The 2009 Let It Snow! Cast

Bryce ByerleyBryce Byerley (Fairfield, CA) performed in his first improv show in 1984 at age 16 with Cindy Kamler, former trainer for The Committee, San Francisco’s first improv troupe. Bryce has graduated from actor-training programs at SCT, ACT, and a bunch of other alphabet soup theater companies. Bryce has been working in theater for over 23 years, where he was a founding member of the infamous San Francisco Improv Co-Op, starred in the Zippy the Pinhead’s Fun: the Concept as the title character and is currently half of the legendary SF duo The Babcocks.

When Bryce was growing up in Fairfield, it snowed twice. He was sick both times with chicken pox and mumps respectively and had to stay indoors.
Dave DysonDave Dyson (Salinas, CA) is a working actor, improvisor, voiceover artist and writer. Since finding improv in 1996, he’s worked with East Bay Improv, BATS Improv, co-founded The Fibbs, and joined Un-Scripted shortly after it formed in 2003. Check him out in Unflinching Triumph (now available on dvd), and look for a staged “sing” next spring of his zombie-themed parody sequel to Jesus Christ Superstar (www.3dayslater.net)...

Dave was once snowed on in the mountains of India -- in the month of August.
Michael FlemingMichael Fleming (Mill Valley, CA) got his first taste of staged improvisation some years ago and has been hooked ever since. Michael has performed with the Un-Scripted Theater Company, on the BATS stage, and also at other venues in the Bay Area. He has an enduring love for snow, for song, and for improvisational theater and is excited to be bringing them all together in one show.

Michael once beat all of his friends to the bottom of a black diamond slope by sliding down it on his back. Ah, sweet (if sore) victory!
Alan GoyAlan Goy, Producer (Downers Grove, IL) is an improvisor, actor, director, playwright, novelist and blogger. Alan’s play, Il Lago, was performed in Bologna, Italy in May 2005, and his novel The Deadworks was a 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-Finalist. He’s been a member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company ensemble since 2003 and directed Un-Scripted: unscripted earlier this season. He also directed Impact Briefs: Puberty for Impact Theatre in May. He blogs many places but all can be found through experimentfarm.com.

Five years ago Alan responded to a listing on the old Theatre Materials Exchange for “Free Fake Snow” left over from a professional photo-shoot. Tara then changed the name of the “Small Town Holiday Musical” she was developing to “Let It Snow” and the rest is history.
Merrill GruverMerrill Gruver (Hyattstown, MD) is an actress and improvisor best known as the voice of Karen Carpenter in Todd Haynes’ Superstar. More recently, she appeared in Erika Chong Shuch’s After All, Part l, and the Hodgearts film Reticulum. Merrill is a graduate of BATS Improv and performed regularly with The Sunday Players. She was a guest performer in Un-Scripted’s last show, Shakespeare: The Musical. Merrill teaches drama at The Peninsula School.

Snow is Merrill’s favorite food.
Alyssa HarveyAlyssa Harvey (Jackson, NJ) has been improvising in the Bay Area since taking her first class at BATS Improv in 1999. Alyssa decided to return to performing improv after a multi-year hiatus and Let It Snow! marks her first show since performing with the Sunday Players at BATS Improv. Alyssa also has appeared in plays performed at the Exit Theater and in another Un-Scripted show, Fear. She’s glad to be back on stage.

Alyssa was born in the hometown of Mr. Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace) and she vividly remembers her mom navigating an icy, snow-covered road on the way home from school when she was just four and sitting in the front seat (and that was before the mandatory seat belt laws!).
Karen HirstKaren Hirst (Towanda, IL) is an actor-singer. This is Karen’s third show with Un-Scripted. She first appeared in 2007 in Let It Snow! and in 2008 in Theater: the Musical. Karen got her improvisational theater start with Del Close at The Second City in Chicago as a member of the touring company. She appeared most recently in The Secret Garden in Sonoma with Hoochie-Doo Theater. Karen teaches improvisational theater full time at the Academy of Art University.

Karen grew up in Towanda, Illinois—population 500. She left home after her father’s general store was buried in 6 feet of snow one very harsh winter.
Scott KeckScott Keck (Crestwood, MO) moved to San Francisco 27 years ago to study improv, and what a trip it’s been! 15 years with Flash Family, 5 years at BATS, How We First Met, voices for PlayStation and Nintendo games, selling out the Herbst last year, and of course, several guest spots with Un-Scripted. Scott produces a crazy haunted house every year (pneumatics, anyone?), and still does animation voices and audio production. His wife, Elaine, is wonderful for supporting his urges to make things up and be silly.

Cross-country skiing over the golf course at University of Missouri, at dawn, after a blizzard. Magical!
Mandy KhoshnevisanMandy Khoshnevisan, Director (Newbury Park, CA) has been teaching and performing improv since 1996. As a Working Artist, Mandy directs productions at Bay Area schools; teaches voice, dance, and improv; writes and performs original music for the theater; and works as a puppeteer on the up-and-coming TV-show The Magic Paint Box. For Un-Scripted she most recently directed The Great Puppet Bollywood Extravaganza. Mandy is a full-time member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company.

Mandy learned to ski at the age of three. Sometimes she forgot to get off the lift and had to go around again, but that was OK, since the baby ski lift was about forty feet long and over essentially flat ground.
Clay RobesonClay Robeson (Somerville, NJ) has been improvising for over ten years, and feels he’s just scratching the surface of what’s possible. When not making things up, you can find him doing sketch comedy with MoronLife.com, taking photographs that wind up on Photography.ClayRobeson.net, voicing a vampire in a podcast audio drama at AngelBetweenTheLines.com or working on a top secret puppet sci-fi web series that may not be so top secret now that it’s been published in a bio.

Just before leaving Boston in 2003, Clay slipped on an icy porch stair and now has a metal plate and six screws in his left arm. Believe it or not, he finds this hysterical.
Jodi SkerisJodi Skeris (Grafton, WI) has been doing improv since ‘03, starting in Madison, WI at ComedySportz. She was soon transplanted to NYC in ‘04 and trained/performed at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade, Magnet Theater, and the People’s Improv Theater. She wrote/performed 2 one-woman shows at the UCB: Cheer Up Double Cupie and Adorable Balls. Jodi was also on a few house teams at the Magnet Theater including Pax Romana and Moxie. Having just moved to SF, she’s keeping busy by working on voiceovers, playing with the Un-Scripted Theater Company, and joining the hoboFish with some make-em-ups on the stage.

Jodi has successfully made a snow cave that led to an ice pond in the backyard.
Susan SnyderSusan Snyder, Assistant Director (Acton, MA) is in her second decade of improvising. She is proud to be a co-founder and continuing ensemble member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company. Susan specializes in teaching both the joys and practical applications of improv in trainings, workshops and her on-going class, Every Day Improv. Susan blogs about improv and parenting at www.improvamama.com.

Susan’s 2.5 year old daughter has never experienced snow so she makes her own by spreading cornstarch around the backyard and rolling in it. That California girl is in for a very cold surprise someday.
Trish TillmanTrish Tillman (Marietta, GA) is the Director of Artistic Learning at California Shakespeare Theater, as well as being an actor and theater arts teacher in the Bay Area. As an improvisor, she has worked with Bay Area Theatersports here and Paul Sills in New York City, has founded two improvisational theater troupes and is very proud to be playing in her first show as an Un-Scripted ensemble member. She’s been seen in lots of scripted work as well, including the upcoming The Importance of Being Earnest at The Town Hall Theater in Lafayette.

Trish has always loved snow since it was so rare where she grew up, but after dragging her suitcase through 3 foot-layers of the stuff down way too many New York City blocks in the blizzard of ’06, she has decided to admire it from afar.
Christian UtzmanChristian Utzman (Mill Valley, CA) is an improv actor with 12 years of professional experience and is a founding member of Un-Scripted Theater Company. Although Christian has a background in scripted theater both musical and otherwise, his true calling is as an improvisor. Not only is he a fulltime actor with the Un-Scripted Theater Company, he’s also a show director and a teacher of improv with a forthcoming book on acting and improvisation. If you’re interested in finding out about his thoughts on improv and theater, feel free to visit his website improvactor.com.

Christian loves to snowboard but can’t afford to go anymore, so would gladly accept an all-expenses-paid trip up to Tahoe with you.
Lisa WangLisa Wang (Hermitage, PA) began her journey with improvisation in 2007 when she took a drop-in improv class; such was the impact of this class that she soon enrolled at BATS Improv and has not looked back since. She has co-founded the improv ensemble, The Streetlight People, with whom she performs regularly to sold out crowds. Lisa is excited and thrilled to be a part of the cast of Un-Scripted: Let it Snow!

As a young girl, Lisa was nearly blinded when she got attacked by a flying sled. Lisa managed to escape with her life and eyesight unharmed; she still has the scar to prove it.