Bio

My love affair with the stage began in the 4th grade. I was cast in the show "Free To Be, You and Me" by my music teacher Bob Goltz at Myers Elementary School. I sang the "William Wants a Doll" song. Performing was an electric experience for me and Mr. Goltz was instrumental in my understanding that I had real talents and could develop them for the stage. Just a few years later, for my 11th birthday, my folks took me to see "A Chorus Line" at the Forrest Theater in Philadelphia and I knew it right then: I was hooked on the magic and power of the theater, forever. I knew I wanted a career in theater.

At The University of Pennsylvania, I became a member of the famed Mask & Wig comedy troupe for four years, eventually becoming the lead writer and director of the annual Fall production. After graduation, I moved to Los Angeles and began pursuing professional acting and writing. I co-wrote my first screenplay with author Stuart Gibbs and sold it to Fox Family Films. Not long after, I joined SAG/ AFTRA and eventually appeared on such TV shows as "The West Wing", "The John Larroquette Show" and "Sesame Street". Odd combination, but I was delighted nonetheless.

My journey into Improvisation is what truly changed my life.

I began at The Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles back in 1992 and spent four years in their conservatory/school system. When I completed their training program, I then trained for over a decade with Groundlings alumni Stan Wells at his innovative "Empty Stage Theatre in West LA. There, I also began to direct and produce improvised formats, including improvised sitcoms and improvised one-act plays. I spent my last two years in LA in the master class of Bill Steinkellner, the executive producer of “Cheers” and “Just Shoot Me”. Thanks to the magic of Zoom, I still get to attend some of Bill’s workshops.

In 2001, I became the Artistic Director of Fake Radio, LA’s Premier Old-Time-Radio Comedy Troupe. Since then, I’ve had the honor of working on stage with some of my comedy heroes including, The Kids in the Hall, Ray Romano, John Larroquette, Fred Willard, Marcia Wallace, Larraine Newman, Jeff Garlin, Mindy Sterling & George Wendt. You can see a few production pictures from past performances further down the page. 

After moving to Portland in 2014, I joined in the main ensemble and taught improvisation at Curious Comedy. Since 2016, I've done the same at The Brody Theatre, working there with both Domeka Parker and Tom Johnson as Artistic Directors. In 2016, I began teaching improv as a life skill to students at St. Andrew's Nativity School in Northeast Portland, a Jesuit School which provides a free education to underserved youth. As there was no formal program at that school, I was honored to first develop and then refine a curriculum for over 18 months.

In 2018, I was invited to teach a version of that curriculum to students at Portland’s Catlin Gabel school. Since 2019, I’ve done the same at The Nueva School in SF.

In 2018, I was selected deliver a featured keynote presentation about my work at St. Andrew Nativity at the International Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) in Paris to 200 attendees.

In 2019, I began working as a facilitator for both Performance of a Lifetime and CSz, delivering joyous and fun improv workshops to corporate clients all over the Pacific Northwest and around the country.

In 2020, I opened my own studio, Change Through Play. We started with in-person classes but quickly shifted to providing virtual classes to children and adults all around the globe. In fact, our first virtual class was attended by 16 students from six different US states and two Canadian provinces.

We began offering in-person classes once again in April of 2021 and continue to do so now with strict COVID protocols.