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Let It Snow
Nov. 23 – Dec. 15, 2018
Un-Scripted Theater Company’s beloved classic returns! There’s no other holiday entertainment like it. Each night, Un-Scripted’s skilled improvisors create a brand-new, wholly original ensemble musical from audience suggestions. The show serves up classic holiday themes in fresh combinations you’ve never seen before. The result is a little familiar and a lot magical…just like the holidays themselves.
Fridays & Saturdays, Nov. 23 – Dec. 15
All shows 8pm
Cast
Derek Cochran is enjoying his twentieth year performing improvisation in the Bay Area. Throughout those years, he was inspired by and fortunate enough to work with some of the most talented improvisers in the country. He credits his love of long form improvisation to his early instructors, Diane Rachel and Carol Hazenfield, for showing him that improv can go beyond a simple funny game and create a rich tapestry of all kinds of stories. Currently he is proud to work with the Un-Scripted Theater Company ensemble, where they allow him to obey the inscrutable exultation of his soul. He gives thanks to his family, his Treasure Island Pirate dogs, and to all the improvisers who he has worked with, been taught by, and failed spectacularly with; throughout the years.
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." ~ The Tempest
Karen got her improv start with Pan Theater, Oakland, in 2013 and has been a musician most of her life, playing drums, keys, guitar and singing with various bands from synth pop to 60’s go-go to prog rock. She’s a member of the indie troupe Jurassic Pope and coaches and facilitates corporate improv gigs throughout Bay Area. Karen is also an associate producer for both the San Francisco Improv Festival and West Coast Musical Improv Fest and can sometimes be seen performing with the stand-up/improv combo YES, stAND Up! In her free time, Karen is honing her musical chops to become an improv accompanist — super fun!
Michael Fleming got his first taste of staged improvisation some years ago and has been hooked ever since. He is delighted to be part of the Un-Scripted Theater Company, and has also performed with Out of Line, on the BATS stage, and at a variety of other venues in the Bay Area. Michael has an enduring love of song, stories and making things up and feels unreasonably lucky to be able to do so with such a talented group of folks.
Molly Robertson is a Bay Area tour guide. She studied marketing at Wagner College and improv at Upright Citizens Brigade for over four years in New York. Following school, she headed back to the Bay where she began performing with Un-Scripted. She took a few years to travel around the world with Up with People and finally made her way back to the Bay again. She is happy to have a place to improvise since she is not allowed to make things up on tour.
Rachel has been performing in improv theater officially since she was 13, and performing unofficially her entire life. While offstage, she enjoys knitting sweaters of variable quality, eating foods that include salted caramel, and watching corny true crime television shows from the 90s. Rachel will also be performing with Un-Scripted this summer. Unfortunately, Pluto the Shih Tzu (pictured) did not make it through auditions and will not be performing in any Un-Scripted shows.
Vanessa Speed is originally from New York but calls the Bay Area her forever home. She grew up participating in any musical that would have her, but didn't stray from scripted theater until 2009, when she began her improv training at Pan Theater. She originally thought that improv would lead her towards a career in stand-up comedy, before discovering her true love, theatrical improvisation, at the Un-Scripted Theater Company. She first performed with the company in 2011, and joined its ensemble in 2012. She enjoys bringing music, characters with unspoken histories, and dynamic relationships to her work. Her most recent improvisational efforts center around making up songs, games and stories for her young daughter.
Olivia Puerta first discovered improv at age 9 as a student of First Stage Theater Academy in her hometown, Milwaukee, WI. A dedicated theater kid, she continued to study and perform theater and vocal music in all her formative years. Olivia has been studying and performing improv in San Francisco since 2012, training primarily with Endgames Improv, where she now teaches. She performs weekly with San Francisco Tonight.
Amber Dyson has worked in educational theatre for thirteen years. A Bay Area native, she is currently directing BACT's Advanced Performers production of Legally Blonde Jr., which will compete at Junior Theatre Festival West in February. A recent recipient of the Freddie G. Fellowship for excellence in musical theatre education, Amber doesn’t believe for one second that you can’t sing.
Kate Wing has been making things up since her college days with the Smith Improvisational Comedy Organization of Smith. She's a regular guest at Un-Scripted Theater Company and SpeechlessLive and musical improv is her absolute favoritest. One time a guy called her and sang and played keyboard for Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You," which wins boldest mixtape.
Rebecca Castelli is delighted to be making her debut with Unscripted Theater Company. She is a member of The Incidentalists, a long-form improvisational group that performs regularly in Oakland, and Operavised!, an improvisational group that performs fully sung improvised musicals. As an actress, Rebecca has worked with local companies including Shotgun Players, Porchlight Theatre Company, and Those Women Productions. She has also worked with regional theatres including Fifth Avenue Musical Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Clarence Brown Theatre Company. Rebecca is a voice teacher and dialect coach. For more info: rebeccacastelli.com
Bonnie Kate Wolf is a Bay Area native who recently moved home from London. She's been doing improv since middle school, and likes to think she's improved. At Un-Scripted Theater Company, she guested in Let It Snow 2018, In Case You Missed It, Oregon Trials, Mixtape, World Premiere, and Remote Control Freak, with Holly Jolly coming up this winter. She performed with Un-Scripted at the West Coast Musical Improv Festival 2019. She performs regularly with Well Endowed, a local improv troupe, and trained at BATS Improv. Professionally, Bonnie Kate is a brand designer at OpenTable. For fun, she knits sweaters, sings a cappella, and plays with her puppy. She plays ukulele because guitars are too big for her hands.
Christian Utzman is a full time actor, teacher, and an original founding member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company. Christian spends much of his free time writing about the improvisational theory behind the work here at the Un-Scripted Theater Company. You can find out more about his writings at improvactor.com. If you have any questions about how we do what we do, or you need help choosing a drink at our concessions counter, please feel free to speak with him before or after the show. (He's also our concessions buyer.)