improvidence

Brown + RISD's Oldest Improv Troupe

Improvidence Members ·

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  • David Jacobs 2011-
  • Kevin Kelly 2011-
  • Jack Usher 2011-
  • David Brescia-Weiler 2010-
  • Jenny Gorelick 2010-
  • Leo Rossoni 2010-
  • Jeremy Shar 2010-2011
  • Madeleine Heil 2009-
  • Jeremy Silberberg 2009-
  • Gabe Gonzalez 2008-
  • Adam Wagner 2008-2011
  • Patrick Ellis 2008-2010
  • Lexie Newman 2008-2010
  • Alex Pleet 2006-2010
    • email: Alex DOT Pleet AT gmail DOT com
  • Caroline Claflin 2005-2009
    • email: carolineclaflin AT gmail DOT com
  • Noel Fetting-Smith 2005-2007
  • Tasha Haverty 2005-2007
  • Brendan Pelsue 2005-2007
  • Michael Ferguson 2004-2006
  • Emma Lipkin 2004-2006
    • About Emma: i, emma sullivan lipkin, was miserable in high school. in high school i participated in lots of clubs. in fact i was president of world of difference, vip soccer for handicapped children, set painting, the peer mentoring program, women’s issues club, and multicultural club. I also played varsity volleyball and was the costume mistress for the school musicals. as a result i am a well rounded individual who loves history, arts and crafts, the outdoors, and a diverse group of ethnicities and races. i am happy on a more regular basis in college. in college i do improv. as a result i’m smarter, funnier, have great friends, feel more mentally stable, and have a much better sex life. and i really do think that improv has greatly improved my relationship with my family. i thank everyone who made this wonderful transformation possible and invite them to join me on this magical improv journey.
    • if you would like to contact me to get my complete high school resume or explore my new sex life, just email me at emma UNDERSCORE lipkin AT brown DOT edu
  • Austin Campion 2003-2006
  • CJ Hunt 2003-2007
  • Lizzie Vieh 2003-2007
  • Ben Clarendon 2002-2006
    • Current Concentrations: History of Art and Architecture, Theatre Arts
    • Hometown: Tampa, FL
    • About Ben: I love Improvidence. Gimme blonde hair, blue eyes, and the ability to laugh at ironic word conflations and I just melt. At first, I felt pretty awkward—what was a pretty girl like this doing here at hippie-dippie university? Couldn’t I just be left alone to revel in my many lonely geekdoms of loneliness all by myself? But the perfume of farce was too alluring! I couldn’t resist. I was very nervous at first. It wasn’t until she revealed to me that she too was a seventh level Dragonheart that I know our feelings were mutual. Now, after three years of laughter, role-playing, and triumph over all of Narnia’s universes, I finally feel ready to take our relationship to the next level…
  • Greta Pemberton 2002-
  • Brian Faas 2002-2005
  • Joel Silberman 2002-2005
    • Residence: Tel-Aviv, Israel
    • e-mail: joel DOT siberman AT gmail DOT com
  • Max Silvestri 2002-2005
    • Residence: Providence, RI
    • About Max: Since graduating, Max has been persuing comedy professionally which you can read all about at Max’s…
    • e-mail: max DOT silvestri AT gmail DOT com
  • Ollie Rasini 2002-2004
    • Residence: New York City, NY
  • Abe Smith 1997-1998;2002-2004
    • Residence: New York City, NY
  • Bill Heil, 2000-2003
    • A.B., Computer Science and A.B., Political Science
    • Residence: Washington, D.C.
    • Currently: Director of Analytics, Gratis Internet
    • About Bill: Improvidence saved Bill’s life. If it wasn’t for long form, he would have kept on trucking with World’s Worst until Liz Parrott killed him.
    • e-mail: bill AT projectleviathan DOT org
  • Jason Paul, 2000-2003
    • Residence: Oakland, CA
  • Josh Loh, 1999-2003
    • A.B., History
    • Residence: Washington, D.C.
    • Currently: Law Clerk, U.S. Election Assistance Commission
    • About Josh: I remember that when I went to audition Tom Roache made me play My Gameshow with another auditioner. Tom explained the rules of the game, then told me that if I lost, I’d be eaten by monkeys. Was he joking? Who knows! Later, before my first rehearsal, I found Nate Wilson and Matt Fisher playing Gauntlet: Legends downstairs by the lower Blue Room and knew everything was going to be all right, though my faith was severely shaken by Jordan Carlos’s impeccable rendition of a Nigerian dildo salesman at my first rehearsal and Raif Larsen’s quasi-erotic relationship with his salmon appetizer (“Mmm! Like a sixteen-year-old girl!”) at the Improvidence dinner. Now, of course, peering back like a debauched Asian Ernest Hemingway recounting his first deep-sea fishing experience, those first jokes seem to have a quaint, child-like innocence about them. No, I’m sorry, that was Brian Faas. At any rate, I like what I’m doing now, but sometimes I miss the good old days. Just a little bit, though, like Maverick missing Goose.
    • e-mail: josh DOT loh AT gmail DOT com
  • Liz Parrott, 1999-2003
    • Residence: Chicago, IL
  • Tom Roache, 1998-2003
  • Rachel Steigermeister, 2002
  • Jordan Carlos, 1998-2001
    • Residence: New York City, NY
  • Matt Fisher, 1997-2001
    • Residence: New York City, NY
    • About Matt: Matt was the rockin’ Big Papa in his time with Improvidence. Matt left Brown (and NFL Blitz) to go speak comedic truths in Boston for a few years. He’s heading down to New York City to create laughter.
    • e-mail: matt DOT f DOT fisher AT gmail DOT com
  • Owen Williams, 1997-2001
  • Nate Wilson, 1997-2001
  • Jonathan Bender, 1997-2000
  • Allison White, 1997-2000
  • Raif Larson, ?-2000
  • Alex Wagner, 1996-1999
    • About Alex: Super hot and super funny – seriously.
  • Kenny Salim, 1995-1999
  • Shantanu Agrawal, 1994-1998
  • Abby Basch, 1996-1998
  • Lisa Arkin, 1994-1998
  • Joe Welsh, 1994-1998
    • A.B., Something to do with English
    • Residence: Boston
    • About Joe: Joe just got married to his Brown sweetheart, Sarah. He is currently kicking ass as the lead guitarist in a band “Fooled by April”. Joe prefers high energy improv, evidenced by his frequent dressing in women’s clothing.
    • e-mail: joe AT fooledbyapril DOT com
  • Jon Wolanske, 1994-1998
    • About Jon: Genius improviser, accomplished ladies-man. Jon was an all-around improviser; he got into Improvidence based on his hilarious use of the word “fro-yo” (frozen yogurt) in his callback audition.
    • e-mail: whoalanske1 AT aol DOT com
  • Lisa Arkin, 1993-1997
  • Marty Belafsky, 1993-1997
    • A.B., History and A.B., Economics
    • Residence: Los Angeles
    • Currently: Stand-up
    • About Marty: My favorite show was a small (150 people) interactive dessert show we did in ’96 or ’97 where the audience chose character names/traits for us and we were their waiters for the evening serving them dessert items from a small menu. For that hour, we took their orders, retrieved their desserts and served them to the guests all the while interacting with each other as our characters. The one improvidence requirement (unknown to the audience) was that at some point all of us had to get hit in the face with a whipped cream pie. It was a great show.
    • e-mail: hudder9 AT yahoo DOT com
  • Abby Reisman, 1992-1996
    • e-mail: areisman AT stanford DOT edu
  • Jen Ro, 1992-1996
  • Pierre Stroud, 1992-1996
    • About Pierre: Spent a year in Bali. Liked beer. Fun-loving, lots of energy, good buddies with John and Marc.
    • e-mail: pstroud AT sfbar DOT org
  • John O’Brien, 1991-1995
    • B.A. American Civilization
    • Current Residence: Berkeley
    • About John: John has floppy hair and glasses (at least he did in Improvidence). He is currently making beautiful music in Bezerkley. You should check it out.
    • e-mail: johnob33 AT gmail DOT com
  • Jessie McCormack, 1991-1995
    • Residence: New York City
    • Currently: Bicoastal between NYC and LA
    • About Jessie: Tended toward larger-than-life characters. Could be very sarcastic. Had an (inexplicable) fear of improv even though she did it amazingly. Currently working as a tv/film writer and actress. Has put on several off-broadway plays (written/acted) and was a writer on 1st season of “Jake In Progress” on ABC.
    • Favorite thumper/quote: “Razzamataz!”, “Speak into the lolli…”
    • e-mail: jessiemc AT aol DOT com
  • Kevin Shay, 1991-1995
    • About Kevin: The ‘quiet genius’ of the group. He tended to play the same character (himself) in every game, but came up with the smartest lines of any member. He’s kicking it with Killing My Lobster nowadays.
    • e-mail: kevin AT staggernation DOT com
  • Bill Watterson, 1991-1995
    • About Bill: Former Big Poppa
    • e-mail: willstrut AT aol DOT com
  • Marc Vogl, 1991-1995
    • Residence: San Francisco
    • The intellectual of the group. Often made extremely esoteric references in games that no one understood. Many of his thumpers were names of cities in Rhode Island.
    • Favorite thumper/quote: “Barrington!”,“Warwick!”
    • e-mail: marc AT killingmylobster DOT com
  • Sarah Demming 1991-1995
    • A.B., Comparative Literature
    • About Sarah: Though Sarah was a Comp Lit concentrator, she took a boatload of science classes — because it was fun and she was smarter than everyone else. Oh yeah, and she was a brilliantly hilarious performer and spoke three languages. And after college she worked as a pastry chef. And a yoga instructor. And a boxer (she once fought in Madison Square Garden). And an executive recruiter. And a badass.
  • Tracee Ellis Ross, 1994
    • Residence: Los Angeles
    • Currently: Actress, “Girlfriends” on UPN
    • About Tracy: Her mom’s name is Diana. Well, not really. Well, actually, really. Her mom is the famous diva, but that’s not why we chose her. She was only in the group for her final semester.
  • Kevin Rice, 1992-1994
    • Residence: New York City
    • Currently: Model
    • About Kevin: Cherubic-looking and flamboyantly gay. Hysterical. Would randomly veer of course in a game and take it in a whole new direction (i.e. in a game of ‘Who Am I’, when he could not guess that he was Popeye, he announced that he would pick flowers — sorry, I guess you had to be there). Unfortunately dropped out of Improvidence for unexplained reasons. He’s currently living it up as a model in NYC, you’ve probably seen him on many fashion billboards.
  • Brian Jones, 1990-1994
    • About Brian: An elder statesman of Improvidence; he do any kind of comedy. Currently performing around the country in a one-man show about Karl Marx.
    • Favorite thumper/quote: “Only the finest…”
    • e-mail: brian AT marxinsoho DOT com
  • Christina Lowery, 1990-1993
  • Jono Mainelli, 1990-1993
  • Matt Manfredi, 1990-1993
    • About Matt: Matt worked with Phil Hay on the screenplay for crazy/beautiful. He’s also got two movies he wrote for in the pipeline, Aeon Flux and Valiant.
    • e-mail: matt AT mattmanfredi DOT com
  • Joe Meisner, 1990-1993
  • Steve Miller, 1990-1993
  • Sue Randall, 1990-1993
  • Daphne Spofford, 1990-1993
  • Michael Showalter, 1990-1992
    • About Michael: Michael’s got a TV show, Stella, named after his performance troupe. He’s faaaaamous. I totally want to have his babies. He also has another TV show, Michael and Michael have Issues. He’s so faaaamous.
  • Phil Hay, 1989-1992
    • About Phil: Hmmm… everything we know about Phil we know about Matt Manfredi. Maybe they’re … THE SAME PERSON.
    • e-mail: philhay AT comcast DOT net
  • Eric Kirchberger, 1989-1992
  • Jen Belles, 1989-1992
  • Mark Kleid ?-1991.5
  • Caleb Brown,?-?

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