Cholena attributes her oddball sense of humor to her parents. She remembers her dad singing silly made up songs at the breakfast table and her mother concocting fantastic improvised stories. She has studied improvisation with Ruth Zaporah, the Viola Spolin Method and started an all female improv group, "Girls Like Us" in Oregon. Cholena brings silliness and a sense of play daily to her acupuncture practice in Carrboro, believing that laughter is a wonderful healing force.

Was drawn to improvisation without really knowing why. He took his first workshop with Tim Johnston, formerly of the Transactors Improv company in Carrboro, NC. Shortly thereafter, he researched improvisation and theater games reading a number of terrific books on the subject and decided he wanted to learn Theater Games from Paul Sills (Viola Spolin's son). So he did. Since then he has, on and off, taught improvisation, formed play groups and performed occassionally. Joining FatMouth represents an opportunity to share the gifts of improvisation with audiences more regularly and to be with a wonderfully playful, fun, and ambitious group of players.

Became an accidental tourist into the world of improv after a lifetime of sillinesses with her 6 siblings. Mary joined FatMouth because it was like being in kindergarten with grown ups, and always its play time. After 20 years in the music industry, Mary now spends her days at work getting paid to color and draw as a web developer and graphic artist, continuing on with the tradition of living the lessons learned in kindergarten.

Improvisation has always been part of Abby's life -- so you can imagine how relieved she was to discover that it is a legitimat theatrical art form, not just a character flaw or reason for embarrassment at childhood piano lessons. ("Dear, did you practice even once since last week?") Before joining Fatmouth, Abby performed with the Idiot Box in Greensboro, and she has participated in workshops on psychodrama, Playback Theatre and Spolin theater games. She considers improv a valuable tool for personal growth as well as a surefire way to get lots of attention.

Deborah's improv career began when she graduated from UCLA with a degree in Theater Arts and had no idea what to do next. Her subsequent rich and varied experiences as a waitress taught her to think and talk on her feet. She studied improv in Los Angeles with Wendy Cutler of "Off the Wall" (Robin Williams' troupe), Bill Steinkellner (who went on to become an Emmy award-winning writer/producer), Paul Sills, and the Groundlings School, and here in NC with Greg Hohn of Transactors. She's a former member of the former inDecision Theatre. By day Deborah is a mild-mannered psychotherapist, yoga teacher, yoga therapy practitioner and mom. Her husband, the lovely and talented musician Glenn Mehrbach, would be really hurt if she didn't give him a shout-out (luv ya, Honey!).

They say that what you are really called to do in life, starts at age 5. Juney jumped right in, during her kindergarten years, organized a group dance performance with her girlfriends, and put on a show for the parents. Her basement in Philly served as an ongoing stage for various acts. Much later she studied improvtheater and joined FatMouth. June is also an accomplished visual artist in pinhole photography, installation, video and found object assemblages. Her other life is in management consulting.

Ann Roy leapt into improv just ahead of the villagers with torches. While she's not really that fast on her feet, her brain is going a million miles an hour. It's just a shame it has jumped the tracks. Over the course of the wild ride, she has performed with The Product as well as various improv and comedy groups around the Triangle. Improv is her life.

FatMouth found Ken lying at the curb, and took pity on him. They brushed him off, cleaned him up, and tried hard to make him presentable. Alas, you know what they say: you can take the boy out of the gutter, but ....

Has been performing since she was three when she began dramatic recitations of poetry and acting out the stories in the songs her sister sang. She's studied the Spolin improv method and taken other improv classes from Anoushka Brod and Greg Hohn. She enjoys performing with her FatMouth colleagues as they are skilled and relaxed enough to play. "Why do it if you can't have fun?" she says.

Improv is short for improvisation. As "improvisation" implies we do not use any scripted materials. Everything is created before you, the audience member, on the spot. Long form is a style of improvisation that takes a suggestion from the audience and weaves it into a stream of consciouness performance. Truth is, there are many different formats for long form. Some formats are like mini-plays. Other formats are like a series of consecutive short scenes or games. We start our performances with short "warm ups" (but without Spandex, thank you very much) and then launch into the longer pieces.