MISFIT FACULTY
Gillian Bellinger
Artistic Director
Gillian Bellinger has taught improv & acting at The Second City Hollywood, Intentional Acting Studio, Improv Utopia, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and Westside Comedy Theater. She has been a guest teacher at Finest City Improv, All Out Comedy Theater, Alchemy Comedy Theater, Think Fast Theater, Asheville Improv Collective, and Curious Comedy Theater. Gillian studied improv in Chicago at The Second City, i.O. Theater, The Annoyance Theater, and The Groundlings. Gillian is very fancy and attended The London Academy of Theatre, The National Theater Institute, and Hamline University.
In addition to teaching, Gillian is a working actor and has appeared on shows for Disney, Hulu, VH1, and Red Letter Media, as well as several commercials. She was an ensemble member on Second City House Teams in LA and Chicago, ComedySportz Chicago and Minneapolis, The Del Tones Harold Team at i.O. West, Laugh Out Loud Theater in Chicago, guest player with Baby Wants Candy, Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, and Improv Acadia in Bar Harbor, Maine. For more info about her work, please visit GillianBellinger.com.
Marlene Thompson
Improv Faculty & Media Coordinator
Marlene Thompson has a B.A. in Music from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Marlene then moved to Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a classical guitarist but found out she was a clown instead. She studied improv, acting, and sketch at The Second City Conservatory and iO Chicago, where she performed with Improvised Jane Austen. She's a performer with several local improv troupes in Asheville, including Family Dinner and the duo Mabel's Baby. She has taught improv and acting for Asheville Improv Collective and The Actor's Center of Asheville.
Marlene is also a stand-up comedian and has opened for many comics over the years, including Kevin McDonald of Kids in the Hall, Joe Zimmerman, Mia Jackson, and James Adomian. Marlene has performed at the Chicago Improv Festival, Chicago SketchFest, Dallas Comedy Festival, Hell Yes Fest, and the Asheville Comedy Festival, among many more. She also hosts, writes, and produces her own political comedy show, "From the Ashes with Marlene Thompson," on YouTube, and has appeared in several web series and commercials. She's elated to be teaching for Misfit!
Joe Carroll
Improv Faculty
Joe Carroll began improvising at Appalachian State University in 2007. He was teacher/owner of BMCA Improv in Black Mountain, NC and taught at the Asheville Improv Collective.
Joe has performed at the Dirty South Improv Festival, NC Comedy Arts Festival, Asheville Yes Fest, AIC Fest, Hell Yes Fest, Secret City Improv Festival, the Asheville Fringe Festival, and Chicago’s Annoyance Theater.
Joe is currently active in comedy duo "Mabel's Baby", his solo improv project "JOLO", and is producer/co-host for the monthly comedy show "Liar's Club: An Evening of Fake Storytelling".
Katie Jones
Improv Faculty
Katie Jones is a performer, director and arts educator, having worked at regional theatres in Sarasota, New York, Chicago and Denver.
Katie studied improv at I.O. Chicago, Second City and with Paul Sills (son of theatre innovator Viola Spolin). She has an MFA in Devised Theatre from Naropa University, and always strives to marry the worlds of theatre and improv through her company Wishbone Theatre Collective.
Locally, Katie has worked with Asheville Creative Arts, Immediate Theatre Project, the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival and The Magnetic Theatre, and teaches playwriting at Brevard College. You can currently see her improv work with troupes Scuttlebutt, Family Dinner and Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Michelle Gilliam
Virtual Improv Coach
Michelle Gilliam is an improviser, actor, host, voice actor, and the owner and artistic director of Improv MKE, an improv comedy school and theater based online, currently serving the world.
Michelle has been involved in improv comedy and applied improv for over 25 years, through studying, performing, coaching, teaching, directing. She has led corporate teams and various university departments to success by helping them to harness the power of improv as a tool and resource for creativity, empowerment, communication, and much more. Michelle is also a trial advocacy trainer.
Michelle also headlined the Festivus Festival in Richmond, the 2022 Edinburgh Scotland Improv Festival, and taught two weekend intensives in Chester and Nottingham in the UK in March of 2022. Michelle currently teaches for Improv MKE and the World’s Greatest Improv School and guest teaches at various theaters online and in person around the country and world as well!
Chris Martin
Youth Improv Faculty
Chris Martin is a certified K-12 theatre teacher with a master's degree in Theatre Education from UNC-Greensboro. He has taught theatre for 23 years and teaches improv classes all over WNC.
He takes improv classes of his own as well with Misfit Theatre in an improv performance lab. He has led several youth and teen improv troupes in Asheville at The Hop for over 10 years.
Last year, Chris led a TED Talk on the "Power of Yes And" at a local TEDx conference at the NC Stage Company Theater in Asheville.
Jay Sukow
Virtual Improv Coach
Jay Sukow has been performing with and without a script for the better part of the past 30 years. A few of those he has trained with include Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Jon Favreau, David Razowsky, Keith Johnstone, Del Close, Charna Halpern, Jeff Michalski, and Mick Napier. He is a graduate of training centers of The Second City, The Second City NW, iO Chicago, and ComedySportz Chicago.
Jay was the Artistic Director/Head of Training at the Improv Comedy Copenhagen Theatre and has previously taught for Second City Chicago, Second City Hollywood, Westside Comedy Theater, iO Chicago, iO West, and ComedySportz Chicago.
Jay performs with Mission Improvable, Improv Famous, an Armando-style show featuring some of the best improvisors on the planet. He was an ensemble member of ComedySportz Chicago, several weekend "house" improv teams at iO Chicago, and many other improv and sketch comedy groups. He has been a guest performer at Boom Chicago, The Second City, The Second City ETC, The Second City Northwest, and Messing with a Friend. He was featured in the improv documentary “Whether the Weather” and was a guest on the improv podcasts “Improv Nerd,” “ADD Comedy,” “The Improv Teachers,” “Improv Yak,” “Improv Tips with Paul Vaillancourt,” and more.
