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Meet Our Staff
Dave Dennison (Co-Founder) Dave began improvising in 1993 when he took his first class at BATS Improv. Although it’s taken him some years to get the hang of it, he has always thought of improvisation as his first love. Along the way, he has been a member of such groups as Start Trekkin, Scratch Theater and the Particulars. He has been a BATS Company member since 1998 and served as BATS Artistic Director from 2005-2008. He has also guest performed with a number of groups, including True Fiction Magazine. In 2009 he co-founded (with Lisa Rowland) another improv group, Awkward Dinner Party which has been somewhat wildly successful.
When he’s not performing improv, Dave also passionately loves teaching improv and is working on his own theory of improvisation called the Method of the Moment He’s a native San Franciscan, was raised in Daly City, enjoys woodworking and walking everywhere.
Ben Johnson (Co-Founder) Ben Johnson has worked as a professional performer and teacher since 1997. His credits as an actor, improviser, and clown include work for the American Conservatory Theater, Cirque du Soleil, Center Rep, The Gamm Theatre, True Fiction Magazine, and BATS Improv. He also plays Dex Brickerson in the recently released pilot of the children’s television show Flummox and Friends. Ben holds a Master’s degree in teaching from Brown University and has over ten years of experience as a teaching artist. He currently teaches throughout the Bay Area, including regular classes in acting, improvisation, and physical comedy at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and BATS Improv. www.benbjohnson.com
Rachel Hamilton (Guest) Rachel Hamilton is an actor, improviser, improv teacher and an Emmy-nominated writer. She caught the performance bug as a kid growing up in Washington, DC, and then honed her craft at Northwestern University and as a mainstage performer and instructor at Chicago’s The Second City, sharing the stage with luminaries like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Having lived, performed and taught in Chicago, Los Angeles and NYC, Rachel moved to the Bay Area in 2012 to start her own improv studio. She enjoys teaching all kinds of people, anyone looking to be more courageous & more connected in their work and their lives and to have a helluva good time doing it.
Rachel teaches, directs and performs all over the U.S. She makes her home in beautiful Sausalito, California with her adorable cockapoo, Marty.
You can check her out more at RachelHamiltonImprov.com
Lisa Rowland (Guest, January 2016) Lisa
began her improv career on her high school improv team, and then
continued on in college, at Stanford University under the keen guidance
of Patricia Ryan Madson. Upon graduation, she began working at BATS
Improv and joined the mainstage company in 2006. In 2009, Lisa and Dave Dennison created Awkward Dinner Party.
With a background in scripted theater, Lisa has performed improv around the Bay Area and on the national stage since 2006. Lisa helped manage the BATS School of Improv for eight years, helping to grow and sustain the biggest training center in Northern California. Now she performs, teaches and trains full-time, mostly in the Bay Area, but across the country and even internationally. In 2011 and 2013, Lisa was invited to be a guest instructor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 2012, she was voted Best Actor in the SF Guardian's Best of the Bay issue.
With a background in scripted theater, Lisa has performed improv around the Bay Area and on the national stage since 2006. Lisa helped manage the BATS School of Improv for eight years, helping to grow and sustain the biggest training center in Northern California. Now she performs, teaches and trains full-time, mostly in the Bay Area, but across the country and even internationally. In 2011 and 2013, Lisa was invited to be a guest instructor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 2012, she was voted Best Actor in the SF Guardian's Best of the Bay issue.
Rebecca Poretsky (Guest, March 2015), a Brooklyn native, has been living in the Bay Area for 12 years, where she’s regularly and continually performed as an improviser with numerous groups, including Big City Improv, The Un-Scripted Theatre Company, Crisis Hopkins, Speechless, and BATS Improv.
Rebecca has performed live and video sketch comedy (Crisis Hopkins and the Kasper Hauser Comedy Group) and original solo performance (I Left My Heart in Brooklyn – The Marsh). She starred as Señorita Panochista in Spring Break: The Musical, an original production, written and produced by the Mortified team.
On the small screen, she stars as Wanda as part of the cast of Flummox and Friends, an independently-produced television show that teaches social and emotional skills to children and families.
Rebecca once wrote a weekly blog about taking the bus to her therapy appointments, but it’s both hidden and buried in the depths and chaos of the internet, so don’t even bother trying to find it. Really.
Rebecca has performed live and video sketch comedy (Crisis Hopkins and the Kasper Hauser Comedy Group) and original solo performance (I Left My Heart in Brooklyn – The Marsh). She starred as Señorita Panochista in Spring Break: The Musical, an original production, written and produced by the Mortified team.
On the small screen, she stars as Wanda as part of the cast of Flummox and Friends, an independently-produced television show that teaches social and emotional skills to children and families.
Rebecca once wrote a weekly blog about taking the bus to her therapy appointments, but it’s both hidden and buried in the depths and chaos of the internet, so don’t even bother trying to find it. Really.
Claire Slattery (Guest August 2015)
is a professional actor, improviser, and corporate improv consultant
based in Los Angeles. Since graduating from Stanford University
(recipient of the Evelyn M. Draper Prize for Performance), Claire has
acted, improvised, and taught with San Francisco’s top theatre companies
and improv troupes. She has also consulted with some of the country’s
most innovative companies as a freelancer and as a trainer with
Speechless. In Los Angeles, she is currently training and performing
with Upright Citizen’s Brigade and Miles Stroth Workshop. As a member of
The Right Now, Claire has performed improv at festivals including SF
Improv Fest 2014, SF Sketchfest 2015, and the Seattle Festival of Improv
Theater 2015. Exciting news: The Right Now has been selected to perform
at both the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas and the San
Francisco Improv Festival in September 2015! To learn more about
Claire's goings-on, visit www.ClaireSlattery.com.
