Ryan Beil (Shmuel)In 2006, after graduating from UBC in Theatre, Ryan Beil played a shy teenager in The Diary of Anne Frank at the Arts Club; the foppish Sir Signal Buffoon in The Feigned Courtesans, a 17th-century comedy of wit, with United Players of Vancouver; and an earnest, occasionally naked research assistant in Electric Company's Studies in Motion, a stylistically (and literally) stripped-down examination of stop-motion-photography pioneer Eadweard Muybridge. That remarkably varied work earned Beil the Sam Payne Award for most promising newcomer at this year's Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, but it reflects only one side of his stage career.
Beil is also passionate about improvisation. He's been a member of Instant! Theatre Company since he graduated from high school, he's part of a duo called the Storytellers, and he joined the Vancouver TheatreSports League in 2006. He's performed at festivals as far a-field as Chicago and Berlin.
Beil was introduced to improve in Grade 7. Most of us associate the word improv with punchy little sketches, but Beil is particularly enamoured of the long form, in which a coherent piece of theatre is created before our eyes. "Improv lends itself naturally to surprise and being funny. So why can't it be just a spontaneous piece of theatre?"
Toby Berner: (Shimshon)Toby Berner was born and raised in Vancouver BC. The son of a Real Estate agent and a Lawyer Toby knew he was destined for comedy at an early age. He begged his parents to enroll him at Vancouver Youth theatre where he discovered the joys of improv. At sixteen years of age he became the youngest professional Theatresports player in Vancouver with the Vancouver Theatresports League. Toby enjoyed seven years as a top player there but knew there was more to acting than just goofing around in front of the sold out houses every night, so he auditioned for Studio 58, one of the toughest professional acting schools in Canada. Training at Studio 58 opened up Toby as a person and an actor and after graduating in 1997, Toby has continues to challenge himself to be a well rounded versatile actor.
After graduation, Toby toured all across North America for a year and a half doing children's theatre and when he returned was rewarded with a recurring role in six episodes of Slightly Bent TV, a sketch picked up on the Comedy Network. When that show was picked up for a second season and re-named SUCKERPUNCH, Toby was made a star of the show for thirteen episodes. AS one of the stars of SUCKERPUNCH on the Comedy Network, Toby was given the great opportunity for three months of shooting and also of helping to write some of the sketches by taking part in weekly writers meetings. Toby has also appeared on TV in such unfunny shows as Da Vinci's Inquest, and Jeremiah starring Luke Perry. He has garnered two Jessie nominations and three Canadian Comedy Award nominations as a comedic improviser. Toby was co-creator of two original shows for Chutzpah! Festivals 2001 and 02 and is also the co-creator of the hugely successful improvised Christmas show, A Twisted Chrismas Carol (Arts Club Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Bad Dog Theatre- Toronto.) Toby is also an actor and you may have seen him recently in the Complete Works of William Shakspeare Abridged, and The Dishwashers, at the Arts Club Theatre, and Wind in the Willows at the Waterfront Theatre, where he received a Jessie nomination for Best Actor. Toby and his brother Geoff were both members of the JCC and learned to swim there. Not only is Toby a successful professional actor, writer and improviser but he plays drums, and he can juggle, tap dance, and skateboard, all at the same time if necessary.
Dan Hershfield (Shteve)Dan is a well-travelled improviser who has been a cast member with Theatresports Toronto, UBC Improv, and the Vancouver TheatreSports Room The Sunday Service, Table 23 Improv, the Soft-Core Comedy Variety Show, the CanWest Comedy Festival, and the Vancouver International Improv Festival. Dan is also an accomplished writer, with many plays to his credit as well as several pieces for CBC Radio; he graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and Theatre, where he was the recipient of the CBC Jim Burt Prize for Film.