Meet the team
We are experienced improv coaches from different corners of the world, a perfect mix of Swiss and international, and we each have our own individual style, influenced by the many teachers and schools we have trained with. Many of our classes are shared between two teachers, which means that you will experience different ways of playing and learning improv.
Wir spielen Shows und leiten Firmen-Teams, Schauspielerinnen, Kursteilnehmer und Filmdrehs an. Wir sorgen für gute Laune und einen kreativen Nährboden für spielerische Experimente aller Art. Wir gehen selber regelmässig in Workshops mit den besten Theater- und Improfachleuten aus der ganzen Welt und geben unsere Erfahrungen spielend gern weiter.
Myriam
MYRIam has been fascinated by the world of theater since she can remember and used to play classical theater in her youth. At university, she started taking improv classes and immediately got hooked to it. Improvisational theatre has been her passion ever since: she has taken numerous workshops and classes in Switzerland and abroad and has been playing a variety of shows and formats on stage. As a trained high school teacher, she enjoys working with people of various ages and backgrounds and teaching the joys of improvisational theatre. The spontaneity, absurdity, fun and the collective joy of creating unique scenes together never cease to amaze her - just like her own persistence to consistently sneak a Monty Python reference into a scene every once in a while ;)
Bernie
Bernie started his improv journey in New zealand in 2002. he studied with various schools of Improv theatre in Chicago, London, L.A. and San Francisco, with Keith Johnstone, Second City, The IO CHICAGO, BATS, the FA, and many more.
Bernie sees improv as an Experimental playground for storytelling in teamwork. he can bring you the theories and techniques of improv, but he loves to be inspired by stuff that he sees students do, and tries out new ways and new games on the go - some become new gold, some go nowhere, but that’s the spirit of improv!
Bernie loves the community aspect of improv and is a founding member of zurich’s international improv team hoi polloi and initiator of the Zurich Improv Meetup.
besides, he is an award winning writer & director for film, advertising and TV (forsterfilm.ch) and recently created an award winning comedy pilot “House of Switzerland”
Adri
Adri consistently challenges conventional dramaturgical norms in her work.
Her diverse experiences have seen her donning multiple hats and filling various roles, from Film sets to theater stages, providing her with a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of production processes and artistic design.
She is currently training in Theater Education (Theaterpädagogik) at the zurich university of the arts (ZHdK), further fueling her passion for the performing arts and working with people.
For Adri, teaching and performing is the perfect avenue to express her creativity, allowing strange forms of aesthetics to collide with absurd narratives. And of course sharing lots of laughs.
Zora
Zora came in contact with the improv virus in 2003. By 2013 it totally broke out and Zora trained with various improv coaches in switzerland and abroad. 2018 she graduated as a theatre teacher at musisch-pädagogisches Seminar Metzenthin.
Zora played improv with „Dä Buttär“ and “improgress” and co-founded the International Improv theater Network „The SIN“.
Impro is her guiding principle, and she uses impro skills on stage, at work as a coach or in her self defense classes (zora-heinricht.ch)
Mary
Mary is an actor, singer, puppeteer, and opera lover. She was brought up in the UK and lived in London for 4 years, studying Theatre and Performance Practice and then trained as an actor at The Bridge Theatre Training Company, where she explored and found her love of improvisation. SHE has taken part in several improvised murder mysteries, where she usually plays the stereotypical 3 roles: a damsel in distress, a gold digger or the cold blooded killer.
Mary enjoys improvisation because it stimulates the mind due to the lack of 'script' and allows the performer to explore it with endless creativity.
J.C.
Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, J.C. Williams is a versatile film and stage actor who has made his mark with roles in "The Predator," "The 100," and more. Beyond the screen, J.C. finds his passion in improv theater, where he cherishes the collaborative spirit, artistic freedom, and excitement. He also regularly graces Zurich stages with Hoi Polloi. J.C. brings his talents to Storylabor as an improv and forum theatre actor for corporate workshops and shows, portraying a wide range of roles and characters, from the silly to the serious - and back again. Follow his acting career here.
Vivien
Vivien discovered improv in his twenties in the search for a creative escape and immediately understood he had found a lifelong passion.
He has now trained as an improv comedian in France and Switzerland, and has stage experience in short and long form improv plays.
He is a member of the international improv team Hoi Polloi creating novel improv concepts in Zurich.
He enjoys the thrill of jumping into scenes with no safety nets, and he explores ways to reconnect with our playful intuition to build spontaneous and creative group dynamics.
Gabriele
Gabriele started improvisation in Italy in 2009, in the local Impro Match theater. A Few years later he co-created ABIT, the first independent group of his hometown, where he learned to play fast and funny scenes. He is part of Zurich Improv Comedyand he co-leads the Improv Your LifeMeetup where he facilitates workshops for personal skills development. When coming to teaching, Gabriele invites his students to share their reflections and draw their own learnings out of the exercises. His improv skills are proved to be more useful since he became a father.
Tinu
Tinu spielt seit 2013 Imrpovisationstheater. aktuell ist er in der Ausbildung zum Theaterpädagogen am TILL in Zürich. Er ist Autor des Buches "Improvisationsspiele für die Primarschule", ein Praxisbuch mit Übungsspielen für den Einsatz in der Klasse. Tinu arbeitet in einer Heilpädagogischen Schule und spielt regelmässig mit seinen Schülerinnen und Schülern Theater und Improvisationstheater. Er ist überzeugt, dass sich Auftrittskompetenz durch Improvisationstheater trainieren lässt.
Er ist Mitgründer der Gruppe Imrpogress (improgress.ch)
Former Team Members who have left our shores and are playing overseas now:
Miranda
Miranda hails from the West Coast of the U.S. where she began acting and later short-form improv training in Seattle. She then expanded her repertoire with long-form improv training in the Bay Area, California. Miranda was the director of the long-running improv performance group, the Stanford Improvisors, and an instructor for beginning and intermediate improv classes at Stanford University. As an improvisor, she loves the process of discovering unexpected, honest, and humorous stories on stage. As an instructor, Miranda shares the open and creative improv mindset both on and off stage, encouraging students to just show up, see mistakes as gifts, and support one another.
Brahim
Brahim discovered improv in his quest of stepping out of his comfort zone. His theater background influenced his playing style, focusing more on the characters, multidimensional stories and scene building, as well as style variations.
Brahim was a former comedian and director of the theater crew le dossier K and a league A player in the AVLI association with the improv crew HeiDi in Lausanne. He was a member of Hoi Polloi in Zurich."
Grace
Grace attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts for her theatre training receiving an Outstanding Achievement in Studio award. She has been on improv teams since high school, participating in dramatic, short form, and long form improvisation. Her training was primarily at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles where she was accepted into their advanced improvisation program. She played with two teams at independent theatres across Los Angeles and with two teams in Zurich.
When it comes to improv, Grace loves incorporating grounded acting techniques and finding the humor, honesty, and singularity that comes from committed play.
You can follow her acting career here