Scripted ensemble. Alex has been improvising for over eight years, and has trained with performance groups across the state including ComedySportz LA, Bay Area Theater Sports, and Un-Scripted. Alex is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied acting and directing. He will next be seen in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with the Marin Shakespeare Company (July 25 - September 27). Alex will play the role of the lost twin Sebastian.
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Bryce Byerley
Bryce Byerley is and has always been an actor. He has noticed that over the years his show list has gotten bigger and his bio gets smaller. This is his first year as an actual member of Un-Scripted and it doesn't suck...
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Christian
Utzman (Staff)
Christian Utzman (a founding
member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company) began his
career as an improv actor doing street theater at
Renaissance Faire in 93. In 97 Christian
got involved in staged improvisational theater at
College of Marin studying Johnstonian improv (Keith
Johnstone is the author of both Impro
and Impro
for Storytellers). To hone his craft, Christian
joined as many improv troupes as he could. So far
his hard work has landed him in a veritable plethora
of improv groups including: Cannibals at High Tea;
The Tuesday Night Players; Treated and Released; The
Fibbs; the BATS
Improv Sunday Players and The
Belfry, The Un-Scripted Theater Company, and countless
other smaller troupes. When Christian isn't on stage
he's teaching,
studying, or watching improv, and despite all the
time he spends on stage these days, he still finds
time to head back to his roots and do street theater
once or twice a year. Whats Christian doing
right now? Check his website at www.improvactor.com.
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Clay Robeson
Clay Robeson broke free of his corporate shackles in 2003 to pursue a life in the Creative Arts. He has performed and taught improv in New England, Atlanta, and the Bay Area, and also appeared on The Learning Channel, G4-Tech TV, and in High School Musical 3. When not on stage with Un-Scripted, he produces the San Francisco Improv Festival and the sketch comedy show Moron Life (www.MoronLife.com). He's also an amateur photographer and homebrewer.
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Dave
Dyson (Staff)
Called “hilarious”,
“effective”, and “a tv-fed, anal-retentive
moron” by members of the press, Dave got bit
by the improv bug (Theatraea Improvicus) in 1996.
Since then he’s performed and taught improv with East
Bay Improv, was a founding member of improv
troupe The
Fibbs, performed as a Sunday Player at BATS
Improv, appeared in scripted plays
with Impact
Theatre and elsewhere, tv web and radio commercials, and in indie films such as the future cult classic
Unflinching Triumph. Want him for a gig?
Contact the Look Talent Agency.
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Mandy
Khoshnevisan (Staff)
Mandy Khoshnevisan is an
improvisor, actor, teacher, singer, and all-around Working
Artist. Her main vocation is, basically, bringing art to the people—teaching improv, acting, storytelling, playwriting, music, and dance in schools and throughout the Bay Area. She is also a graphic designer and theater electrician.
September 2006 marked her ten-year improv anniversary! Over
the past ten years, she's been a performing member of
Spontaneous Generation (SponGe), the Stanford
Improvisors, Scenic Root Longform, and BATS Improv—and
The Un-Scripted Theater Company.
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Susan
Snyder
Susan Snyder is in her second decade of
improvising. Susan specializes in teaching practical applications
of improv including presentation skills, teamwork, improving
interpersonal skills and saying "yes" to life. In addition to
teaching improv, Susan makes up her career by working as a drama
therapist with seniors and also, as a production associate for
Illuminata Films.
She is proud to be a founding member of The Un-Scripted Theater
Company and part of Maya Sedgewick's MusicCircus. Susan has
previously been seen making things up with BATS Improv,
id figures, The Fibbs and East Bay Improv.
Prior to becoming an improvisor, Susan was a playwright and experienced
the most enjoyable performance of one her plays in a parking lot in
Cork, Ireland.
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Our Esteemed Ensemble Alumni
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Amber
Price
A lifelong performer, Amber began improvising in
1999. In addition to Un-Scripted, she is currently the lead teaching
artist for The Super Dupers and a puppeteer with
Omax Pi Puppetry. With a friend, she recently began writing and publishing
Creative Byproducts of Magical Meat Machines, a free zine in which
they jointly explore various philosophical questions.
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Brian
McBride
Brian’s passion in
life is creating entertainment. Studying film and
theater in Ashland, Oregon, he was part of countless
plays with both the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and
Southern Oregon University. He also directed, produced
and acted in a handful of various independent film
projects, such as “El Pato” and “Birdseed
or Blood.” In 1998 Brian relocated to the bay
area to work as a computer film effects artist. Not
leaving his theater background behind, Brian joined
BATS Improv where he performed improvisational theater
for many years before co-founding The Un-Scripted
Theater Company. Brian currently resides in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Alex, where he runs
Tour Anything, the leader in building
customized rich-media product tours.
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Cort
Worthington
Cort Worthington was born
in the charming little village of Enumclaw, Washington.
He never really looked for a full time job after high
school, spending 14 (sheesh!) summers as a forest
fire fighter, the final four as a parachuting US Smokejumper.
That was neat. During the 80s Cort lived for
stints in Israel, Japan, & Nicaragua, picking
up Spanish after much toil. By the early 90s
hed found a little direction and attended film
school at Stanford and UCLA. In 1996 Cort co-founded
the toy company Primordial, makers of the building
toy ZOOB. In 1997 he launched Illuminata
Films, which produces documentaries and comedic
corporate films in San Francisco (what a city!) Corts
two great loves are Susan his wonderful wife (also
of Un-Scripted Theater Company fame), and, well, life.
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Glenn
Etter
Glenn Etter has always enjoyed
making up stories and pretending to be other people.
This habit has served him well in improv, but has
had mixed results in his jobs and personal relationships.
A founding member of The Un-Scripted Theater Company
and The
Fibbs, Glenn has been performing with a variety
of improv troupes since 1997.
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Jennifer Kah
Jennifer Kah is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater, the Jean Shelton Acting Lab, Stanislavski Acting Group, The Method Warehouse, and BATS Improv. She is queen of the student film and princess of the 15-minute short film. She also has the distinction of playing Maggie the Cat in three different productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She performed for 3 years with Cast Off Theater Production Group, doing plays all over California. Finally improvisational theater became her focus and she has spent the past seven years performing in different improv groups, such as: Hey You Theater, Chickimprov, The Dips, Almost Live, The Libertines, Casablanca Blondes and The Un-scripted Theater Company. She currently teaches acting and improv privately as well as with the Academy of Art College.
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Mark
Duncanson
He was better suited for theater
and playing the clarinet.
After trying his hand at baseball, basketball, and soccer,
at the age of eight Mark (and his parents) realized
he was better suited for theater and playing the clarinet.
Mark has been performing improv in the Bay Area since
1995 when he landed a spot in the improvised soap opera,
Liquid Soap, where he developed a love affair with long-form
improv. Over the years, Mark has had the pleasure of
performing with BATS as a Sunday Player, the StartUps,
Night Cap Theater, and playing drums for Bay Area pop
rock legends Apple Slap. When Mark isn’t performing
on stage, he enjoys “playing-for-real” as
a civic youth worker.
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Tara
McDonough
Tara McDonough has been improvising for
more than fifteen years, and has trained in London, Maine, Boston,
Seattle, and San Francisco. An administrator as well as an artist,
she has worked at theatres all over the country, including
Marin Theatre Company,
BATS Improv,
Seattle Repertory Theatre,
and New Repertory Theatre.
She was co-founder of Printer's Devil Theater at Seattle,
local improv group The Fibbs, and of course The Un-Scripted Theater Company.
In her spare time, Tara makes stuff; check out her website
(www.taramadethis.com, coming soon) to see what she's up to now.
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Current Show Cast
Shakespeare: The Musical - 2009
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Bryce Byerley
Bryce Byerley (Assistant Director) is and has always been an actor. He has noticed that over the years his show list has gotten bigger and his bio gets smaller. This is his first year as an actual member of Un-Scripted and it doesn't suck...
"Go hang yourselves all! You are idle shallow things, I am not of your element. You shall know more hereafter."
--Malvolio: Twelfth Night, III.iv.118-128
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Alex Curtis
Alex Curtis is a Bay Area actor and improvisor and a proud member of the Un-Scripted ensemble. Alex has been improvising for over eight years, and has trained with performance groups across the state including ComedySportz LA, Bay Area Theater Sports, and Un-Scripted. Alex is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied acting and directing. He will next be seen in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with the Marin Shakespeare Company (July 25 - September 27). Alex will play the role of the lost twin Sebastian.
"That it should come to this!"
--Hamlet, I.ii
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Michael Fleming
Michael Fleming discovered the joys of Shakespeare and got his first taste of improvisation working at the Living History Center's Black Point Renaissance Faire many years ago. His introduction to staged improvisation came through classes at the BATS school in 2007 and he has been hooked ever since. He has performed on the BATS stage and is currently working with Un-Scripted as a cast member in Shakespeare: The Musical. He has an enduring love for all things Elizabethan, for song, and for improvisational theater and is excited to be bringing them all together in one show.
"As soon go kindle fire with snow
As seek to quench the fire of love with words."
--Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona, II.vii
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Merrill Gruver
Merrill Gruver is an actress and improvisor best known as the voice of Karen Carpenter in Todd Haynes' Superstar. Most recently, Merrill appeared in Erika Chong Shuch's After All, Part l, and the Hodgearts film Reticulum. Merrill improvises regularly with the BATS Sunday Players and teaches drama at The Peninsula School.
"Still better, and worse" Ophelia, Hamlet lll.ii
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Mandy Khoshnevisan
Mandy Khoshnevisan (Producer) is a theater artisan. As a teaching artist, she directs and performs in schools throughout the Bay Area. She is also a stage technician, and Master Electrcian for the SF Playhouse. As a puppeteer, she is currently involved with filming the pilot of a new children's TV show, The Magic Paint Box.
She has been improvising since 1996, training at Stanford and at BATS Improv. Mandy is General Manager of the Un-Scripted Theater Company.
"The wiser, the waywarder. Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement; shut that, and 'twill out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke out the chimney."
--As You Like It, IV.i |
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Clay Robeson
Clay Robeson broke free of his corporate shackles in 2003 to pursue a life in the Creative Arts. He has performed and taught improv in New England, Atlanta, and the Bay Area, and also appeared on The Learning Channel, G4-Tech TV, and in High School Musical 3. When not on stage with Un-Scripted, he produces the San Francisco Improv Festival and the sketch comedy show Moron Life (www.MoronLife.com). He's also an amateur photographer and homebrewer.
"There was a star danced, and under that was I born."
Much Ado about Nothing, I.i |
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Susan Snyder
Susan Snyder is celebrating her 13th year in improv. After working in arts education for a number of years, Susan became an improvisor and moved from behind-the-scenes to out in front. Today she draws on her training in improv and drama therapy to teach practical applications of theater arts, including presentation skills, teamwork, interpersonal skills and saying "yes" to life. She is proud to be a founding member of The Un-Scripted Theater Company. Also a mama, Susan blogs about improv and parenting at www.improvamama.com.
"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt"
- Measure for Measure, I.iv
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Trish Tillman
Trish Tillman has been an actor, improviser and teacher of theater arts for eighteen years. She is currently the Director of Artistic Learning at California Shakespeare Theater. In improv she's been seen with Tilted Frame (co-founder), BATS and the Usual Suspects as well as Un-Scripted; in acting she's most recently worked with Theater Rhinoceros and Ripe Theater; in teaching she's worked with all ages from kindergarten through adults with New Actors Workshop in New York, San Francisco Arts Education Project, Cal Shakes, Marin Theater Company, New Conservatory Theater, and the Berkeley Unified School District. She has an M.A. in Dramatic Performance and Teaching from Antioch University.
"Who could refrain, that had a heart to love, and in that heart courage to make love known?"
- Macbeth, II.iii
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Christian Utzman
Christian Utzman (Director) has been performing improvisational theater for over 12 years in over a dozen groups all over the Bay Area. Over the past 6 years he has been working full time with the Un-Scripted Theater Company as a founding member, improv actor, show director, full-time staff member, and as an acting teacher through Un-Scripted's school of improvisational theater. Currently he is teaching the improv class "Improvising the Un-Scripted Way" and working as both a cast member and as the director for Shakespeare: The Musical.
"O that he were here to write me down an ass!"
- Dogberry,Much Ado About Nothing, IV.ii
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Voted BEST THEATER COMPANY,
SF Bay Guardian's
Best of the Bay 2008
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