Artistic Director

is the Artistic Director of The Mopco Improv Theatre and a Senior Facilitator with Koppett.

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Kat is the President and eponymous founder of Koppett, an organizational development company specializing in blending traditional organizational development tools and principles

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Winnie has been doing theater since they were 3 years old, and stumbled upon MopCo when a friend invited them to a Jam. Since then, Winnie has known that improv is something special, and is thrilled to join the crew here at MopCo.

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Maria Ayoob is a silly goose who wasted several decades of her life not doing improv. She played Sam (the right-hand man) in the 1989 production of The Pirates of Penzance at Rombout Junior High. In her spare time she has a job.

Rachel is not actually a human. She is a racoon in a human skin suit. She began volunteering with Mopco a year ago with hopes to infiltrate the theatre from the inside out. The cast has yet to question her true form.

Ali discovered improv in 2019 and has been hooked ever since. She volunteers with refugees and the Friends of the Pine Bush Community. She enjoys nature walks, dancing, and reading.

Jason started his improv career in 1995 as part of the mainstage cast at ComedySportz San Jose, performing in their home theater and at events such as the SoFA Street Fair and the 1997 NHL All Star Fan Experience.

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Drew loves to make movies, music, and the occasional blanket fort. The founder of media company Scatterset where he’s written and performed sketches, video essays and more, you just might know him from one of his many YouTube videos (but it’s probably the math one). He’s thrilled to hop into Mopco for a refreshing new way to improvise as the elaborate long cons were getting old.

Hayes has been in front of audiences as long as he can remember. He began singing with his mother and his sisters in a well-known gospel group named the Fields singers. He then was introduced to theatre formally through the Harlem Children's Theater Co. Hayes was able to perform in Europe and Africa because of this troupe, as well as most of the major stages and Off-Broadway stages in New York

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Leo Gagliardi is fresh out of Union College and rotten to the core. He pretends to be an energetic, athletic theater kid with nothing to lose, but Leo secretly plays tabletop role-playing games, is getting his masters

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is a writer, comedian, and journalist from the Albany, New York area. He graduated from SUNY Albany in 2013 with a B.A. in English, minoring in Theater and Journalism.

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My biography

Takes the form of a haiku

Isn’t that so clev—

Sarah has been around the Mopco since she was a kid, literally: Sarah was a member of our youth troupe back in the day, before we were even in this building. She is a comic, an improviser, and an awesome human being.

Besides being a very funny improviser, Mopco member Tom Mueller is a counselor at Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady. Tom recently got grant funding for a series of weekly improv classes at the school. Tom is a social activist as well, familiar to anyone involved in the fight for racial justice in the Capital Region.

Charlie Owens (he/him) has loved making things up with MopCo for years. Previously a member of The Regicides of New Haven, CT (house team of A Broken Umbrella Theatre). Off-stage Charlie has a wonderful habit of supporting New York nonprofits as an event manager, etc. @cwowens, not on tiktok.

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Alex Rabinowitz has been studying, performing, and teaching improv for 7 years — and is thrilled to be joining MopCo! Most recently, Alex was a house team member and instructor at AdLib Theater in Orlando, FL.

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When she’s not improvising, decorating, or baking, Krisanna is a professor of philosophy at Union College.

Heather spent her youth rehearsing an Annie-inspired musical she wrote with her best friend and acting out Little House on the Prairie-inspired dramas into a tape recorder. She also devoted many hours to whisper-singing in her bedroom and perfecting the Tramp’s defeated expression from a pivotal scene in Disney’s -

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Some claim he is a myth whispered by old crones to keep unruly children in their beds at night. Others say Alex Shapiro is a legend, defeated in his quest to rid the known universe from unknown peril, gone from this earth too soon, but sworn to rise again in earth’ darkest hour.

To be honest, we found him caught in a glue trap that was left in one of the mopco bathrooms. As payment for saving his life (we never mentioned it was our glue trap), Alex now performs weekly at MopCo and when necessary pulls thorns from our mighty paws.

Mike comes from an improvised family. His brother, Patrick, got him in touch with Michael Burns when Mopco was looking for a backup keyboard player. Michael sent him Down the Rabbit Hole while waiting for the primary piano player to bolt, and there’s been no looking back. Mike likes to play strange, slightly clueless, but reasonably nice

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