Our Team

Founder and Executive Director | nick@ImprovUtopia.org

Nick is an Actor, Improvisor and Writer living in Los Angeles, CA. Onstage Nick has trained at The Groundlings and iO West. He is a Sunday Company alum at The Groundlings and is the former Artistic Director of M.i.'s Westside Comedy Theater. He is also the co-owner of RISE Comedy in Denver, Colorado. You can catch him on LA’s critically acclaimed Harold team King Ten and County Line at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater.

On TV, Nick has been on the Emmy-Award winning shows The Office and Grey’s Anatomy. He has also made appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Stan Against Evil, Raising Hope, New Girl and Parks and Recreation. Nick has been improvising and teaching for over 20 years and has taught and performed at many festivals in the U.S. and around the World including: The Phoenix Improv Festival, San Francisco Improv Festival, Improv Fest Ireland, Seattle Improv Festival, Red Rocks Improv Festival in Utah, Out of Bounds in Austin, TX and many more. He is also Co-Founder of the The Improv Network. Feel free to following him @nickarmstrong on Twitter and @mrenergy on Instagram

Board Member

Jessica is an improviser/actress/stand up comedian in Los Angeles who performs weekly at iO West since 2003. Her first group was the infamous Nite Terrors along side Nick Armstrong and John Abbott. Jessica has been an original cast member of the Kind Strangers for the last 5 years. They have traveled to Improv Festivals across the country bringing their unique style of genreprov, their signature form being improvised Tennessee Williams. Jessica’s latest endeavor is stand up comedy which you can see live, on YouTube, or if you’re lucky, on the back porch of Mozzi’s Saloon during Improv Utopia. She loves the outdoors and attended her first sleep away camp at age 8. Jessica can’t wait to bring the “Arts to the Crafts” at camp this summer.

Board Member

Brian travels the world teaching his expertise in The Deconstruction as part of his ALL IMPROV courses and as a founding board member of Camp Improv Utopia. A main stage performer, beloved bar manager, coach & teacher until the very end at iO West (RIP), O’Connell is also proud to be a Co-Founder of The Pack Theater, LA Weekly’s BEST OF LA Pick for “Best Theater Company” two years in a row.

Please give him more stuff to do. It brings him joy.

Board Member

Alrinthea Carter is an improviser and comedy writer based in Greenville, SC. She is currently a writer for the third season of the Emmy Award Winning HBO series A Black Lady Sketch Show. Alrinthea has studied and performed improv comedy for nine years at Alchemy Comedy Theater in South Carolina, and has performed at comedy theaters across the country. A former Executive Producer and Player Advocate at Alchemy, she currently teaches Level One improv Students.

Well known for her passion for photography, teaching improv classes, The Muppets, and finding the perfect funk rhythm on the drums, Alrinthea is making her mark on the world through public service and bold creativity. Her patron saint is and will always be Prince.

Board Member

Wendy is a founding member of OTC Comedy and the current Artistic Director. She has been studying and performing improvisational theatre for over 15 years. She is also a member of Pawn Takes Queen and has performed internationally. Wendy co-founded both the Red Rocks Improv Festival and Ye Olde Improv Competition. She is currently one of OTC Comedy's instructors and has taught improv to people of all ages for over 10 years.

Board Member

Chris performs regularly at the Pointless Brewery and Theatre (pointlessbrew.com) in Ann Arbor, Michigan with the League of Pointless Improvisers and at festivals around North America with Consolation Fries and Holiday Road. He is one of the founders of the Detroit Improv Festival and the Detroit Improv Collective, Inc. and he volunteers and teaches improv workshops regularly at Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit. He spends his weekdays as the Show Operations Manager with SME and travels regularly for work to improv cities around North America. He is also the husband of Improv Utopia East's Arts & Crafts instructor Beverly Moody and the owner of Giuseppe the Camp Dog.

Managing Director | Jacque@ImprovUtopia.org

Jacque Arend found improv in 2005 through iO Chicago’s summer intensive. After that experience Jacque joined with other improvisors in Phoenix, Arizona to found The Torch Theatre in 2007. Jacque was a Board Member, Senior Instructor, Administrator, Operations & Theater Manager, building infrastructure, managing students, producing shows, managing volunteers, updating the website and handling ticketing services until 2018. Jacque joined the Phoenix Improv Festival team in 2006 and shortly became the Hospitality Manager and then the Managing Director of the Festival until 2017.

Jacque is now an Associate Artistic Director, Improv Instructor & Operations Manager/Admin for Arizona Actors Academy & has been with Improv Utopia on staff since 2015. She is also a freelance artist & coach offering applied improvisation & website services as part of her diversified portfolio.

Interim Diversity Advisor | Diversity@ImprovUtopia.org

Anita Nicholson has trained at Philly Improv Theater and the Magnet. Regionally, she performed with Bright Invention Improv, ComedySportz’s LongForm Team, Darkwood, and Liberty City Radio. Her M.A. from Cornell and undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania surround representations of the Other in Western Culture. At Booz Allen, she served on the board for the company’s Workforce Leadership Council which partnered with the company's Women's Organization, Environmental Group, and Community Partnerships. She is currently on the board for Gamma Phi Delta’s Trenton branch, a group focused on supporting diverse Women of Color in Business. She currently covers diversity in theater with Broad Street Review.

Admin/Registration Coordinator | camps@ImprovUtopia.org

Sofya is an improv comedian and business owner based in Philadelphia, PA. Currently, she performs with her indie team Six Different People and with the cast of Don't I Know You at the local ComedySportz theater. When not improvising, Sofya runs a photo booth rental company - The Yellow Mirror, volunteers with a local community fridge and fosters cats.

She's been to Improv Utopia East twice and immediately fallen in love with the people and camaraderie at camp. She is thrilled to join the Improv Utopia team as a Admin/Registration Coordinator to help others discover the magic of camp.

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Lead Designer

Brandon Hensgens has been performing improv since 2011. He is a teacher and performer at Finest City Improv in San Diego, CA. Brandon started his improv journey by auditioning for his first group, Roar. Since then, he has been non-stop. He has trained at iO West, Pack Theater, Dosage Improv, and Roar Theatre. You can catch him perform with his indie teams, Roar, Greg Hess’ Hair, and Craft Beer Festival. He is also the director and producer of the Harry Potter improv show, Dungeons and Dementors. Since 2013, Brandon has worked as an actor in the cast of Dinner Detective.

Outside of improv, Brandon is a graphic designer for a local news affiliate. When he isn’t working or performing, Brandon is traveling for the sole purpose to eat more food, watching Great British Bake-Off, sitting in the front row of a Robot Teammate show.

Camp Nurse

Ashley Knaysi graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in Theater and Film Studies. It was there that she first started studying and performing improv comedy, and it has remained a major guiding force in her life ever since. While living in New York, she studied at UCB as well as performing theater and improv with Backhouse Productions, a theater company created with former classmates and fellow improvisers from college. From there she moved to Los Angeles to work and study with iO West, performing with multiple teams over the course of ten years. When a return to nursing school brought her to Richmond, VA for several years, she continued performing regularly and teaching long-form improv with the group Westside Comedy. For the last five years since returning to LA she has been a part of the Team Big Yellow Taxi, graduated from USC and become a family nurse practitioner, and has been given the distinct honor of the position of official Camp Nurse of Camp Improv Utopia!

Camp Director West

Wendy is a founding member of OTC Comedy and the current Artistic Director. She has been studying and performing improvisational theatre for over 15 years. She is also a member of Pawn Takes Queen and has performed internationally. Wendy co-founded both the Red Rocks Improv Festival and Ye Olde Improv Competition. She is currently one of OTC Comedy’s instructors and has taught improv to people of all ages for over 10 years.

International Retreat Director

Neil has been teaching and performing improv both in Ireland and abroad for many years. Aside from running improv courses for people from beginner to advanced level, Neil also runs bespoke courses. Outside of Ireland, Neil has taught in London, Brussels, Shanghai, San Francisco, Barcelona, Krakow and San Jose.

Neil has taught at the Slapdash Festival London, Barcelona Improv Festival, Improfest Krakow and San Jose Improv Festival.

Neil has also provided key training solutions and workshops to many well known organisations both in Ireland, UK and the US including Google, Facebook, IMI, Smurfit Business School, Dropbox, AdRoll, AIB and UCD, to name but a few. He is a certified Personal & Executive Coach. Neil is currently in the middle of a Masters in Training & Education.

Advisor and Consultant

Craig Cackowski has been performing, teaching, directing and coaching improvisation for the iO and iO West theaters since 1992. While in Chicago, he was part of such groundbreaking productions as Frank Booth In The Blue Velvet Lounge, Close Quarters and JTS Brown. He also worked as a performer and director for The Second City, acting in and co-writing five revues on the Mainstage and ETC, including the Jeff Award-nominated The Revelation Will Not Be Televised. Since moving to Los Angeles, he has performed extensively at the iO West, UCB and Second City theaters, and is the three-time Del Close Award winner for iO West Teacher of the Year. Along with Bob Dassie and Rich Talarico, he has performed all over the country with Dasariski (check out their website at dasariski.com) and their short film Jakarta Boom Boom played at HBO’s Aspen and Las Vegas Comedy Festivals.

Other festival appearances include the Chicago Improv Festival, Del Close Marathon, SF Sketchfest, Out Of Bounds Austin, Just For Laughs Montreal, Phoenix Improv Festival, Denver Improv Festival, Telluride Comedy Festival, and Dallas Comedy Festival. As an actor, he may be seen in his recurring role as “Officer Cackowski” on the acclaimed NBC sitcom Community, as well as TV appearances on How I Met Your Mother, Workaholics, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, and in the film Year Of The Dog, directed by Mike White. He is also a original member of the Workjuice Players, the cast of the popular live radio show (and podcast!) The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Subscribe at iTunes or on Nerdist.com.