Jaime Mears

Jaime is a Sydney born actress and Churchill Fellow with over twenty years of experience in Theatre, Television and film. She is a Graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia, and received a Diploma from École Philippe Gaulier where she spent a further two years training in Paris. 

​Jaime is a member of SEE (SITI Extended Company). She is co-artistic director of Rei Sem Roupa since 2010 and collaborates as actor and director for Companhia Caotica and Mente do Cão.

• Bouffon – Naked King Theatre Company, Lisbon, Portugal
• Bouffon II – Naked King Theatre Company, Lisbon, Portugal
• Bouffon Intensive – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Virginia Scott

Virginia teaches/taught clown, commedia, bouffon, idiot, le jeu, physical acting, and all that kind of wiggling it around at schools such as The Juilliard School, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU: International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam, ACT, Pace University, Marymount Manhattan College, USC, Movement Theatre Studio, The Michael Howard Studio, Stella Adler Studio, The Clown School, The Idiot Workshops and Berg Studio. She is a co-founder and faculty member of the Funny School of Good Acting where she directs the FSGA Commedia Company. Discovering the Clown: the Funny Book of Good Acting by Christopher Bayes with Virginia Scott comes out this year! Most recently she created a new commedia show with whizbang Jarrod Bates, Jarrod Bates: Out of the Box and Onto Your Face,which is currently touring. Shows Virginia has directed and/or devised have appeared in New York at The Irish Repertory Theatre, Ars Nova Mainstage, 59E59, The Zipper Theatre, UCB, The PIT, The New York Fringe Festival and the International Clown Festival, The US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, The Comedy Central Theatre, The Hollywood Fringe and UCB LA in Los Angeles, and internationally at The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, The Centaur Theatre in Montreal and the Grahamstown International Festival in South Africa.

• Commedia dell’arte – The Movement Theatre Company New York, NY

Andrew Bushell

Andrew’s work has garnered him a couple of Canadian Comedy Award nominations for his ensemble work in both improv and sketch, as well as a Second City Outstanding New Comedy Award win at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Fest for “32 Short Sketches About Bees.” Andrew has also appeared in many TV shows and films. You can see him next playing “Riley” on the third season of Second Jen, as well as starring opposite Second City alumni Linda Kash and Jayne Eastwood and Academy Award winner Cloris Leachmen in the film Jump, Darling. 

•  Premise-Based Initiations – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON

Ken Hall

Canadian Comedy Award Winner (Best Breakout Artist) and multiple CCA award nominee including most recently Comedic Artist of the Year. Ken is also is one-half of the critically acclaimed comedic duo 2-MAN NO-SHOW with Isaac Kessler.
Ken has appeared in numerous film and television roles including two seasons on TBS’s hit series PEOPLE OF EARTH and has appeared as a guest on CONAN. He has had the pleasure to work for CIRQUE DE SOLEIL and appears in the Netflix series THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY and the Netflix feature film POLAR. 

• Solo Improv – Bad Dog Theatre, Toronto, ON
• Longform “Maker” Format Improv – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON
• Longform “Maker” Format Improv (Coaching) – Second City, Toronto, ON
• Clown – OI Theatre, Oakville, ON

Isaac Kessler

Canadian Comedy Award nominee most recently nominated as Best Male Improviser in 2015. A lover of the digital screen AKA the boob tube, Isaac’s TV credits include Man Seeking Woman (FX), Satisfaction (CTV) and a bunch of funny Canadian national commercials as well.

As one half of improv/sketch sensation 2-MAN NO-SHOW, Isaac and Ken Hall have wowed audiences and critics at North America’s top Comedy Festivals, and performed a full run at the 2010 Edinburgh Comedy Festival. 2-MAN NO-SHOW attack every stage with their signature hyperphysical, hilarious and fourth-wall-breaking “ClownProv”-style that is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. They were nominated for two Canadian Comedy Awards as Best Improv Troupe and Best Comedic Show, as well as Toronto’s Best Improv Troupe of 2013 & 2014 by NOW Magazine.

• Clownprov – Bad Dog Theatre, Toronto, ON
• Bruch 1 & 2 – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

David Razowsky

David Razowsky is the respected former artistic director of The Second City Los Angeles, and the host of the podcast ADD Comedy with Dave Razowsky. David is based in Los Angeles where he teaches a weekly Wednesday drop-in class when he’s not on the road. His travels across the world in 2015 alone brought him to over a dozen states plus Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK. At Second City David worked with Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Dratch, Chris Farley, among others. He’s directed numerous Second City revues. He is a consultant for Dreamworks, a teacher for Steppenwolf Theater, adjunct faculty for California State University, and he directed two productions for Amsterdam’s Boom Chicago Theatre. David’s a member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company and performed in their Kennedy Center run of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged.

David Razowsky’s approach to improvisation:

“I have a very simple approach to improvising: Your present awareness is the only thing you need to create compelling, smart, truthful, and surprising scenes. Period. No games, no preconceived premises, no ideas, no ego. All that matters is now. The actor’s level of improvisation experience doesn’t matter, for all you need to bring to my workshop is your present presence. All you’ll leave with is your joy and excitement and confidence. And after all, what more do you need?”

• Improv Razowsky Method: Coaching (8 months)

Michelle Gilliam

Michelle Gilliam is a voice actor and improviser based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the founder of Improv MKE. She has been involved with improv since high school, and at various times has been immersed in the Milwaukee, Chicago, and Boston improv scenes. Since the pandemic, she adeptly stepped into the global, online improv community where her skills and thoughtfulness about the art and the community aspects of improv have garnered her world-wide respect.

Her emphasis on being human applies to both the art and community, and can be seen quite clearly in everything Michelle does. Her experiences are easily accessible and welcoming, and you can find many of them by going to www.improvmke.com or to the World’s Greatest Improv School. You can also find Michelle and Improv MKE around social media.

• La Ronde – WGIS (The World’s Greatest Improv School)

John Beale

John Beale is a teacher and award-winning actor based in Toronto. He is a graduate of the Philippe Gaulier International Theatre School in Paris. He has trained, performed and taught extensively as a company member at the internationally acclaimed Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts.

• Clown (Two Terms) – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Andy Massingham 

Andy Massingham is a Dora Award-winning actor, director, choreographer, educator and playwright. Focussing almost exclusively on stage work, over the past thirty-five years, Andy has performed across Canada at the Stratford Festival, Theatre New Brunswick, National Arts Centre, Banff Centre, Tarragon, Odyssey, Y.P.T. Centaur and many others. Andy’s wordless play Rough House (presented by Nightswimming Theatre) toured Canada and the U.S.
He is a four-time Dora and six-time Prix Rideau nominee.
Andy has been teaching acting, clown and movement at the Toronto Film School for the past three years. He has also directed productions of Ye Gods, Not A Clue and This Is How It’s Done.

• Physical Theatre Creation Intensive – Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, ON

Susan Messing

Susan, a CIF Artistic Associate, is also a New Jersey native and a graduate of Northwestern University. She has performed for over twenty years with Chicago’s iO Theatre, and created and teaches their Level Two Curriculum which is used in Chicago and LA’s iO West.

At the legendary Second City, Susan wrote and performed in two Mainstage revues and directed their National Touring Company. Susan is a founding member of the infamous Annoyance Theatre where she has created roles in over thirty original productions, including Co-Ed Prison Sluts, The Miss Vagina Pageant, and Your Butt. Currently she can be seen there every week in the hit show Messing with a Friend.

In addition, she conceived, co-adapted (with Mary Scruggs) and directed the critically acclaimed What Every Girl Should Know…An Ode to Judy Blume for the Annoyance stage, where she also continues to teach. Susan is an adjunct professor for Loyola University, DePaul University’s Theatre School, and The University of Chicago. Her stand-up act with her puppet, Jolly, was featured at the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and NBC’s Late Fridays.

You can hear her voice on radio and TV ads. Susan has been cut from several blockbuster films, but her recent movie role in Let’s Go to Prison! as a bad stripper in a halo brace was a sure crowd pleaser. Her daughter, Sofia Mia, is very six, very ridiculous, and very awesome.

• Scene Studies, Annoyance Theatre, Chicago, IL

Joel Axelrod

Joel Axelrod studied improv at iO Chicago, UCB, iO West and Now Improv. He studied Clown directly with Aitor Basauri, Stefan Haves, Daniel Passer, Deanna Fleysher, and John Gilkey. He was a founding member of the clown group The Innocents, where they devised and performed a new show every month for over 2 years. He worked with the award winning theater troupe Four Clowns to write and devise “Welcome to Illyria!” and “Shakedown at the Dusty Spur.”

He taught Clown and bit creation at “The Catsby Workshops” for over 2 years. He co-founded and co-taught the workshop series “OK Clown” and “Hijinks Class.” He developed and taught the Clown 8 week course at Third Coast Comedy Club. In 2022 he’s sold out multiple Clownfoolery workshops in Oakland and Nashville, with upcoming workshops in Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia.

• Clownfoolery – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Billy Merritt

Billy Merritt has been a performer, teacher, and director with the UCB Theatre since it first opened in New York. He is a founding member of improv groups The Swarm, and The Stepfathers in New York, and The Smokes in Los Angeles. As a teacher Billy has developed many improvised longform shows. Such as, The Documentary, Improvised One Acts, The Ninja, Murder Murder, Robot Theatre, and the Holiday Spectacular. His TV credits include your mom.

Author of Pirate Robot Ninja: An Improv Fable

• A Thousand Ways To Play – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON
• Narrative Forms – WGIS

Rob Baker

Rob Baker is an actor and writer who co-created 5 shows with The Second City, including the Canadian Comedy Award winning “masterpiece” (NOW Magazine) Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes. He also assistant directed their latest smash hit, The Meme-ing Of Life. He is a co-creator of the web series Live From The CenTre, nominated for two CCAs, and also co-creator of the hit web series Guidance, nominated for 3 CCAs, including Rob for Best Male Lead. He has appeared on The Firm and Dan For Mayor. Theatre highlights include performing with Martin Short at Just For Laughs, and Slap Shot Live! Upcoming, watch for his sitcom Guidance on Bite TV.

• Second City Conservatory Program 5-6, Toronto, ON

Tim Paul

Tim Paul (DIRECTOR) is a recent transplant to L.A. from Chicago. Prior to his move, he was a resident director at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago – selected credits include My So-Called Afterlife, Becker, Escape From Ground Zero and Fisting: A Period Piece. In addition to previously being on the faculty at both the Annoyance (Chicago) and Second City (Chicago), he has been a guest instructor at the Annoyance (NYC), Dublin Improv (Dublin, Ireland), The Nursery (London, UK), The New Movement (Austin, Texas), Recul (Bucharest, Romania), Finest City Improv (San Diego), San Francisco Improv Fest, Providence Improv Guild (Rhode Island) and Improv Asylum (Boston). Tim was an ensemble member of Mick Napier’s Invisible World at the Annoyance, which was named ‘Best Sketch of 2014’ by Chicago Magazine. In between his move from Chicago to Los Angeles, Tim spent the better part of a year, between Barcelona & Bermuda, performing with Second City aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines. Finally, his solo shows, No Fats, No Femmes (2012)& Wellbutrin Whore(2015) were official selections of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. In L.A., Tim performs weekly at the Pack Theatre and can be seen about town doing Stand-up.

• Second City Conservatory Program 1-3, Hollywood, CA

Duncan & Amy McKenzie

Amy McKenzie went from improv to sketch comedy, writing and acting on CBC Radio, as well as the Gemini-nominated sketch comedy TV series History Bites and Train 48.

Duncan McKenzie worked with Amy on History Bites, and later incorporated improv into his TV work when he produced the Global TV series Train 48. He is also currently working on That’s So Weird.

• Improvisational Theater I – III – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON, CA

Adam Cawley

Canadian actor, writer and improviser. A three-time Canadian Comedy Award Winner, Adam is also an alumnus of world famous Second City Mainstage. He is also an actor and writer for the Emmy Nominated, Netflix Original: Workin’ Moms. Adam is known as an actor for his roles on: Baroness Von Sketch Show (IFC), Workin’ Moms (Netflix/CBC) The Beaverton (CTV) Murdoch Mysteries (CBC) and more. He’s created, co-wrote and co-starred in numerous television projects including, Guidance (BITEtv), Current Affairs (DHX) and the CBC’s first original digital series, Body Buds. Adam also voices many cartoon shows including BeyBlade, Looped and more.

• Advanced Longform Improv Techniques II – Private
• Advanced Longform Improv Techniques I – The Improv Embassy, Ottawa, ON
• Advanced Longform Second Beats – Westside Theatre, Santa Monica, CA,US
• Armando Longform x2 – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON, CA

Rob Norman

Rob Norman is an acclaimed screenwriter, director, actor and improviser. While on land he directs Second City’s Canadian National Touring Company, as well as the improvised revue Improv Allstars. His past directing credits include: Battleawesome Awesomestar, Second City Goes BOOM!, and the smash-hit Camp Schecky. Rob’s writing credits include The Beet Party (BBC Kids), Versus Valerie, Sexy Nerd Girl, Guidance (BiteTV), and The Nut Job starring Will Arnett (release 2014).

• Uninterrupted Play – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON, CA
• Monoscenes – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON, CA
• Monoscenes II – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON, CA
• Duo Coaching, Toronto, ON, CA

Matt Folliott

Matt is a comedian/actor/writer from Toronto. A former cast member of The Second City National Touring Company & The Sketchersons, you can currently catch him on stage with S&P and Canadian Comedy Award Nominees K$M, alongside his powerhouse comedy partner Kirsten Rasmussen. Matt has traveled across North America performing and teaching in comedy festivals like IMPROVAGANZA (Edmonton, AB), The Vancouver International Improv Festival, The Ottawa Improv Festival, MPROV (Montreal, QB), and The Seattle International Festival of Improv. Look and listen for him on your TV and laptop screens in shows like Baroness Von Sketch Show, BigFoot, Clifford The Big Red Dog, Odd Squad, Bajillionaires, Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe, Wandering Wenda, Make it Pop, The Next Step & stayoutofthedesert.com.

• Go with the Group (Game of the Scene) – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON, CA
• Scene Diagnostics – Second City, Toronto, ON, CA
• Endowments and Gifts – Bad Dog Theatre Company – Toronto, ON, CA

Kevin Krieger

Kevin is a performer, writer and content creator. He has trained at Upright Citizens Brigade, The Pack Theater (formerly known as The Miles Stroth Workshop), and The Idiot Workshop since its early beginnings. He began his comedy career as an improviser, and, since joining The Idiot Workshop, has applied the work to stand up, clown, sketch and to visual and written narrative storytelling. He performs regularly with Wet The Hippo in The Murge as well as The Greatest Show in the Back of a Truck We Rented, which he co-produces with Tyler Watson. He is a regular performer at Scot Nery’s Boobie Trap and a member of The Innocents Clown Show, a collective performance group focused on developing classic clown bits and solo character sketches.

• Idiot (Clown) Intensive – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Chad Damiani

Chad Damiani is a clown and improviser based in LA. He is one of the pioneers of LA’s contemporary clown scene — having performed over 600 shows with his groundbreaking improv/clown duo Jetzo. He’s also an original member of The Murge (the former flagship show of The Idiot Workshop) and Dr. Brown Builds a Show at The Lyric Hyperion. The latter ensemble currently appears on the FX comedy show CAKE. He works as a clown consultant and performer for Spiegelworld, the largest circus company in America. He also recently served as a clown choreographer on the upcoming TV show The Broadcast, produced by The Duplass Brothers. and founded and performs in Clown Zoo – a weekly outdoor event that mixes clown and theatrical mask. Chad has traveled all over North America — teaching and performing his clown-inspired standup routines. One of his characters appeared on the 2020 season of America’s Got Talent.

• Clown/Improv Intensive – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Ashley Botting

Ashley Botting (Director, She/ Her/ Hers) is a proud alumna of The Second City Mainstage where she wrote and performed in four revues. She loves this work and is thrilled to be directing this show.  Ashley With a “Y”  – her improvised one-woman musical cabaret – was NOW Magazine’s #1 comedy show of the year.  The Stars of Mars – a musical she co-wrote – was recently awarded the Stage West Pechet Family Musical Award by The Playwrights Guild of Canada. She’s a panelist and writer on CBC Radio’s Because News, and has written for PBS’ Odd Squad and Nickelodeon’s Zoofari.  Selected acting credits are TV: What We Do In The Shadows, Odd Squad, Schitt’s Creek, Coming In, The Beaverton. Animation: The Ridonculous Race, Arthur, Beywheelz, Z-Squad. Stage: Beautiful Man (Factory) She The People (Edmonton Fringe), The Second City Guide to the Symphony (The Kennedy Center, Roy Thomson Hall), Cam Baby (Theatre Mischief) Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish (Studio 180).  She’s a Canadian Comedy Award winner, and a Dora nominee. Summer/Fall 2020: An Undiscovered Shakespeare at The Stratford Festival. 

• Dissecting Scene Work – The Assembly Improv, Toronto, ON, CA

Lisa Merchant

Lisa Merchant is an actor, improvisor, producer, and instructor. She has won 3 Canadian Comedy Awards. She acted and wrote for the Dora Mavor Moore nominated Martha Stewart Projects. She was also nominated for a Gemini Award with the cast of The Joe Blow Show. Lisa was an original member of the comedy troupe The Chumps. She played Brenda Murphy on Train 48 for 318 episodes and starred in 2 seasons of Go Girl!. She performs regularly in Monkey Toast and at Bad Dog Theatre. In March 2003, with “nods” from The Governor General, Prime Minister of Canada, Minister of Heritage, Premiere of Ontario and Mayor of Toronto,

• Scene Studies – OI Theatre, Oakville, ON, CA

Gary Pearson

Gary Pearson is a writer and producer, known for That’s So Weird! (2009), This Hour Has 22 Minutes (1992) and Corner Gas (2004). Member of the Second City main stage troupe in Toronto. A Show Runner for That’s So Weird, a youth oriented comedy show for YTV in Canada. Once a member of the Chumps Comedy troupe which performed across Canada and at the famed Improv in Los Angeles.

• Page to Stage Sketch Writing – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON, CA

Geri Hall

Mainstage cast member of Toronto’s The Second City, culminating in the award-winning production of ‘Sordido Deluxo’. If you didn’t see her getting handcuffed by the Prime Minister on 22 Minutes, her face may also be familiar from dozens of other Canadian shows and television commercials, including Ken Finkelman’s At The Hotel, the Miramax feature Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere, and the CBC’s The Blobheads, Little Mosque on The Prairie, The Ron James Show and The Mercer Report. She is the very proud holder of awards from the Writer’s Guild and the Canadian Comedy Awards, and still glows happily from a Gemini award for her comedic performances with her fellow cast mates on 22 Minutes.

• Character Therapy – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON, CA

Eric Davis

Eric has been teaching and performing professionally for 20 years. He was the lead clown for Cirque du Soleil’s Iris (for which he originated the role) as well as the clown for Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. He is a recipient of the NYC Golden Nose Award. His bouffon show, Red Bastard, was named top 5 shows in the U.K. and received a whopping FIFTEEN 5-star reviews at Edinburgh Fringe.

• Bouffon I – The Movement Theatre Company New York, NY, US
• Bouffon II- The Movement Theatre Company New York, NY, US
• Bouffon Intensive – Sweet Action Theatre, Toronto, ON

Landon Kirksey

Landon is a graduate of The Second City (Hollywood) conservatory and has been performing and writing for over 15 years. A prolific voice actor, Landon has voiced dozens of commercials you have skipped through on your DVR. As a writer Landon has worked in advertising and television, most recently for the Comedy Central sketch show, Trip Tank.

• Voice Acting – Westside Theatre, Santa Monica, CA

Bruce Hunter

Bruce is a stand-up comedian, a sketch comedy performer, an improv teacher, a serious theatre and movie actor, a clown, a mime and even a muppeteer. Bruce studied improvisation with Keith Johnstone, creator of Theatresports. Bruce spent 15 year performing with The Illustrated Men. TV credits include FX The Series, Top Cops, Wind At My Back and SketchCom on CBC Television. Film credits include Canadian Bacon, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Murder at 1600 and the Oscar winning film, Good Will Hunting. In the mix, Bruce has also directed The Kids In The Hall and at one time, worked as a muppeteer for Henson Productions. He is also the producer of Let Us Aspartame You, the benefit show for Diabetes.

• Masks (Commedia dell’arte) – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON

Jan Caruana

Is known for her work in shows like Monkey Toast, That Moment When and About An Hour (Toronto Fringe Festival – Best of the Fringe). Jan co-wrote and performed in the Second City Toronto’s critically and audience acclaimed revues The Meme-ing of Life and We Can Be Heroes (named one of NOW Magazines Top Ten Shows of 2013). In 2016, Jan was a member of the Dora Audience Choice Award Winning One Night Only, a fully improvised two-act musical. And a Dora Winner for The Wonderpageant at The Coalmine Theatre. She is a regular panelist on CBC’s Because News with Gavin Crawford and has appeared in films and television shows including Baroness Von Sketch, Rookie Blue and Mean Girls and the Deepa Metha film Beeba Boys.

• Musical Improv – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON

Herbie Barnes

An Anishnabe from Aundeck Omni Kaning On Manitoulin Island. An Actor , Director , Writer and Teacher. He has directed across North America with plays like Music Man (TIFT), Oliver the Musical (Bluff City Theatre), Inheritance (Alley and Touchstone Theatre) and Tales of an Urban Indian (Public Theater) and has been nominated for a John Hirsh Award nominated for directing. As an actor he’s played varied staged from Main stage National Arts Centre to a city bus running through cities’ routes throughout North America. Some of Herbie’s best-known stage roles include Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, or as Norval Morrisseau in Copper Thunderbird or singing and dancing as a Wikersham Brother in Seussical The Musical.

• The Want (Scene Study) – OI Theatre Company, Oakville, ON

Susan Applewhaite

London, England where she trained and worked in theatre and film for five years. Upon returning to Toronto, she became involved in music and recorded several albums with acclaimed producer, Jack Lenz. But the call of the stage was too strong. Susan continued her studies with teachers Sears & Switzer, Adam Lazarus and ventured back to stage and television where she has been happily playing ever since. Most recently, Susan has been finding her writing voice so she can create her own work involving her passions: story, music and movement. When not performing, Susan shares her knowledge and love of theatre with students of all ages. For the past ten years, she has taught drama, dance, musical theatre and improv, learning from her students as much as she hopes she teaches them.

• Musical Theatre Two Terms – Mississauga Living Arts, Mississauga, ON

Yo Mustafa

Graduated from Sheridan College Theatre programme and went on to complete the one-year acting master class at the HB Studio. He has directed over 30 productions and is currently Artistic Director of West End Studio Theatre in Oakville.

• Musical Theatre Two Terms – Mississauga Living Arts, Mississauga, ON