Brian is a Second City and iO alum with nearly 20 years experience performing, writing and teaching comedy and improvisation. Brian has appeared in feature films including Blockers and television shows such as Key & Peele. He’s written for Girl Boss on Netflix and can be seen performing in Delicious Moments here at Westside!
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Carla Cackowski
Carla Cackowski is a writer and improviser living in Los Angeles. She regularly tours across the country with her two person improv show, “Orange Tuxedo”. Carla toured on boats with Second City and performed on Harold Teams at both iO West and UCB Los Angeles. She directed the International Ensemble at the Vancouver Improv Festival in the fall of 2018 and has traveled all over the world teaching and performing in comedy festivals. Carla is an improv teacher at The Second City in Hollywood and is the Training Center Director at Mi’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica.
Jeffrey Thompson
Jeffrey Thompson is an actor and writer who performs on Gravity and Wasted History at the Westside and also helps produce the Westside Comedy Festival. He teaches psychology at Citrus College, works as a tax preparer, and produces short films with his group, Great Hair Productions. He’s also a huge nerd and can be found playing video games when he’s not performing somewhere in LA or buried under a pile of paperwork.
Zach Huddleston
Zach is a member of house team Heyday and genre improv group Kind Strangers. He is the former Artistic Director and Managing Director at the iO West Theater in Hollywood. He’s taught and performed at theaters and festivals in 7 States and 2 foreign countries. He loves teaching and performing improv too much, really, he should pull it back a bit.
Rolland Lopez
As “Agent Double Cross”, Rolland has been performing in the home theater cast of Mission: IMPROVable for 7 years and he refuses to leave until they kick him out! He’s been teaching and coaching improv for over 5 years and loves bringing his workshops to theaters throughout the US. His 2-person improv show, Rollin’ in Riches, won iO West’s Duo Competition in 2015 and has performed and taught in 11 festivals in 10 states…and counting.
As a voiceover actor, Rolland has done numerous radio commercials, and narrated industrial videos, eLearning modules and Explainer videos. He was the voice of Poncho in the animated version of the “Pooch Cafe” comic strip and the voice of Eliot in DOA: Dimensions on the Nintendo 3DS. Look for him as the voice of a talking globe on shelves in 2018!
He’s not a huge fan of hiking or walking on the beach in the hot LA sun but he can be easily talked into going salsa dancing, studies Russian in his free time and is desperately trying to cook more often while simultaneously wash fewer dishes without a dishwasher.
Timmy Tamisiea
Timmy Tamisiea is a member of both the Mission: IMPROVable home show and the national touring group. Alongside performing Mission: IMPROVable on the road, he teaches alcohol awareness through M.i. Production’s Shot of Reality. You can also find Timmy as a member of the 5 time house team champions improv team, Cobranauts, teaching improv and sketch comedy for the education department and directing the hilarious sketch group Back Alley Racket Club. Outside of Westside Comedy, Timmy teaches screenwriting, improv and directing at The American Dramatic and Musical Academy. He has a BA from Marquette University in Theater Arts and a MFA in Film from Columbia College Chicago.
Al Garcia
Al Garcia has been involved with the WCT for over a decade as a student/performer and is currently on the faculty. He has taught drop-in classes, workshops, and coached multiple teams… he incorporates both traditional and unconventional approaches to improv, with an emphasis on fun and mutual respect. Al’s graduate work involved topics including anxiety reduction and neuroplasticity in the brain, which he also applies to the world of teaching and performing. Finally, he is a consultant and life coach for his business model called Unconventional Solutions.
Chris Alvarado
Chris is an actor, improviser, teacher, and writer here in Los Angeles. He’s trained and performed at the Second City in Chicago and L.A., UCB, and iO West.
He’s crazy about the community here at the Westside Comedy Theatre where he currently teaches advanced improv and can be seen monthly performing with Pretty, Pretty Pony. Chris is half of the improv team Nice Chris with Chris Gorbos, a close personal friend. You can also find him weekly at iO West performing with the award winning improv team, Heyday.
Jon Thompson
Jon is an improvisor, sketch writer and performer, and instructor at Westside. He can currently be seen on stage with the theater’s longest-running improv house team Cobranauts, with the cast of the monthly Improv Diary show, and as host of the weekly Improv Jam on Monday nights. You can also catch him on the LA indie improv scene, including with Star Wars-themed improv show Wretched Hive.
Originally from Detroit, Jon relocated to Los Angeles after completing a Masters in Humanities at the University of Chicago.
Ami Clover
Amelia (Ami) Clover is an improviser and voice over actress. She began her improv career at M.I.’s Westside Comedy Theater at the theater’s inception in 2009. Graduating from their program, she continued her training at UCB, iO West, and with Miles Stroth. She’s performed internationally at numerous improv festivals including Improvaganza in Hawaii and Mount Olymprov in Greece. Currently, Ami not only teaches both improv and voice over at M.I.’s Westside Comedy theater, but also performs on the house team, Gravity and coaches the alley team, Kitty Glitter. As a voice over actress, Ami’s voice has been featured in commercials for GNC, Target, Nintendo, and GooglePlay and video games such as Contagion II and Heroes of Newerth. For more information, please visit www.ameliaclover.com