"If improvisation reveals a lot about how the mind works, then the extroverts at Washington Improv Theater are an unembarrassed bunch of sickos." [ more ]
-The Washington Post

"I'm always stunned and amazed how this troupe of improv geniuses creates a musical in front of our eyes. Get thee to the iMusical." [ more ]
-DC Theatre Reviews

Musical theater and improv are like chocolate and peanut-butter for Mark Chalfant. Combine them and he will eat them all. He's delighted to have been involved with iMusical since Travis Ploeger began the project in the summer of 2006, and he's thrilled the show allows him to play with fantastic improvisers from ComedySportz and the DC Improv. He thanks the phenomenal Barbara Scott and Joshua Brody of Bay Area Theatresports, whose inspiring workshops years ago sparked his love for musical improv. Mark helped re-found WIT in 1997 and has served as the company's artistic director since 2003.

Jennifer Y. Chou is thrilled to join the iMusical cast. She has been performing and teaching Keith Johnstone-based improv for the last ten years in San Francisco, Stanford, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, England, Cancun, the Bahamas, and Ventura, CA, home of the annual California TheatreSports(TM) Tournament. At the 2000 Tournament, she was discovered by the same woman who in the 1970s discovered Robin Williams, Gary Shandling, and John Ritter. Today, Jenn is a lawyer. She hopes you enjoy the show, and that you'll vote for Hillary Clinton for President.

Liz Demery has been improvising since 1993, and is excited to return to perform with iMusical. Liz has been seen with numerous theatre companies in the DC area such as The Keegan Theatre, American Century Theatre, BAPA's Imagination Stage, Shakespeare's Skum and singing with The O'Danny Girls. She can be found most weekends at The Comedy Spot of Arlington, VA in ComedySportz and The Blue Show where she is also the Artistic Director.

Ben Furnas is a relative newcomer to DC and is honored to have found a creative outlet with the gang at iMusical. He recent escaped from Cornell University where he spent most of his time on stage in a dinosaur costume with the Cornell Skits-o-phrenics.

The performing arts have always played a big role in the life of Jordan Hirsch. He met his future wife while starring in Guys & Dolls in high school. He met most of his college friends singing and directing a cappella with the University of Maryland Generics. He met some of his best DC friends thanks to WIT's training program. And now he is pleased as punch to be back on stage, combining his twin loves (singing and improv) as part of iMusical's latest run.

Karen Lange likes to pretend. She started improvising after her friends staged an intervention and sent her to classes. She has been active in the DC improv scene for several years, performing with iMusical and ComedySportz. Karen is also an enthusiastic member of the DC acting community on both stage and screen. Recent stage roles include Sorel in Rockville Little Theatre's Hay Fever and Claire in Hard Bargain Theatre's Proof. Her latest films include Festivale and The Rochambeau Kid, an award-winning favorite at the DC 48-Hour Film Festival. She trained at WIT, ComedySportz, and Studio Theatre.

Colin Murchie first came into improv in 1998 with Cornell University's Whistling Shrimp. It's about the only thing he's stuck with this long, and it generally remains the high point of nearly every week, and the source of all his lasting friends- sad or spectacular? I see you've already decided. In his simultaneous, parallel, other lives, he's a lobbyist on Capitol Hill, an EMT in Prince George's County, and a tinker and inventor.

Natasha Rothwell began improvising in the placenta, but fine-tuned her skills at the University of Maryland where she was a part of the improv troupe, Erasable Inc and got her BA in Theatre Performance. She has put that piece of paper to good use: teaching with WIT's Training Program and with Arena Stage Community Engagement, directing cool people in Caveat, and writing brilliant things. She'd like to give a shout out to the Big Guy upstairs for putting up with her antics and for not, you know, smiting her.

Jason Saenz first found improv during his high school theater productions, where his reluctance to learn any of his lines developed his talent for adlibbing on the spot. At George Mason University, he was one of the founding members of the Campus Crusade for Comedy and sketch writer for the Sofa King Funny Show. After a few miserable years of not doing anything fun after college, Jason began participating in WIT's training program and performing with such troupes as Best Friends and Jackie.

If the Coen brothers remade Annie, then you would know what mental cinema is inside Letty Tomlinson's head at any given moment. This strange brew is also what inclines her toward iMusical. Letty has pursued improv since the advent of the iPod. She has performed with Comedy Gears and is a frequent performer with ComedySportz and the Blue Show. She has also ventured into the world of sketch comedy with The Couch Potatoes. Letty works in video and television production and dreams of someday hosting a dinner party that includes Jimmy Carter, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Tina Fey.

Born and raised in Indiana, Shawn Westfall has performed improvisational comedy for over 12 years with a number of professional improv troupes. Most recently, Shawn was the founder and creative director of bright young things, an improv troupe specializing in long-form improv that played to audiences in Washington, DC (headlining at the DC Improv) and NYC. He's been the exclusive teacher of improv comedy at the DC Improv for over four years, and his classes have been featured in The Washington Post, The Washington Post Express and Washingtonian magazine and on Washington Post Radio, DC 101, and WTOP Radio.

Travis Ploeger (Director, Accompanist) moved to the DC area in 2006, after an eight-year career as the musical director for Chicago City Limits, the longest-running comedy revue in New York City. He was also the co-creator of I Eat Pandas, the two-woman musical improv group that continues to play for standing ovations wherever they perform. A graduate of the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford), he also teaches workshops and classes in song improvisation, and has helped to create and perform over 1,500 improvised musicals in front of live audiences all across the country. His "legitimate" theater credits include stints at The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville (CA) and the Forestburgh Playhouse (NY), where he once music directed Loretta "Hot Lips Houlihan" Switt in The Apple Tree. He has also written several musicals for their children's theater series. Though he is warming up to the Washington Nationals, he remains a season ticket owner for the Minnesota Vikings. He lives in Silver Spring with his dreamgirl wife, Melissa, and their new bouncing boy, Benjamin. For more information about Travis, please visit his Mac-created website.