DAVID RAZOWSKY
David will be doing a live recording of his podcast, 'A.D.D. Comedy,' on the process of creating comedy with a TBA special guest, as well as teaching a master workshop, and performing in a couple shows. He taught and performed in the 2009(?) festival and was a huge hit. We're very excited to welcome him back.
David Razowsky is the respected teacher and former artistic director of the Second City Los Angeles, and, as an actor, has written and performed in ten Second City Chicago revues. During his tenure as a performer at Second City he worked with Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jeff Garlin, and Amy Sedaris, among others. David directed Second City Chicago Mainstage’s No, Seriously, We’re All Gonna Die, Second City LA’s, Encino Evil, The Second City Untitled Project, The Second City Detroit's acclaimed 19th Nervous Breakdown, and The Second City National Touring Company. He directed two of Amsterdam’s Boom Chicago theatre’s productions-- RockStars, and their critically acclaimed Live at the Leidseplein - Your Privacy is Our Business. David is credited with creating Boom’s signature live on-stage video production. He is a member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and performed in their sold-out run The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He is a co-founder of The Annoyance Theatre, and has written for The Simpsons Comic and The Simpsons nationally syndicated Sunday comic strip. David has appeared on Spin City, Roseanne, The Young and the Restless and Late Night with David Letterman as the voice of Albert Brook’s parrot. David and his improv partner, Carrie Clifford, perform Razowsky and Clifford in improv fests around the globe.
ZACH WARD
Zach will be performing in a couple shows, teaching a workshop, and helping us do some promotion behind the scenes. This will be Zach's first trip to OOB. It's kind of a big deal.
Zach Ward has been performing and directing comedy professionally for over 15 years. Zach owns DSI where he serves as Artistic Director and Executive Producer. He serves as Executive Director for the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival. In the world of comedy, Zach has been employed by the Chicago Improv Festival (Associate Producer), Toronto Improv Festival (Producer), Richmond Improv Festival (Producer) and ComedySportz Chicago. He has studied the art of improvisation with Todd Stashwick (Burn Mahattan), Mick Napier and Susan Messing (Annoyance), Bob Dassie, Craig Cackowski and TJ Jagodowski (ImprovOlympic), Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade), Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live), Michael Gelman (Second City), and with every student he teaches.
BACKPACK PICNIC Reunion
BPPN is Mitch Baker and David Bewley with Shannon McCormick and Jeremy Sweetlamb. It started as a web series in 2007 under the direction of Rene Pinnell and lasted nearly two years allowing the group to tour a little bit and win numerous awards. They played Montreal's Just for Laughs, OOB's of the past, the New York, Chicago, and San Francisco sketch festivals and released a full length DVD of all of their video work. You can check out the vids here: http://renepinnell.com/backpackPicnic.html
Backpack Picnic is a sketch comedy troupe/flower that evolved/blossomed from the creative minds/plants that fester/sprout in the brains/humus of Mitch Baker, David Bewley, Jeremy Sweetlamb, and Shannon McCormick. Backpack Picnic has been compared to Kids in The Hall, Monty Python, and most recently, flowering plants.