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.

Artistic Director

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

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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 degree from Clarkson University, and is generally a massive engineering nerd. Beware his offers to go climbing or hiking unless you are prepared to be force-fed the entire lore of Game of Thrones, Star Wars, or Dungeons & Dragons. Above all else, he enjoys good company and a long night of laughs.

Amanda always knew she was funny. She has been laughing at herself for years. After her friend Hayes convinced her to check out Mopco, she hasn't looked back! She enjoys being her weird and quirky self and entertaining people. Amanda has also acted in a couple of plays, though her favorite performance was also through Mopco, where she played "The Mad Chemist" for the Castle of Terror.

Sam 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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Sharon Greene is a director, writer, and costume designer. She also sings at the king’s pleasure, but will not dance for him. When she is not working, she enjoys taking the Lord’s Tour around her estate. Born in an abandoned mannequin factory, her work explores those elusive roots. She hopes you’ve come to improv to answer her three riddles on pain of death, or as she prefers, ‘audience engagement’. She would like to thank her father for making her memorize the “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in high school.

Joe is a visual artist and creative with little background in theater. On a whim he decided to try improv! Joe began his theatre journey right here at MopCo, testing the improvisational waters at their weekly Monday Night workouts. After plenty of success, failure, laughs and humiliation - he was hooked and quickly became involved in further classes and workshops. Joe has had the pleasure of working with various performers and communities on an international level (because of that one time in Montreal). Joe is charming, clever, devilishly handsome, and above all... humble.

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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Jen began her improv studies in Manhattan, under the mentorship of one of Chicago’s original Compass Players (Nancy Ponder). For several years, she performed in Nancy’s NYC group, Without Annette, before taking a break to raise a family. She now continues to perform and teach around the world, but since 2016, the Mop & Bucket Company has been her improv family and home. She is a founding cast member of the Mopco shows Bollix Manor, The Book Club, and The Signpost Up Ahead, and is always eager to experiment with new formats and different genres. Jen is also a ballet teacher, actor, dancing clown, event organizer, and mom to her two sons, two cats, and a dog.

Besides being a very funny improviser, Mopco member Tom Mueller is a counselor at Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady. 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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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.

(Piano)

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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