Meet The Players

Quinn Hatch

Megan Thornton

Richard Ayad

Member since: April 2009

What first attracted you to improv?
Well, I'm lazy, and improv seemed like less work than stand up. Turns out, that's not true at all, but I love the huge amount of time I spend working with White Tie, so it doesn't seem like work.

Most memorable White Tie moment?
The first time I said something that got a big laugh from the audience. There is nothing quite like that feeling.

Blaine Fonnesbeck

Member since: Fall 2010

What first attracted you to improv?

I was first attracted to improvising after watching a friend of mine in a White Tie show. I figured I could do it if I tried and started coming to practice. Plus, I'm working on a theater major and figured the improv experience would complement that nicely.   

Most memorable White Tie moment?
I have a lot of favorite White Tie moments, but one of the biggest ones for me was during one of our practices. We were working on doing scenes in a genre and started a particular scene using political thriller as our prompt.

The main plot had something to do with Megan and I having let some Russians/Germans escape with a bunch of uranium or some silly bad-guy supplies. We had to catch up to them by train.

By the end of it, everyone is lying around dead. We were at a standoff, and then I revealed I was working for "Sven" the entire time, and launched into a rant about how much it sucked having to be stuck with an incompetent American agent, all done in a really bad accent.

By the end of it, everyone had broken character due to laughing so hard. It's practices like those that really keep me going.

Chance Rush

Jonny Olson

What first attracted you to improv?
Whose Line is It Anyway?

Most memorable White Tie moment?
"I work for Sven, you shlumpa!"

Hannah Whisenant

What first attracted you to improv?
The thing that attracted me to improv initially was my friend, Tim Browne. He convinced me to come to practice. After that, I wanted to learn the on-the-spot skills that the other leaders of the group seemed to display so effortlessly.

It's been a challenge, and still challenges me to be on top of my game as much as possible at all times. And it's fun, of course. Duh. Initially it was really frustrating... in a fun sort of way. Getting the hang of it was difficult, but extremely rewarding.

Most memorable White Tie moment?
After the first practice I attended, Richard Ayad came up to me, slapped my face (not hard) and yelled, "SCIENCE!" And that was how he introduced himself. Good friendships start in the weirdest ways sometimes.

Since I've started doing improv, I'm less afraid to make a fool of myself. It's loosened me up, and I can express myself more freely with strangers and friends alike. While in the beginning it was frustrating, now it's like meditating, almost. You get into the zone, you immerse yourself, you focus, concentrate, and the world outside disappears. And that's the coolest thing about improv... for me.