Ensemble.
11 International improvisers from all over Europe
Andrew Hefler
Hungary / USA
Andrew is a performer, director, trainer working in theatre, music, film and television for nearly thirty years. He was first introduced to Improvisational theatre at the age of 10 in grade school in Los Angeles. Since then he has worked with theatre groups in the US, Canada, Europe and since 1994 in his homebase of Budapest. He was a founding member of the experimental impro trio Scalabouche and later founded Grund Theatre in 2008 developing a company and training methods for actors and shows for performance. Andrew has taught actors, screenwriters and directors as well as at other faculties at Bauhaus University, Budapest University of Theatre and Cinematic Arts and currently at CEU.
Billy Kissa
Belgium / Greece
Billy Kissa is an actress, won over by Improv Theater. After graduating “Theater of Arts, Karolos Koun”, she performed to her first play as a professional actress and at the same time she crossed paths with Improv Theater. It was love at first sight. She dove into the world of improv head first and she took her first steps towards teaching improv. Within 9 years she has been trained by numerous instructors, performed and taught all over the world. She is part of the European Improv Network “The SIN”, a member of the international collective for women improvisers "Project Eve", the international troupe "3 Deadly Sinners" and the Impro duo "BE".
Chris Mead
United Kingdom
Chris Mead is an improviser, writer and creator who lives in the beautiful Surrey Hills with his wife, Laura & Cavapoo dog-pal, Radio. His focus is on emotionally-connected, relationship-driven improv. He is lucky enough to teach and perform all over the world. Chris studied theatre at the prestigious Royal Holloway college and continues to explore improv with every school, theatre and practitioner he can find.
❤️: improv, tea, Doctor Who, technology
😡: injustice, football, coffee
Gael Doorneweerd-Perry
Netherlands / France
Gael has practiced improv for about 15 years in Strasbourg and then Amsterdam. He is the co-founder of Flock Theatre, Anananas & Pampamplemousse (formerly La Carpe Haute), as well as the SIN, an international network of improvisers in Europe. He is also the Artistic Director of IMPRO Amsterdam, and the co-Artistic Director of Improfestival Karlsruhe. In short: he creates a bunch of stuff!
He loves to teach abroad and to create new shows to explore and share his passion, including with his partner on and off-stage, Laura Doorneweerd-Perry. After touring the world with their show Object of Affection, he settled in Amsterdam and they created Flock Theatre together: a school and a professional company, to produce theatrical improvised shows and invite other artists to collaborate.
While traveling, Gael found a thousand ways to improvise. These result in his unique style: both physical and noisy, kind and silly, full of emotions and slightly crazy.
Karolina Pańczyk
Poland
Karolina Pańczyk – has been doing comedy for 17 years. On a daily basis, she performs in Klub Komediowy (the biggest comedy club in Poland), in an international improv group called 7 Women of Different Ages and in Niplodram, with which she creates improvised performances, sketch shows and makes short films (some of them shown at movie festivals). She regularly conducts theater improvisation workshops. In Warsaw, along with other comedians, she co-runs the comedy scene – Centralna Spółdzielnia Komediowa. For six years she hosted her own comedy program on national television. She wants stories to end well and she always plays bad mothers. Wears sneakers that are too big.
Katy Schutte
United Kingdom
Katy Schutte has performed and taught improvisation in twenty-something countries across five continents. She is a Head Teacher and Curriculum Writer for Hoopla, the UK’s biggest improv school. Katy authored The Improviser's Way: A Longform Workbook, published by Nick Hern Books. She was one of The Maydays from 2004-2022, is half of sci-fi improv duo Project2 and performs with Yes Queens, Track 96 and Hell Yeah! among others. She was an artist in residence for The Arctic Circle Project in 2022.
A Funny Women finalist and both finalist and winner of the Brighton Festival Fringe Best Comedy Show award, Katy also stars in BAFTA winning online educational series History Bombs. Katy won eight writing awards in 2022 for her screenplay and web series pilot. She creates work in XR and has written for Cards Against Humanity...
Laura Doorneweerd-Perry
Netherlands
When that Laura is not traveling the world, she can be found cycling the Amsterdam canals between her jobs as trainer, performer, entrepreneur and cat mom.
Together with her spouse Gael, she is running Flock Theatre. These two improv nerds found each other through improvisation and are now teaching and producing theatrical improvisation on a professional level.
Laura teaches other improv teachers, collaborates on European projects like Safe Play, and celebrates this year her 20-year teaching career.
She loves slow motion running, bloody fights and smoking. On stage, that is.
Manuel Speck
Germany
“Try to surprise yourself and trust your partners" Those are the maxims Manuel Speck follows while playing impro.
His impro-roots are based in Mainz, Germany where he was one of the founding members of the group "Die Affirmative" in 2010. In 2015 he founded the group “FEM Fatale” in Karlsruhe and is now artistic director of “Improtheater Karlsruhe”. He is also a founding member of the European Impro-initiative The SIN and performs worldwide.
He loves do explore the range impro has to offer from silly, comedic shows to surreal and controversial longform-formats. To discover the stories onstage and to connect with improvisers offstage around the world are the things that keep him going. Due to his background in film he is always eager to bring Movie- and TV- Genres and -styles to the stage.
AND HE LOVES RACCOONS!
Raschid Daniel Sidgi
Germany
Raschid Daniel Sidgi...
…was born 1976 in Weimar. First he wanted to become an adventurer, later a scientist, then a soccer player, after that a rockstar. But after school he started working in a theatre house as a stagehand and a new passion arose. After a few years of education he was graduated as actor in Leipzig. For 7 years he was engaged in several theatre companies and 2007 he decided to work as a freelancer. Since then he is what he always wanted to be: actor for theatre, camera and audio, musician, producer, entertainer, MC, director, daddy, creator and manager of chaos, author, DADAist, guru and student, activist, dance floor smasher and poetic peace brother...
Raschid is doing Improv since about 17 years. He plays shows, gives workshops and never stops learning. He is one of the founders of the group THEATERTURBINE in Leipzig. Since 2014 Raschid is artistic director of the festival MOMENTA in Leipzig.
Roelof Ruis
Netherlands
I have been playing the accordion for around 25 years, from age 8, but have just only discovered the magic that is improvised theater! Creating (improvised) music for performances seems to come very natural, and I especially love the more serious side of this theater-music interaction. Furthermore I'm still very much inexperienced and wanting to learn; the Karlsruhe festival seems the perfect opportunity.
Ulla Oksanen
Finland
Ulla comes from the North, from Finland! She is an eternally curious person in life and in the world of improv. She is constantly hungry to learn new things and always having some sort of identity crisis - in a positive way. Her acting career started in youth theatre playing the troll with massive ears. She took a short 15-year break but found her way back to the joyful side in 2011 after accidentally seeing an improv show. Improv has been an outlet for her to explore all the wonderful and messy parts of being a human.
Ulla is known to be an energetic player, often silly, sometimes serious, always sensitive. She performs and tours with the adorable and idiotic team Doris Likes Everything, plays with Finland’s first English improv team JadaJada improv and is part of the European improv project Ohana.
