Performers for the 2024 Improv Festival!
Parallelogramophonograph:
Parallelogramophonograph (Kareem Badr, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik, and Valerie Ward) has been performing together for over 18 years and 1200 shows (and counting!). Fiercely dedicated to the craft and art of improvised theatre, PGraph has held a weekly show in Austin, Texas since 2006. Intrigued by the challenge of telling fantastic fully-improvised stories together as an ensemble, PGraph spent years developing original formats and studying scripted theatre, improv, and storytelling. They’ve toured the world performing and teaching their unique brand of improv with ensemble appearances in over 65 cities in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, and the UK.
Catch them in shows all weekend and in their MainStage showcase on Sat, Oct 19th at 8 pm
Kaci Beeler
Kaci Beeler (she/they) is a visual artist, improviser, writer, and stage/film/voice actor based out of Austin, TX. Kaci has been performing improvisational theatre since 2003 and has toured over 85 cities and 11 countries to perform and teach. Some career highlights include being named Best Actor/Actress in the Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin” Awards, studying with the PUNCHDRUNK theatre company in London, and improvising in character for HBO’s WESTWORLD experience. Kaci is a writer and actor on the new TV sketch comedy pilot LAWN PARTY, currently in production in Austin. If you’re ever in the U.S. you can hear Kaci on national TV and radio daily as the chief brand voice for Domino’s.
Roy Janik
Roy Janik, in addition to being a member of the renowned ensemble Parallelogramophonograph, is one of the owners and the Artistic Director of The Hideout Theatre in Austin, TX, which specializes in narrative and genre-based improv. Over the years Roy has directed and created countless shows at The Hideout, including “Death by Musical” and “Austin Secrets,” the latter of which has inspired productions in Seattle, Portland, Rhode Island, and more. He is particularly fond of teaching his workshop called “Chase the Ball,” which explores a focus-based perspective on improvising.
Kareem Badr
Kareem Badr is an actor, writer, and improviser based out of Austin, TX. Kareem’s stage credits include Salieri in Amadeus, The Actor in The Woman in Black (Penfold Theatre), and Nazrullah in Heartland (for both Vortex Rep and Luna Stage in NJ), for which he was awarded the B. Iden Payne for Lead Actor in a Drama. He is one of the owners of The Hideout Theatre and co-authored “Do It Now”, a book of essays on instinctual narrative improvisation, with his award-winning improv group Parallelogramophonograph. His fiction podcast script “Curtains” won the Austin Film Festival script competition in 2020.
Valerie Ward
Valerie Ward after having been a fixture of the Austin Improv scene for over 20 years, now lives, works, and performs and teaches improv in NYC. She has travelled the world teaching and performing and co-authored “Do It Now,” a book on narrative improv, with the rest of her ensemble, Parallelogramophonograph. She is as comfortable playing the upper crust of 17th-century French society as she is doing off-the-cuff abstract performance art with her absurdly funny trio “Echo Lake.” She also has a fiercely analytical story brain, which she put to good use in creating and directing shows such as “A Bedtime Gorey,” “The Dahl House,” and “A Deed So Dark.”
Tyra Banda
Tyra Banda is a queer black artist based in Toronto Ontario. She got her first taste of Theatre when she pursued a BA in drama at the University of Alberta. While in Edmonton she was part of Rapid Fire Theatre, as well as multiple Edmonton Fringe shows (Chuckle Ruckus, Big Stupid Improv Show, Theatresports). Tyra moved to Toronto in 2019 for a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance from Humber College, where they recently taught at. She has performed as a cast member of Second City’s “Improv All Stars”, is an eighth of Toronto’s most well-behaved improv troupe, “Little Miss Normal”, and can often be caught on stage performing with Bad Dog, and off stage teaching their classes!
Susan Evans
Susan Evans is an improviser hailing from Edmonton, Alberta. She has been a member of Rapid Fire Theatre since 2019 and a member of the sketch comedy group Dang Dumb. She has been a part of the Edmonton Fringe Festival for years and performed in Toronto Sketch Fest in 2020. In her spare time, she loves to teach children’s improv classes through RFT. While she is not much of an actor, she assures you that she tries very very hard. So hard that you can see her acting with tremendous exertion. She is ecstatic to be back back back again in the Peg for the Winnipeg Improv Festival!
Tim Blair
TIM BLAIR is a comedian and founding member of the acclaimed comedy troupe, TallBoyz II Men. Together with Bruce McCulloch from Kids In The Hall, they created the multiple Canadian Screen Award-winning sketch show, TallBoyz. A seasoned live performer, Tim excels in stand-up, sketch, and improv. He’s an alumnus of Second City’s House Co. and has showcased his talent at festivals like Just for Laughs Toronto and the NBC Breakout Festival in Chicago.
