Meet The Team

Will is a founder of WGIS ("World's Greatest Improv School", with branches in LA and NYC). He has been teaching long-form improv since 2004 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, at both its New York and Los Angeles branches. He's published a best-selling book on improv called How to Be The Greatest Improviser on Earth. He's also a working comedic actor and has appeared on many terrific television programs (Brooklyn 99) and on some big podcasts (Comedy Bang-Bang) as well as the 99 podcasts he's produced himself (including Screw It We're Just Gonna Talk about the Beatles). And finally, if you want even MORE improv talk, you can read his popular online essays about improv at his substack, Improv Nonsense.

Shannon O'Neill is an actor/improviser/writer. She's a veteran of The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre where she performed for over 25 years, taught improv for over 20 years, and was Artistic Director from 2014-2018. She has been in TV and film and in trouble on shows like Broad City, The Other Two, High Maintenance, The Chris Gethard Show and more. You can watch her perform every Sunday 7:30pm ET in RaaaatScraps at a lovely theatre called Caveat - or stream it at home.

Sebastian Conelli is a comedian and improviser in Brooklyn. He's a longtime performer and teacher from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Among his many terrific shows and teams, he was a member of The Stepfathers, The Enemy and Slamball. He's also a regular performer in the NYC-based show Raaatscraps. He co-hosts the hit podcast Loud About Nothing with fellow comedian/improviser Robbie Nunes.

Billy Merritt has been teaching, performing, and directing Improvisational Theatre for over 30 years. Most notably at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre were he's been a member of the staff since it's inception in New York, as well as Los Angeles were he resides now. Billy was one the founding members of The Swarm and The Stepfathers in NY, and The Smokes in LA.

As Teacher/Director, Billy has helped develop [along with his students] shows such as The Documentary, The Improvised One Act Play, Roadtrip, and of course... The Garfunkel.

Elana Fishbein is an improv teacher, performer, and director at the Magnet Theater in NYC where she can be seen performing weekly with the Armando Diaz Experience. Elana has written and performed for The Truth and Story Pirates podcasts, and is the creator/director of The Schmooze, a living room style improv show featuring a cast of performers ages 69+. Previous projects include, Kiss Punch Poem, Pepita (solo improv), and the two-woman play, Sisters Three (New York Times Critics’ Pick), devised entirely through improv. She has designed curricula and facilitated improv workshops for theaters, corporations, non-profits, and educational institutions around the world. Elana holds a Masters in Educational Theatre from NYU and has kept a jade plant alive for nearly 20 years. For more info about Elana's classes, shows, and somewhat-annual improv/yoga retreats, check out elanafishbein.com.

"Ray started his improv journey over 15 years ago at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NY (UCB NY). After completing their improv curriculum and performing on several house teams, Ray is currently an instructor at UCB, as well. 

In 2019 Ray was fortunate enough to co-create, co-produce and co-star in a sketch show on Netflix, "Astronony Club: The Sketch Show". Astronomy Club, is an improv group that was founded in 2013 and in 2014 became UCB NY's first all-Black house team . 

Ray can be seen performing at theatres like, Magnet, The PIT, Second City NY, BCC and regularly at UCB, including their premiere show "Asssscat". 

Off the stage Ray can currently be seen on HBOMAX in "And Just Like That"  Season 3.

Donald Chang is a UCB teacher, improvisor on ASSSSCAT and Harold Night's The Prophecy, writer and performer on The Foundation and Betty Night, and producer of Asian AF NY. You may have heard his voice on Netflix's Squid Game and as Mr Freeze in the video game Gotham Knights. He's excited to teach y'all how to get your improv kicking and screaming. And to make s'mores. He really wants to make s'mores.

Michael Lutton is the Artistic Director of the Magnet Theater in New York City. He also teaches improv, musical improv, and corporate teambuilding workshops at Magnet, and can be seen performing in Premiere: The Improvised Musical every Friday. Before taking on the role of AD, Michael was Director of the Musical Improv program at the Magnet for many years and was responsible for developing the training center's musical improv curriculum. 

He's very excited to bring musical improv to camp. Does anyone know if there's a water slide? He really likes water slides. 

Sarah is an actor/comedian/writer/teacher/co-owner of WGIS. She has been featured on tv shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and written for Drunk History, and some other cool stuff, like live shows at the UCB Theatre. She teaches at WGIS and the Upright Citizens Brigade, and performs regularly with improv teams Cardinal Redbird, The Bozos and Voltron, variety show Asian AF, and various shows doing improv, sketch, and characters. She has performed at San Francisco Sketchfest, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Das Improv Festival, and SoHo Rep Theater in New York. 

Jim Woods has an incredible improv resume. He's studied and performed extensively at: UCB, Boom Chicago, iO Chicago and North Carolina ComedySportz. He's one of the co-founders of the Free Association in London and the Improv Boot Camp in Los Angeles and is a co-owner of WGIS. He's appeared on numerous TV shows and commercial campaigns and recently was a staff writer on the Tracy Morgan show The Last O.G. He currently stars as "Jimmy" on "Company Retreat", available on Prime! 

Andy Wiggins is a musician and improviser based in the NYC area. He performs regularly at the Magnet Theater as a musical improviser and accompanist, and has appeared in the Off-Broadway musical improv show The Others of Oz. He has worked as a touring musician and is the creator of Painting a Song, a songwriting collective with over 100 volumes of original music. Andy holds a PhD from Drexel University, where his work focused on music technology.