IMPROV SHOWS FRI and SAT at 8 PM!
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The Mop & Bucket Co.
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Our main stage company recently celebrated 25 years as a working performance group. Prior to opening the Mopco, the group was in residence at Proctors in Schenectady for ten years; before that, they performed all around the Capital Region, wherever they could find a stage. Critically acclaimed, The Mop & Bucket Co. improvisers prove that, naysayers notwithstanding, there are literally hundreds of dollars to be made as an improv professional! Inquire about performances: hey@mopco.org
Meet The Performers
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, Alex has known that improv is something special, and is thrilled to join the crew here at MopCo. Alex has a history in dance, singing, oboe, acting, and various other arts and crafts, but earns their keep by being a forester! Though Alex is new to improv, they have a long history of performing, and an even longer habit of playing pretend. Improv is a kind, supportive, and stimulating creative environment, and Alex is excited to keep playing with this crew.
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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.
You want a biography in one hundred words or less? How can a human being with any respectable life experience fit their major accomplishments and life events into a meaningful format that comes in under one hundred words? You are really asking a lot, but I will do the best job that I can under the circumstances. This really is not easy, I can tell you! I guess the main thing to do is step back and look at the big picture of my life, so that is what I am going to do.
Maria Ayoob
Walt Batycki
You want a biography in one hundred words or less? How can a human being with any respectable life experience fit their major accomplishments and life events into a meaningful format that comes in under one hundred words? You are really asking a lot, but I will do the best job that I can under the circumstances. This really is not easy, I can tell you! I guess the main thing to do is step back and look at the big picture of my life, so that is what I am going to do.
Winnie Ashby
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. In between her hobbies and volunteering, she works in the public sector.
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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. In 2013, he was a founding member of ComedySportz Boston, bringing fast-paced, competitive improv to an entirely new audience. He has also taught numerous applied improvisation and team building workshops at colleges, high schools, and major corporations including Intel, AMD, and Hewlett Packard. He’s excited to be a part of MopCo, and to bring his comedic voice to New York’s capital region.
Jason Burke
You want a biography in one hundred words or less? How can a human being with any respectable life experience fit their major accomplishments and life events into a meaningful format that comes in under one hundred words? You are really asking a lot, but I will do the best job that I can under the circumstances. This really is not easy, I can tell you! I guess the main thing to do is step back and look at the big picture of my life, so that is what I am going to do.
Sam Gorenstein
Sam Gorenstein 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. Prior to MopCo, he was a member of the UAlbany Sketchy Characters, serving as writing chair from 2011-2012, and improv chair from 2012-2013. In the Summer of 2013, he studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center, and is a two time participant in the Del Close Marathon. You can often catch him doing stand-up comedy around the Capital Region, or trying to shoehorn self-referential endings into otherwise straightforward bios.
Alison Baxter
My biography
Takes the form of a haiku
Isn’t that so clev—
Jen Lavenhar
Sarah Maloney
Tom Mueller
Charlie Owens (he/him) is thrilled to return to the MopCo Stage! After an ever so brief stint on the MopCo house team, he joined the infamous Regicides of New Haven, CT (house team of A Broken Umbrella Theatre). Off-stage Charlie continues his passion for building community through art as an arts administrator working with Capital Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Proctors Theatre, Saratoga Arts and this list goes on. @cwowens, not on tiktok.
Alex Rabinowitz
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. As a former mainstay at the Harrisburg Improv Theater in PA, Alex helped create new formats, taught classes, and performed in musical and long-form shows. Alex has also been featured as a guest performer on improv stages in NYC (Del Close Marathon), Asheville, and Berlin. Alex is a social media director by day and has a marginally useful degree in film from Syracuse University.
Coming soon!
Krisanna Scheiter
Charlie Owens
Charlie Owens (he/him) is thrilled to return to the MopCo Stage! After an ever so brief stint on the MopCo house team, he joined the infamous Regicides of New Haven, CT (house team of A Broken Umbrella Theatre). Off-stage Charlie continues his passion for building community through art as an arts administrator working with Capital Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Proctors Theatre, Saratoga Arts and this list goes on. @cwowens, not on tiktok.
Charlie Owens (he/him) is thrilled to return to the MopCo Stage! After an ever so brief stint on the MopCo house team, he joined the infamous Regicides of New Haven, CT (house team of A Broken Umbrella Theatre). Off-stage Charlie continues his passion for building community through art as an arts administrator working with Capital Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Proctors Theatre, Saratoga Arts and this list goes on. @cwowens, not on tiktok.
Co
Michael Burns
Michael Burns is the Co-Director and founder of The Mop & Bucket Company .
Before settling in the area, Michael studied theatre at SUNY Purchase, and then improv with David Shepherd in New York, where he directed for the American Modern Dance Theatre and the American Folk Theatre. He was a member of The Big Apple Experience, a short-lived but cleverly named improv troupe. He has since worked for several upstate theaters including Home Made Theater, The Theatre Barn and Steamer 10 Theatre.
Michael developed (with David Shepherd) the Compass Institution, an improv troupe touring senior centers and hospitals. He directed inmate-written plays for Very Special Arts at Greene Correctional facility, and has created youth theater troupes for several human services agencies. He is the author of First You Sit on the Floor: A Guide to Developing a Youth Theatre Troupe.
Kat Koppett (Co- Director) is a 25-year improv veteran, including stints with Theatresports companies in New York City (Freestyle Repertory Theatre) and San Francisco (BATS Improv). In 1995, TheaterWeek Magazine named Kat one of the year’s “Unsung Heroes” for her creation of the improvisational theater format, Spontaneous Broadway, which is now performed regularly all over the world.
Her acting credits include the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank both Off-Broadway and in the Soviet Union; Rosalind in As You Like It with the Manhattan Stage Company and Fiddler on the Roof with Theodore Bikel. She has been seen in television ads for Pillsbury, Quaker Oats, and Dr. Pepper (she was a Pepper!). In 1998, her short play, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, was a winner in Playground’s Emerging Playwrights Festival in San Francisco. Kat holds a B.F.A. in Drama from NYU/Circle in the Square and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology.
In addition to performing, Kat is the founder of Koppett + Co., a consulting and training company specializing in the use of improvisation and storytelling to enhance workplace effectiveness. Her book Training to Imagine: Practical Improvisational Theatre Techniques to Enhance Creativity, Teamwork, Leadership and Learning was published in 2001 by Stylus Publishing, Inc.
Kat’s favorite improvisational endeavors involve her daughter, Lia.
Jenny Drescher
Jenny Drescher has been on stage since she was 6 and had the exciting role of Cindy Lou Who in the internationally acclaimed 1976 rendition of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas at Southeast Elementary School in Mansfield, CT. Since then she's trained in singing, dancing, cat juggling, and baking bread. She lives in Manchester, CT with two cats and runs The Bolder Company, a learning and development company dedicated to helping manufacturing and heavy industry become human-centered workplaces where people feel powerful, confident, and that they belong.
Kat Koppett
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Renee Sullivan
Renee has been studying, performing, and teaching improv in NYC since the turn of the century - egads! She is thrilled to be joining MopCo for all things improv and this is her first romp in the Capital Region. In NYC Renee performed and studied with Upright Citizens Brigade (Armando Diaz, Kevin Mullaney) The PIT, Magnet Theater, Gotham City Improv, Artistic New Directions (Gary Austin, Noel Katz, Larry Rosen), Chris "Shockwave" Sullivan (Freestyle Love Supreme, Propworks) are a few of her favorite long-form and short-form projects! When not improvising, Renee is a life coach and leads workshops to students and parents.