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We are Zoo Improv! Each individual brings something special to the group dynamic. We'll say more things like that in the next paragraph.
Our troupe is composed of a diverse group of performers who love to improvise. The Core members of Zoo Improv have been working together since early 2004. We have triggered belly laughs and inadvertent snorts throughout the central Illinois area at bars, galleries, festivals, private parties, and corporate events. Like silly putty, we are versatile and create a unique experience to engage any crowd. Audiences young and old have pointed, laughed, and even blown beverages out their noses at our on-stage antics.
Download our Resume here
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Lauren Barnes caught the theatre bug at age 16. She's been acting, signing, and dancing ever since. She is so grateful to Zoo Improv as her theatre outlet- she is a full time prechool teacher at Little Hearts and Hand Inc. She'd like to thank her fellow troupe members for all their love and support. |
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Robby Boyer loves improv comedy and he loves you! He has performed with Mama's Pot Roast (Washington University in St. Louis), Spicy Clamato (UIUC), Debono (UIUC), Post-Industrial Parfait (Class Act Interactive), and co-founded the musical improv experiment Crazy Truck. He has also coached improv with Class Act Interactive and uses improv most days to convince people that he is a real human.
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As an escapee from way too many years of having her life, laughter and soul sucked away through Corporate America, Tami Haubner searched high and low for all means of creative diversion. Beginning with stained glass classes and continuing to professional cake decorating she found a creative outlet but yearned for a creative voice. Through acting lessons for a local theater group, her teacher suggested she try Improv as a way to communicate her comedic intention, and she's not looked back since she found the Zoo. |
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Being a musician for most of my life, I knew I had to seek a new and extraordinary creative outlet. In 2009, Zoo found me wandering along the highway and nurtured me back to creative health. It’s an honor and a privilege to be performing with such a talented group of individuals. When not performing with Zoo, you can find me on a Golf Course in the area or somewhere in the Continental United States. I could not have done this without the support of my wife Faith. Of course anything that gets me out of the house is cool with her.
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Aubrey has been honored to be performing with the esteemed members of Zoo Improv. Before this, she was wandering aimlessly through a harsh, cold land of normals. A world of jokes cracked but not caught, punch lines delivered, but never received. Just when she thought she might go postal on the next “free-spirit” comment, she met the motley Zoo Improv. Once she experienced the catharsis and mastered the secret hand-shake of improvisation she knew she would never leave the loving womb of improv or spend all that money on electro-shock therapy. |
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Eric originally hails from the rural outskirts of Champaign and has lived in such exotic places as Decatur, Bloomington, the Quad Cities, and Chicago. He has been involved in theater since grade school which lead him to study theater in college. Eric continued to waltz in and out of community theater and improv gigs outside of college (sometimes not knowing he was part of an improv scene till long after the event). Within Champaign, he has done shows with CUTC and the Station Theater. Eric had started with the Zoo Crew during their inception, but wandered off until he heard the call of the pack once more. Like all Zoo members, Eric prefers to perform his own stunts on stage. |
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Brian Hagy has been studying/teaching/performing in the theater world for nearly 30 years. His introduction to improvisation came through the old theater techniques of commedia dell'arte and mask work. In 1995, he founded and has since been the director of a local theater company called the Prompting Theater, a troupe comprised of adult actors with developmental disabilities. He joined Zoo Improv in 2004. |
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Improv changed my life! I lost 50lbs and you can too with Zoo! Act now and for only $9.95 we will throw in a Zoo T-shirt. When I am not whoring myself for Zoo, you can find me in acting class, in a play, singing jazz standards, teaching music, or putting the smack down on my children. You got a problem with that? I didn't think so. |
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Emma is actually the victim of an underground human trafficking ring. Now that she has been sold into improv slavery, she is forced to improvise on a weekly basis, crack jokes every chance she gets, and carry large jugs of water on her head for miles on end. Before being kidnapped off the street, Emma enjoyed such hobbies as baking cakes, baking pastries, baking souffles, and riding horses into the sunset while shooting at the bad guys. Now, all she knows is improv. If you see her face on a milk carton, please call the authorities immediately. Really. Please.
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James has been playing with Zoo since 2004 and will never ever stop improvising unless a large mob of angry and violent people gather together with torches and chains and clubs and stuff like that and start marching towards his home calling for him to stop improvising or die. Even then, he'd probably risk it by sneaking in just one more show or go to one more rehearsal. |
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The Troupe
