Baltimore Improv Group

Jason Braswell

Jason gets your motor running. Head out on the highway. He's looking for adventure, and whatever comes his way. Yeah, darling, he's gonna make it happen. He'll take the world in a love embrace. Fire all of your guns at once and Jason explodes into space. Jason likes smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racing in the wind, and the feeling that he's under. Like a true nature's child, Jason was born to do improv. He has climbed so high that he never wants to die.

Kathryn Carlsen

Known for her outstanding accomplishments in goatherding and goat-wool processing, Kathryn has recently left the lush fields of Appalachia to try her hand at improvisation. As BIG's Education Director, she has expanded our outreach to previously unexplored territory, including the Howard County Sheep & Wool Festival, the Maryland State Fair (birthing area), and Philadelphia.

Kathy Carson

Kathy is a Baltimore adoptee who, when she's not making children cry at her day job, knits tea cozies and reads to blind people. A fun fact about Kathy is that she once saved an orphan from drowning on Christmas Eve while she was in the middle of singing Handel's Messiah for a group of homeless people. Her love of the stage is rivaled only by her love of Hawaiian shave ice and baby seals.

Bridget Cavaiola

Bridget hails from the great Maryland 'burb of Severna Park and now resides in Hampden, hon. You might see her wandering the streets pandering for laughs in front of all of the local hang outs. Earning a BA in English from Washington College, and an MA in Contemporary Communication from The College of Notre Dame, Bridget thinks that both of those large pieces of paper she calls diplomas look nice on her wall and make her seem smart. Most of her improv experience comes from making up songs about passers-by while on the beach.

Alex Dodge

Alex (codename DUKE) was fluent in French, German and English when he enlisted in 1967. Graduated top of his class at airborne school, Fort Benning. Opted for U.S. Army Special Language School. Specialized in Han Chinese and South East Asian dialects. Went special forces in 1969. Worked with tribesmen in the boonies of South Vietnam. Ran four different Special Forces schools. Turned down a commission in 1971. Commands by winning respect. Current assignment: Acting First Sergeant, Lekker.

Thomas Dotstry

Thomas has been improvising since 2004, after training with Theatre 99 in Charleston, SC. He performs with the BIG special project Gym Window as well as Training for Prom. He has performed in Baltimore, Charleston, DC, and Chicago. Thomas has also directed and developed several Improv shows.

Prescott Gaylord

A very physical performer, Prescott has done entire sets silently, has done scenes hanging by one hand, or atop his scene partner, or atop overturned chairs, or jumping over various set pieces. Prescott has performed in with troupes Gus, Ice Cream Social, and A Few Bricks Shy, and currently performs both in Lekker and Evan the Loyal. He has directed both Gus and The Moving Walkways, but currently limits his directing to special projects like 'Secrets,' 'Skinesthesia - Body Painted Improv,' 'The Movement (with the Collective),' and of course 'Unscripted, an Improvised Play in Two Acts.' You can catch him teaching various levels of the classes and traveling with troupes and projects to improv festivals to perform including Philadelphia, North Carolina, Austin and Chicago.

Alex Greenland

Alex started learning improv at Improv Asylum in Boston. Since then he has taken classes at the Everyman Theater and with Baltimore Improv Group. He joined Plan B in February 2011.

Michael Harris

Michael Harris is BIG's Artistic/Executive Director. He first joined BIG in 2004, then disappeared like a particularly fat ghost. He returned as a performer, director, and teacher in 2006. He currently performs with Evan The Loyal and Plan B. In the past has performed with Skinesthesia, the Movement, and Gus. Michael is married to Heidi. Four out of five dentists agree, she could have done better.

Sarah Jennings

As the troupe's only licensed puppeteer, Sarah is a big fan of the movie "Being John Malkovich." She also wins almost every contest she enters.

Christina Enoch Kemmerer

Chris (Enoch) Kemmerer has rarely left the great town of Baltimore, where she was born and raised. Coming from a family of seven children taught her that getting attention is the only way of survival and, hence, she found the stage as an awkward 8th grader. Chris earned her BA in Psychology from Loyola University in MD and her MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College. While studying abroad in Belgium she not only met her husband, but it was also love at first sight when she attended an improv show at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. She promptly gave up her dream to do stand-up comedy in the red light district and enrolled in an improv class. She's been playing happily with BIG since 2005.

Dave LaSalle

When Dave LaSalle was growing up in western New York, he knew a guy named Pete who kept crayfish in coffee cans on the shelves of an old woodshed. Sometimes he would pit them against one another. Once, Dave went to a boy named Bucky’s house to play in the crick, and Bucky’s mom made peanut butter and fluff sandwiches; they were delicious. Dave saw Star Wars at the drive-in, and slept in the bottom bunk. In the back pasture, there were cowflops the size of dinner plates, and toads the size of pinky-nails. In the wintertime, he’d dig tunnels in the snow.

Clare Lochary

Clare Lochary studied theater at Notre Dame Prep and Georgetown University. She did so mainly because she was too tone-deaf to sing and lacked the fine motor skills to paint or sculpt, and both her high school and her university had fine arts requirements. (She graduated with a degree in English.) In a middle school play, she portrayed a self-absorbed journalist, which was total typecasting because she is a self-absorbed journalist in real life. Clare got into improv because she covers sports for Lacrosse Magazine, and being around teams all the time made her feel sad and isolated because writing is a lonely pursuit and improv is the opposite of that. Her plans for world domination have been indefinitely stalled by constant reruns of Dick Wolf procedural dramas. Seriously, she would have accomplished a lot more by now, if she didn't get sucked into a minimum of 2+ hours of Law and Order every goddamn day.

Fred Lohr

Fred is a person of many interests, none of which he explores in any meaningful depth. His current interests are astronomy, Dan Fogelberg, playwriting, composting and the Death Wish movies. No doubt these hobbies will soon be discarded, suffering the same fate as poetry, German, chess, and the song "Nights on Broadway".

Matt Mansfield

Since joining BIG in 2011, Matt's shocking expose of the underbelly of improv will soon reveal jaw-dropping revelations: improvisers forced to work 10-14 hours a day--after their regular jobs--memorizing their entire sets; exhausting mind-control training for players to sub-consciously implant suggestions into audience members during performances; and troop members compelled under threat of torture backstage by the "non-profit" to cover the difference between expected profits and actual ticket receipts. The documentary, "Stories You Can't Make Up: How Non-Profit Improv is a BIG-Time Tragedy," is set to be released posthumously in 18 months. Check local listings.

Matt McCall

A self-described drifter, Matt McCall originally completed training with BIG in 2009, but then promptly missed auditions after deciding to leave his job and travel the country. One year later, Matt returned to BIG with no plausible explanation as to his whereabouts, and he is prone to mumbling incoherently about Jack Kerouac whenever he is asked about his absence. Among Matt's theatrical accomplishments: portraying a village person at a relay for life event, gorilla-costumed karaoke sessions, and impromptu "The Big Lebowski" re-enactments. When not performing, Matt supports the adoption and utilization of Web 9.0 technology solution innovations for capabilities enhancement to engage and empower endpoint priorities for digital collaborative engagements in a virtual real-time yet somehow asynchronous stratosphere. When not making up absurd marketing terms for a living, Matt is a guy who likes hockey and travel.

"Jiggy" Jim McGarvey

Jiggy, originally from N.J., realized early in life that if he was ever going to make it as a famous performer he would have to move somewhere like L.A. or N.Y. Baltimore was the next obvious choice. Here he is in Charm City city with youz guys. He would like you to know that he is very friendly and liked by most people at first but will bite if he is instigated with a Twinkie. The last time he ever ate one was on a deep sea fishing trip where he spent most of the day in the head of the boat. It's a day from his past that his stomach will never forget. He'd also like to share some of his life experiences, like how he created a plane out of paper without any help from someone else and almost made it fly. Hobbies include leaf collecting, stamping, and making facial expressions in car mirrors in Walmart parking lots. Don't hesitate to ask him personal questions, he loves to lie. He hopes to meet you someday wherever you are.

Murf McManus

Starting in college with the group "Vertigo-go" Murf McManus has been doing make-em ups for over a decade. She has performed with various troupes including ComedySportz Philadelphia, Thirteen Skirts and now Lekker. While not always related to her work on stage, she is also a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

Tom McManus

Tom McManus began his improv career in 1994 in the land of tastycakes and cheesesteaks, studying under the immortal Mike "Egg Foo" Young at ComedySportz Philadelphia. He spent 15 years with CSZ, including stints as co-marketing director and co-artistic director. He also appeared in two runs of "Choosical: The Improvised Musical" with his best girl Micheline and a bunch of other goofballs. Now that he is in the land of the little Utz girl and Natty-Bo, he is so proud to be a part of BIG.

Mike Moran

Mike Moran is a Baltimore-based comedian, writer, and musician. He does stand-up all over the city and county, performs with the BIG troupe Population 6, writes a humor column for Patch North Baltimore, and pounds on a bass and screams into a microphone for the bands Bronx On Benzidrine and Tremendous Athlete. He pretends to be a grown-up by working at the Paper Moon Diner, and taking classes at BCCC. He is currently typing his own bio in third person (as of this writing). Mike Moran can only be defeated by viewing his own reflection in a mirror.

Jody Moscaritolo

Before joining BIG, Jody was already addicted to performing. This compulsive knowledge-seeker enjoys theater, public speaking, music and improv with nearly equal fervor. Jody just returned to improv from a brief hiatus during which he traveled India on a unicycle, devised a less-confusing quadratic formula, invented trees and learned to read. He adamantly believes he is an excellent candidate for independent wealth. Jody wants little more than to fill the world with music and laughter, and with respect to those goals, he views karaoke as great form of multitasking. He gives crazy props to his improv posse and considers rehearsal time-- when he is exposed to their wit and spirit --to be an invaluable part of every week.

Heather Moyer

Heather grew up a military brat, but spent much of that militarizing in Ohio. After spending a few post-college years in Boston, she came to Maryland in 2004 and promptly got all up in BIG's grill. Her comedy experience includes time with the Boston improv troupe Kitsch In Sync. In her serious day job, Heather is a writer for a major environmental organization. Her far-less-serious personal life involves interest in things such as the weather, gardening, birds, and throwing large rocks into bodies of water of varying sizes.

Miles Needer

Miles Needer was selected in the 15th round (287th overall selection) of the Baltimore Improv Group Fall 2007 Draft. The right-handed improvisor graduated from the BIG's Intro to Improv course, with a B.S. in Short Form. He rapidly rose through their farm system and was called up to the Plan B troupe when a fellow member required Tommy John Synapse Transplant Surgery, and has stuck with the performing rotation ever since. His claim to fame are his large vocabulary and devastating curve ball nicknamed "Timmy's Defenestration". Miles is a life-long Baltimorean, sits on BIG's board of directors, and most people agree he's lucky to be married to the "Greatest Woman in the World" (TM), Tiffany.

Catharine Robertson

Catharine hails from Richmond, Virginia, and proudly advocates widespread adoption of the second-person plural "y'all" everywhere she goes. (Except when she visits Pittsburgh, where she concedes to locals and says "yins.") Catharine knew she was destined for a life in improv when, cast as Mr. Howell in an all-girls high school Christmas pantomime of "Gilligan's Island," she had mono during the performance and worked her fainting spell into the finale. Catharine's trained as a special ed teacher, but when she's not improvising onstage, she's improvising a career in information architecture.

Amy Sens

Although she has lived nearly her entire adult life on the East Coast, Amy still considers herself a Mid-Western American. This is partly because of that one summer she sold corn from a roadside stand. You can never forget how to pick a fresh ear after an experience like that. A graduate of the University of Delaware and Harvard Divinity School, Amy is ordained in the United Church of Christ. As a result, it is best to avoid having fun of any kind in her presence. In her day job, Amy encourages people to build community with their housemates, simplify their lifestyles, and work cheerfully for social justice.

Patrick Slevin

Patrick was born in 1518 in Glenfinnan, Scotland near the shores of Loch Shiel. During a battle between the Clan Slevin and the Clan Fraser in 1536, he faced an evil Immortal referred to as The Kurgan, and was dealt what should have been a fatal blow. When Patrick did not die, the townspeople believed his recovery was the work of witchcraft, and threatened to burn him at the stake. Patrick's kinsman, and clan chieftain, Angus Slevin, instead demanded that he only be banished. He wandered around the land until he met Heather MacDonald, the daughter of a blacksmith. The two fell in love, and married in 1539. In 1541, he met an Immortal named Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez, who became his mentor and taught him the ways of Immortals, and of "The Game." He taught Patrick the overriding rule of the Immortals: There can be only one. Patrick, Ramírez, and others like them were destined to fight each other until only one was left. By beheading another Immortal, the winner would gain the fallen Immortal's strength, and the last alive would have the power of every Immortal that ever existed, a mysterious power beyond comprehension known as "The Prize." His friends call him Pat.

Sean Stokes

As a gritty kid from the mean streets of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Sean learned the hardscrabble lessons of improv early in life. A keen eyed man with windswept teeth, Sean is a zen koan on red bull and he is taking names. It is not entirely clear what he is going to do with these names, but it may include decoupage. Like most attorneys, Sean is an expert in things that he knows nothing about - a skill that has served him well playing with his friends in BIG.

Roy Taff

Roy is a (adjective) man who enjoys (plural noun). He has (number) children and a (adjective) wife and they live in (location). He graduated from (stuffy British name) university with a degree in (physical abnormality). His hobbies include (action verb) (plural noun) and the (adverb) study of (extinct animals). In his spare time he (action verb) with (name of your significant other) and you can't do a (action expletive) thing about it. What do you think about that (adjective) guy? Not so (adjective) now are you? As for the photos taken of him (spring break activity) in (country on State Dept. No Go list) with (recently diseased rock star) that's between him and the (obscure religious sect). THAT'S IT! This (adjective) interview is over! Go to (location of a MVA branch office) you (name of parasite)!

Jessica Talson

Jessica was originally cast as the fourth Tanner sister on the hit 90s sitcom "Full House." She is credited with creating the catch phrase "How Rude" and was instrumental in potty training Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Her rise to stardom ended when she showed up on set drunk and pantsed Dave Coulier in front of a live audience. Jessica moved to Baltimore to try and straighten out her life. She founded ImprovE, an improv troupe for convicted felons of violent crimes. Unfortunately, the group dissolved due to creative differences. Jessica is now happily improving and improv-ing with BIG.

Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor was born and raised in Carmichael, California, where she had both a brother and a car named Michael. Her first childhood pet was a rabbit named Buttercup, and she lived on Thor Way, which would make her porn name Buttercup Thor, which she thinks isn't half bad. If and when her professional improv career doesn't work out, she will have that waiting in the wings. She later moved from sunny central Cali to Baltimore in order to pursue a graduate degree in painting in order to claim that she had the most unmarketable, unemployable, old-timey skill of anyone she would ever meet. She has since heard of a deer-hide tanning masters degree, and, in fear that her Most Unmarketable and Unemployable Masters might be trumped, she is fast applying and hopes to enroll this fall.

Jon Ulrich

At 8 feet and 17 pounds, Jon Ulrich falls hard and startles easily. But that doesn't temper his temperate temperment or razor-sharp razor blades. Jon grew up unintentionally doing improv with his friends, and eventually stumbled wildly into the relatively small world of BIG. After suckling at BIG's educational teats (classes), Plan B invited Jon to join in the summer of 2010 and he's loved the heck out of them ever since. Recent side projects include a duo with fellow Plan B-er Sarah Jennings ("PteradonSarahJon") and a temporary gig directing Plan B.

Gabe Weigle

Gabe originally joined BIG in 2007. Following a failed joint-venture to promote hot pockets with John Rocker, Gabe subsequently moved to New York, and subsequently wound up working with members of The PIT. Gabe subsequently returned to Baltimore in 2011, and subsequently Miles has refused to eat until he sees Gabe perform.

Megan Wills

Megan wants to use this space to address a very serious issue: Lasercats. Did you know that one out of every three cats is murdered by another cat with a laser? Cats that have the ability to shoot lasers out of their mouths are a precious commodity, and they can be used for good or for evil. Please write your congressperson and tell them how you feel about the continued development of lasercat technology. Megan has been a lasercat advocate since 2003, and a member of BIG since 2007. She recently combined her love of lasercats and improv in her Ignite Baltimore talk, 'Lasercats: No! Teaching Cats Nonviolence Through Improv.' As BIG's hard-working photographer, the elusive Megan is rarely seen on film.