Diana Kolsky is a writer, actor, stand-up, and improvisor. She's a proud member of the former Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre NY weekend team, Airwolf.

Jack Martin is a musician and music educator that has been performing for 20 years and teaching for 15. He is a pianist, guitarist and half of the musical improv show “Band Practice.”

Antonio "Tony" Camacho Martinez (He / Him), is a queer cis male of Puerto Rican and Taino descent, and currently serves as the Program Director at p:ear, an organization in Portland, Oregon that creatively mentors homeless youth, ages 15-25, through education, art, and recreation. Tony provides essential services to youth experiencing homelessness while leading the development and implementation of p:ear’s programs to accessible spaces for youth to build community, offer support, and create opportunities for exploration and personal growth. After earning a BA from Valparaiso University, he moved to Portland in 2007 from Indiana to serve as an AmeriCorps member as the Development Coordinator at Impact NW, beginning his now 15-year career empowering underserved youth in Multnomah County. Over the years, Tony has mentored, advocated for, and helped youth maneuver systems as a Social Services Navigator at a pediatric clinic, and as a Youth Advocate and Career Skills Coach at NAYA Youth and Family Center.

Tony is a graduate of the Conflict Resolution program at Portland State University, earning a graduate degree in Conflict Resolution, with a focus in Cross Cultural facilitated dialogue, workshop facilitation and equity based family law mediation. Additionally, he earned graduate certificates in interpersonal neurobiology, as well as youth and family counseling. Tony uses his degree and certifications in helping others move through conflict via conflict coaching, workshop facilitation, and mediation, with a focus on advancing equity and promoting cross-cultural education.

Mariah Mercedes Muñoz is a Portland-based artist, performer, producer, and long time collaborator with Kickstand Comedy. She joins us with over a decade of experience on stage and teaching. Mariah creates an empowering space for growth all while fostering a safe, trusting environment for her students. She is a member of the improv group Queer Ye Queer Ye. A queer improv group born out of the Kickstand Community. Improvisational Theatre has been a throughline of her life and career. Mariah is a Lead Facilitator at On Your Feet, a creative consultancy that uses improv to help businesses achieve better results. Just ask and Mariah can point you towards the top 3 burgers you should be eating in Portland right now.

Dylan co-founded Kickstand Comedy in 2014, and has performed at The Bridgetown Comedy Fest (Portland, OR), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA), the Del Close Marathon (New York City), Out of Bounds Comedy Fest (Austin, TX), The Stumptown Improv Festival (Portland, OR), and later this year in the show MONDO at the Vancouver International Improv Festival (BC).

In 2016 Kara co-founded the Kickstand Improv Comedy Training Center. She has performed all over the US at festivals such as: The Del Close Marathon in NYC, Out of Bounds in Austin, TX, Stumptown Improv Festival, and at Vancouver International Improv Festival in Vancouver, BC. Currently you can catch Kara improvising in Secret Aardvark and performing in her comedy character shorts “Impressions of Human Beings” @kaymocomedy on Tik Tok.

Paul Stein has directed and produced world premiere plays, comedy events and one-person shows in theaters and festivals across the United States, Canada and Europe. Formerly an Executive Producer for Comedy Central, he supervised over 1,600 live presentations at the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood and worked with such noted performers as W. Kamau Bell, Russell Brand, Wyatt Cenac, Chris Garcia, Nikki Glaser, Ken Jeong, Marc Maron, Randall Park, Jill Soloway, Sarah Silverman, Daniel Tosh, Reggie Watts, and Kristina Wong, to name a few.

Kristen Schier is an actor, improviser, teacher, and clown. She has extensive improv teaching, directing, and performing experience. She holds a BFA in Performing Arts from the University of the Arts where she taught Acting for Non-Majors, Improvisation for the Actor, and first-year Acting Studio. She has toured all over the country teaching and performing at various festivals such as the Seattle Festival of Improvised Theater, Chicago Improv Festival, Vancouver International Improv Festival, Boom Chicago Comedy Festival in Amsterdam, and more. Kristen is the former Co-Artistic Director of Curious Comedy in Portland Oregon and former Improv Producer at the Philly Improv Theater. She has studied improv at Second City, Magnet Theater, and Annoyance. Kristen has also studied Physical Theater, clown, extensively with Pig Iron Theater company and Movement Theater Studio.

Rachel Rosenthal is a professional performer and improv instructor with over 23 years of experience. A recent transplant to Portland from NYC, she has taught at numerous comedy theaters throughout the USA, including Reckless Theatre, Brooklyn Comedy Collective, & The PIT in NYC, where she was awarded Teacher of the Year for her work with 101 improv students. She is a 11+ year cast member of both free-form improv team, Big Bang, and free-style rapping Hip Hop comedy group, North Coast (“Top 10 Comedy Show” -- Time Out NY).

Brad Fortier, MA, is an anthropologist, author, educator and entertainer. He has been teaching and training adults in a variety of settings for more than 20 years. He combines two fields of applied work in his research and training background: applied anthropology and applied improvisation. Brad has been working in the inclusion, diversity, equity and access space since creating Spontaneous Village. It’s a trauma-informed game and play-based community-building intervention for refugees used in 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, and Berlin, Germany, in 2016. He had an advisory role with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in 2016 for incorporating interactive and experiential training methods in their work.

Brad is the author of “Long-Form Improvisation: Collaboration, Comedy, Communion”; “A Culture of Play: Essays on the Origins, Effects, and Applications of Improvised Theatre”; and a chapter in “Applied Improvisation: Leading, Collaborating and Creating Beyond the Theatre” published by Bloomsbury London in 2018. His thinking, scholarship and field research on applying improvisation are foundational for this emerging field of training.

Brad was the coordinator for Portland Community College’s Illumination Project, a student leadership program that uses interactive theater to teach about social justice issues.

Craig is an improvisor, and teacher in the fair city of Portland Oregon. He enjoys game nights with small groups of friends and is a fan of Dr. Who.

Craig started improvising in 1999 with CSZ Portland, and he’s been performing teaching and coaching ever since. He also Trained and performed at IO Chicago, plus The Annoyance Theater intensives. He has been Teaching performing and training with Kickstand Comedy since 2017 and can be found performing in various projects with Kickstand Comedy and around town.

He has performed with Mondo at the Stumptown Improv festival and Westside Comedy Festival as well as Peachy Chicken at The Stumptown Improv Festival.

Craig gets as much out of performing as teaching and is looking forward to seeing what new voices and exciting entertainment the future of the Improv community in Portland brings!

Roland Mechanik (he/him) has been teaching improv at Kickstand for almost 5 years! Roland graduated with a theater degree from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC before moving to Portland and joining up with Kickstand Comedy. Roland has performed at the Stumptown Improv Festival, the Vancouver Improv Festival, and every theater around Portland. In addition to improv, you can catch Roland doing stand-up and weird bits with his mannequin, Muriel. He’s proud to have been the first out trans masc improviser in Portland (as far as he knows)!

You will rarely see Chris wearing a suit. He has always been more interested in “the who” than “the what.” The power of story has influenced his life from a very young age and Chris has incorporated storytelling into the work he does. He earned a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University and currently works in the Student Services Department for Portland Public Schools.

Michael Zimmer is an actor, writer, and improviser from Portland, OR. After training at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in NYC he returned to find his comedy home in the Kickstand community. He performs regularly with his improv team Papa? (Westside Comedy Festival, VIIF) and irregularly with other teams (Del Close Marathon, Stumptown Improv Festival).

Wendy isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Wendy on Twitter!

Mariah isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Mariah on instagram!

Emily isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Emily on instagram!

Julie isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Julie on instagram!

Cimberly isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Cimberly on instagram!

Stacey Katlain isn't just a gorgeous model, they’re also an incredibly talented comedian! Follow Stacey on instagram!