I have several years of experience as an actor, director, Improviser, voice actor, and Improv and acting teacher. My students range from age four to super retired.
Beginning in 2009, I started studying acting with the amazing Dinah Manoff which quickly evolved into assisting Dinah with classes and productions. Through the years, I co-produced several ventures with Dinah including an annual festival in which I also acted, stage managed, directed and was a playwright for. We also produced The Outsiders, “New Works”, and play readings including “A Night of Raymond Carver” and “Works by Mark Harvey Levine,” as well as produced The Gin Game where I was incredibly fortunate to share the stage with Dinah’s lovely and talented mother Lee Grant and the amazing Frank Buxton.
From 2017-2020 Dinah and I added the deeply satisfying venture of volunteering to co-teach Improv and acting at Purdy Women’s Prison in Gig Harbor, Washington. Women of all ages, determined to earn their High School degrees, received a fine arts or extracurricular credit, which they could (and did) take several times. In 2022, we co-produced an audible of Dinah’s book, The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold , a project in which I contributed over 24 different voiced characters.
In 2016, I began teaching K-12 Improv and acting at Bainbridge Independence summer camp which led to a year-round teaching position for the before and after school program until it closed in 2020. I began teaching adult Improv classes on Bainbridge Island in 2019, moving class online in 2020 with students from several different states. I began teaching in person adult classes again in 2024 (Visit Classes).
In 2025 a group of my adult students came together under the leadership of Director, Tom Carson and, adding a couple more talented improvisors along the way, we formed the troupe “Kraken UP! No Script, No Problem”. We have had a wonderful time consistently rehearsing and deeply exploring various forms of Improv. We perform at several venues around Kitsap County including, the Kingston Firehouse, the Roxy Theater in Bremerton (the second Tuesday of each month), in the Gym at the First Lutheran Church of Poulsbo, and we are in talks with a couple more venues with whom we are excited to partner. I am an active member of this troupe and as the Artistic Director I work with Tom Caron on behind the scenes business to help continue to develop and expand our presence in the area. Visit our website for more information and upcoming shows: https://www.krakenup.org/
I have also been a troupe member of “Imagined Reality Improv” since its inception in 2016. We have performed in Kitsap, Clallam, and Jefferson counties over the years and we still have 60% of our troupe’s original performers continuing to entertain audiences in the area. See https://Imaginedrealityimprov.com for information.
I have been teaching Improv camps for ages 10-16 at BARN and 11-17 at Jewel Box Theater since 2023 (Visit Classes), as well as Teen Night at BARN which is a monthly program during the school year that includes Improv as one of the class options.
I have added private workshops to my toolbelt and teach anyone from youth workshops for kids meeting up in the summer to specialized character-based workshops for adult or youth D&D groups, and anything in between. We meet at a location arranged by the group (usually someone’s house), where the workshop is normally 4-hours on a weekend and tailored to the needs of the group. These workshops have been very gratifying for everyone involved.
I have learned, and continue to learn, a great deal about Improv, acting, playwriting, character development, production, and even stage managing through participating in many classes, plays, scenes and stage performances. I love sharing this ever-expanding knowledge with my students and have a myriad of curriculums under my belt for all ages and levels of students.
The advantages of taking Improv are extensive, and more importantly, this art form has proven to be a very freeing and fun experience for my students. I take great joy in watching them learn and grow as they progress through class.
Concerning my formal training, I have a degree in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Chemistry and a minor in Conservation Resource Studies from UC Berkeley. How I got from there to where I am now is a long story, suffice it to say, it has been a deeply gratifying journey.