Noah Cotten
Noah has been practicing improv at Westside since 2019. You can often see him opening improv shows with the student group Players’ Workshop. He is a member of the house improv team Formal Bonfire. This is his second sketch show at Westside. You can also find him performing subpar stand up at open mics in the area.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Dana Meecham
Dana has loved theater since her first performance as “the month of January” in the first grade. Since then, she has been privileged to train and perform on stages at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, the Heidelburg dinner theater, Second City Detroit, and the Michigan Actors Studio. After a 20 year hiatus, Dana feels blessed to have reconnected with her creative side at Westside Improv and looks forward to bringing her own brand of crazy town to the stage. When not performing, Dana practices Reflexology, enjoys homeschooling her daughter, teaching Martial Arts to children, spending time with her family, friends & critters (dogs, cats, bearded dragon, gliders. Yep, a zoo), and Pokemon hunting.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Katie Nicole
After taking a break from theater and performance, Katie starting taking improv classes at Westside in Spring of 2022. She now plays on Bicycle Fish Parade, and is extremely grateful for the supportive and fun community at Westside.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Katie Fuhs
Katie grew up watching Mad TV and SNL inspiring her make up crazy skits with her elementary school friends. She took her first improv class at Westside in 2019 and has been hooked ever since. When not performing, you can find Katie making flaxseed smoothies, going to therapy, or singing karoke in her living room.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Natalie Brown
Natalie was a part of her college improv team, Heywire!, and got her degree in theatre at Augustana College. Knowing she wanted to continue improv post-grad, she started classes at Westside in Spring of 2022 and has been having a blast ever since! When not doing improv, she’s doing taxes, crocheting, or petting her hairless cat.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Stosh Walsh
Stosh assumed the lead role in his high school play after another actor left the cast. Eventually, the play was cancelled. He bore that pain in silent resignation for 30 years, not returning to the stage until he began taking classes at Westside in 2022. The theater and its people have been a redeeming influence in his life ever since. When he isn’t making things up with his friends, you can find him enjoying a hike, a cigar, or a good dram of whisk(e)y.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Andy Douglas
Andy has always enjoyed being on stage and entertaining others. In highschool he performed in multiple plays. Andy took an Intro to Improv class in January 2021 after being encouraged and challenged by his oldest daughter.
His wife discovered Westside in July of 2021. After attending a show he quickly decided to sign up for level 1 classes and he has refused to leave ever since.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Josh Lindsay
Josh is a big fan of improv. He was first introduced to live improv way back in the early 1990s when Second City performed in his hometown Springfield, IL. After taking a few classes in college and one at Comedy Sportz in Chicago he took a break for 20 years to start a family and build a business but he's back! He started taking classes at Westside in the summer of 2022. He's thrilled to be a part of Objectivize & Bicycle Fish Parade and loves the community at Westside.
He would like to thank his wife, Angie, and their three awesome kids, Piper, Quinn and Adelaide for their encouragement and support.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Lindsey Sanderson
After taking over 15 years to recover from not being cast in her Middle School’s production of Annie, Lindsey is giving theater another shot! Lindsey started taking improv classes at Westside in 2020 and fell in love with being on stage with her friends. She is constantly inspired by all the talent at this theater. When she’s not on stage, Lindsey works as a Speech-Language Pathologist and helps kids without a voice, learn to speak their truth!
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Brian Howell
Brian’s wife, Marissa, knew what she was doing when she got him a Christmas gift of Improv Comedy Classes. What started as a simple Level 1 class with Jeff Ash has turned into a full-blown obsession. (Did she plan this? Is it part of grand scheme to get the TV remote to herself?) Brian’s paid gig is as a college professor of cultural anthropology, but now his true vocation is making up characters with faux French accents and singing his feelings. He moonlights as a musical director for Westside occasionally, and loves supporting the Westside community in whatever ways he can. Vive la Westside!
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Kim Scott
Kim Scott was thrilled to find Westside Theater. An improviser since high school, Kim loves being part of a community that values play. She spends her free time watching tv, reading, eating large quantities of popcorn at solo movie outings, and trying to make her 4 year old laugh.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Eileen McArdle
As the youngest of six children, Eileen was always performing. She received her BA in theater at Loyola University and later graduated from the Second City Conservatory.
Eileen is a professional "Garbologist" and has been working in the recycling industry for 15 years. If you invite her over, ready yourself for dumpster diving and unsolicited recycling tips. She’s Not Sorry.
Marriage, motherhood, and career put improv in the backseat until a nearly empty nest in 2019 afforded her the time to join Westside. As, Julia Cameron, Author of the Artist Way, says, “It is never too late to begin again.”
She is thankful to be part of the Westside family
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Kyle Tasch
Kyle Tasch is an improviser, improv teacher, writer, musician, filmmaker, actor, comedian and oaf from the Chicago suburbs. He began performing music and comedy in middle school. He currently lives in Urbana, Illinois across the street from corn and cows.
Kyle has been improvising since 2004. Kyle began improvising at Westside in 2015 and is an alumni of the Westside Improv Players Workshop. He spent years studying under the brilliant Jeff Ash. He has performed regularly with house team Flexible Boat since 2016.
Kyle is a filmmaker who often makes films and videos for various projects. Kyle has produced, written, acted, and directed his own independent films and web series. Many of the films and videos he has created utilize improv as a technique crossed with storytelling narratives. There are over 100 original comedic films and videos available to watch online today - no good ones unfortunately.
Since Kyle began writing comedy, his comedy sketches have been performed in Chicago and suburban theaters. Kyle is a published poet and photographer. His original humorous lyrics are used with his own original music.
Kyle graduated from Roosevelt University with a degree in Communications. As a freelance media creator, he has made video commercials for several businesses and even two local politicians who won their heavily contested elections.
Kyle is also a longtime musician and also often incorporates comedy into his music. Since fronting a punk band in the 2000's, he has since played music for folk projects, jam bands, comedy bands, and has many original solo recordings available on every major music streaming platform. Since 2005, he has performed music regularly at a wide variety of venues and festivals. Kyle has played live music in locations as far as Edinburgh, Scotland and Indianapolis. His instruments of choice are guitar, vocals, and harmonica. Many music videos and live music recordings are available online to view today.
Kyle holds the world record for longest amount of time spent breathing through a harmonica (this record is not confirmed).
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Matt Iwinski
Matt fell in love with comedy at a very young age mainly due to his parents who introduced him to classic comedys such as (I Love Lucy, the Honeymooners, Abbott and Costello, The Three Stooges, Monty Python, and so so so many more). He then in 2010 enrolled in The Second City Chicago where his love of Improv exploded. Today Matt can be seen performing Improv around the Chicago suburbs and even online as part of a Global Improv group. Where will his adventures take him next?? Tune in to find out.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Becky Lankheet
Becky is an introvert who loves numbers, Excel and all things math related. All these things do not add up to performing improv on stage... yet here we are. It started with an Intro to Improv class in 2019. She eventually slipped through the cracks and had the honor of joining Shade Tree. She is most famous for acting like an exhausted mom of 2 boys.
Becky plays with Murder Candy and Shade Tree.
UPCOMING SHOWS
Chrissy Woj
Chrissy Woj is a storyteller, improviser, and adventurer. She got her improv start in 2018 at The Second City Training Center and if it weren't for a global pandemic, she'd be a graduate of the SCTC Music Conservatory by now. She fell in love with Westside in 2019 and hasn't looked back. When she's not throwing herself on the stage or pretending to be a child, you can find her writing words in various formats or running around Disney World, pretending to be a child.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Christine Guare
Christine started a Swearinglady Blog in 2017, aimed to poke fun at herself with a the enhancement of using big swear words. In 2018, she had a goal to try and do stand up. With being deathly scared to even get on stage, she decided to sign up for her first improv class at Westside Improv. Not really sure what the next step was, her husband Chris kept kicking her out of the house and signing up for more classes, Jeff Ash approved. With each year that has passed, she realized she is nowhere without the people of Westside Improv. She feels incredibly grateful to be performing with some of the most amazing and talented women on Blank Slate. Shit, trust the process. Thank you Westside.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Adam Sabados
Adam started performing improv and sketch comedy in college in Ohio in 2003. Since then he’s performed with various groups including the touring group Isaac improv, and the LA based sketch and improv group Spats & Cane. Adam’s first loves are playwriting and musical theatre, but he finds the allure of the improv stage irresistible. You can see him on the Westside stage as a part of the Unwritten Works of William Shakespeare.
UPCOMING SHOWS
PERFORMS WITH
Alyssa Barringer
Alyssa Barringer has been doing improv of various kinds since 2001. She is a graduate of i.O. Training Center (formerly ImprovOlympic), and she has studied just enough at the School for Theatre Creators to know how scary clowning is. She has performed with and coached several Wheaton Improv and Open Source Improv teams.
When she’s not performing at Westside, you might find Alyssa teaching Latin and improv at the Greenhouse.
Check out her improv blog.