stone soup improv
meet the cast!
local improvisational groups, including
East Bay Improv, BATS (Bay Area Theater Sports),
and Pan Theater as well as some less local groups including Comedy Sportz, Liquid Fun, SpinProv,
PANTS, The Laughing Stocks and Seven Foot Baby.
adriana russell
Adriana Russell previously performed and took classes with East Bay Improv for several years before becoming part of Stone Soup.
alan becker
Alan has performed with the Laughing Stocks in Evanston, Illinois and on
stage at the Midland Center for the Arts in Midland, Michigan.
jennifer simmons
Jennifer is tickled to be a founding member of Stone Soup Improv. Following the untimely end of Blind Boogie Workshop, Jennifer's first improv troupe, she performed, directed, and taught classes with East Bay Improv. Jennifer has improvised for corporate and community events, and led youth workshops with Empower Youniversity. Jennifer loves improv because she gets to sing and dance and it doesn't have to be good.
jonathan stern
Jonathan stumbled onstage at East Bay Improv while returning from the restroom and never left. His love of improv stems from his deep affinity for the random. When not improvising Jonathan conducts business meetings in genre and
occasionally flies his airplane.
kara blanc
Kara has been improvising since she got up this morning and she hasn't stopped to ask for directions since. She has previously performed with Double Expresso and in Los Angeles in film and television. Kara taught improv classes while living and working at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. When not flying by the seat of her pants, she hangs out on the
teeter-totter playing well with others.
michael della penna
A former Boston comic, Mike Della Penna is delighted to be performing with Stone Soup. His improv credits include Wesleyan's Desperate Measures, ImprovBoston's TheatreSports, and San Francisco's Beatnik Syndicate. He has also enjoyed performing locally with the Unscripted Theater Company and BATS. By day, Mike is a second grade teacher and proud father of Leo Phineas, born June 2010.
jon burnett
Jon Burnett began playing improvisational theater games at the age of six and never stopped. Jon teaches drama at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and the San Francisco Friends School. He has appeared locally in Porchlight Theatre's production of Chekhov's Wild Honey, as "Antony Wilding" in the award winning ensemble for Enchanted April, and well as "Andre" in Chekhov's The Three Sisters in the summer of 2009. Jon lives in El Cerrito with his wife Rebecca, son Leo, and two cats.
George has
performed for several years at Berkeley Rep's Improv Performance Lab. He also
studied Improv at the Summer Intensive Program offered by Bay Area Theater Sports (BATS). George also writes poetry and is
a member of the 13 Ways writing workshop. He lives in
ryan fuller