Mike Connor

has been involved in the Philadelphia improv scene for a year now. However he has been performing comedy since the third grade when he headlined school talent shows with his stand-up routine. Mike attended Oberlin College and was a founding member and head writer of Oberlin's only sketch comedy troupe, Piscapo's Arm. He has performed stand-up at various clubs throughout Philadelphia and Cleveland. He even taught a class at Oberlin involving the history and practice of sketch comedy.

"Learning to write sketches was like learning to play in an orchestra. Everything is planned out for you," Mike once said with the insight and wisdom for which he is known, "Improv is like jazz. You got to make the funny on the fly." Many in Industrial see Mike as a spiritual guru and pay a tithe to him each week in addition to the animal sacrifice (mostly rodents). He currently performs with Philly's best short form group, The N Crowd, but when he gets a hankering for some long form improvisation, he joins Industrial.

Though Mike is fantastic at improv (and most activities in general) he doesn't make much money at it. So he spends his days at Independence Charter School teaching fourth graders what life is all about. The students also pay him a tithe.

Brandon Libby

was picked out of the primordial ooze that is New Jersey. After a brief period of disorientation, he wiped himself off, and found began performing all over the tri-state area.

Brandon began improvising in 2005 when he joined Philadelphia's short-form improv group The N Crowd, with which he continues to perform. He has studied improv with Ray Reese (director of The N Crowd) and Ari Voukydis of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

Now as he prepares to take over the world with Industrial - he is reminded of his meager beginnings, and the little people who made his journey worthwhile: namely, Gary Coleman & Webster. In the words of fellow Jerseyite Bruce Springstein "Me and Crazy Janie were making love in the dirt." Thanks, Boss. Thanks.

Greg Maughan

is the founder of the Philly Improv Theater. In addition to performing with Industrial he is also one-half of the two-man duo Holmes/Maughan. Prior to moving to Philadelphia in 2001 he lived outside Detroit, where he ran the sketch/improv group Second Suburb and appeared in the alternate production "Improv Survivor" at the Second City Detroit. He has also appeared at the UCB Theater and Magnet Theater in New York, and the Washington Improv Theater.

Greg has studied improv with over 20 teachers, including: Keith Johnstone, Ian Roberts and Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Armando Diaz, Joe Bill, members of the Chicago and Detroit Second City mainstage casts, Ari Voukydis, Owen Burke, Billy Merritt and numerous other teachers at the UCB Theatre.

When he isn't busy running PHIT or performing, Greg leads a double-life as a middle school teacher in Camden, New Jersey.

Michael McFarland (alumni member)

considers improv to be a way to make people laugh by making up characters and scenarios that are humorous. In Philadelphia, Michael was an original member of The Ninjas. After leaving The Ninjas he wanted to create an improv group with semi-autonomous collective leadership. In July 2005, he gathered the members of Industrial to achieve this goal, and to create "Philadelphia's Most Powerful Improv Group" – succeeding beyond his wildest dreams. Michael was a founder and organizer of the Philadelphia Improv Festival (PHIF), which was held in November of 2005. He now serves as New York liaison for the festival committee. Michael can also been seen performing occasionally with Hypnotoad, an all-star Philadelphia group that only performs when they are desperately needed.

He moved to New York City in March 2006, but still considers Philadelphia to be geographically south of New York. Michael recently graduated from the Magnet Theater improv program, where he studied under Armando Diaz. Michael performed in Magnet Theater's MAGNETOSPHERE with Flavor Destination, featuring the best and brightest Magnet students, during a three month run of shows in 2005-2006. These shows are over but Michael still considers them to be part of his recent past.

Currently Michael is working on a two man musical escapade titled “Singer & Songwriter: a historical, musical & educational trip into popular music" set to debut soon. He is also a member of the Magnet Theater house team Milk Milk McGinty. Stay tuned to his website for updates and new projects.

Jessi Snow

Jessica Snow started improvising in high school as part of a Comedy Sportz group coached by Kelly Jennings. At Cabrini College she joined another short-form troupe that changed its name yearly, until she and The Rare Bird Show’s Matt Holmes took the reigns, establishing it as “On The Spot”. She also performed with a Commedia dell'Arte troupe in college. Now she gets her short-form fix as the Artistic Director of The N Crowd, and her opiate fix from Industrial.

When not improvising, Jessica works and sleeps. She loves sleeping. She loves beer. She loves Tequila. She loves pizza. She loves Frisbee. She wishes there was more time for drinking and Frisbee. She also wishes Phish didn’t break up. She wishes she was a little bit taller. And a baller.

She wishes she had money to take classes and get good at improv, but she's poor. She has squeezed out the needed favors, goods and/or services for workshops with Kevin McDonald and Chris Gethard, and a class with Scott Greer. Jessica follows Alexis Simpson around, hoping her skills and knowledge are contagious. She follows Akshay Sateesh around for different reasons.

Akshay Sateesh

began improvising in high school where he founded Theater Sports, which focused on improvisation for non-theater peeps like jocks, librarians, and school counselors. He coordinated school-wide improvisation competitions in which he would demolish his rivals by improvising the scoring rules to confuse them (well, mostly just the jocks). This was good for his ego - until it was squashed by folks cooler than him like UCLA's Eric Trules, Instant Cafe Theater's Shantini Venugopal, and UCB's Chris Gethard.

After a long hiatus from improv, Akshay thanks The N Crowd for sucking him back in, and he thanks Industrial for not buying him a jumpsuit in XL.

Akshay is fond of monkeys. Very fond. Especially baboons, ‘coz they have colorful butts. He likes butts too. He would also like to say thanks Brahma for being so awesome and thanks to Shiva for destroying anybody who doesn't believe in Brahma. Akshay is from Malaysia.

Kevin Thone (alumni member)

hails from Belgium, and never got into improv before he got to the United States or Philadelphia for that matter. Is that a Belgian thing you ask? I don't think we will ever know, it being one of many things he won't reveal about this mysterious little country no one ever talks about for good reason.

So our foreign laddy newbie man got into Improv in the summer of 2005. He probably can't remember exactly how if you ask him, nevertheless Industrial was forming around that time and so was his first conversation with Michael McFarland, at that time founding member of Industrial.

His distinct way of terrorizing the stage has shown time and again though, that Kevin Thone must be Belgium's most raved about export product since Jean-Marie Pfaff, Leona Detiege, Samson & Gert, Eddy Wally, Bobbejaan Schoepen, and meneer de Burgemeester from Samson & Gert.

Erin Weems (alumni member)

is the eldest member of Industrial. She has performed since she learned to speak, when she appeared in her kitchen, scrubbing the floor and singing "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie, for her relatives On her 22nd birthday she took the big step and moved to Manhattan, where she had the opportunity to study and work with some amazing talent.

In addition to a three year Miezner/Method-Acting program with Deena Levy, Erin took voice, movement and speech classes. She studied stand up comedy at the Comic Strip on the Upper East Side and studied improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Improv is and will always be Erin's favorite because there is nothing to remember (except the suggestion!), it's in the moment and spontaneous, and a great outlet for her ADHD.

When she isn't improvising, Erin works for Philadelphia Management: and wants you to know that if you need an apartment she is your girl. Outside of work she is the proud mother of the most adorable baby ever. Her favorite food is Sushi, and her favorite drink is Hoegaarden. Erin is a Leo.