Mike comes from an improvised family. His brother, Patrick, got him in touch with Michael Burns when Mopco was looking for a backup keyboard player. Michael sent him Down the Rabbit Hole while waiting for the primary piano player to bolt, and there’s been no looking back. Mike likes to play strange, slightly clueless, but reasonably nice characters, in other words himself, when he’s not providing the instrumental platform. He’s a songwriter and performs in concert settings when not making stuff up. Mike is the oldest “Mopcoian.” He is, in fact, 206. He’ll do this until he can’t drive at night.

Craig has had the privilege of performing improv at Mopco for the past 7 years. During that time, he’s been able to develop as a performer with great players, performing regularly, thanks to Mopco’s regular improv classes. Craig is also an active singer/songwriter and visual artist. He is the founder of the Electric City Arts Contest, an annual online art contest open to all forms of art, including visual, music, literature, etc. He can be found mulling around the Schenectady Stockade, just blocks from where he first moved here over 40 years ago!

Hayes has been in front of audiences as long as he can remember. He began singing with his mother and his sisters in a well-known gospel group named the Fields singers. He then was introduced to theatre formally through the Harlem Children's Theater Co. Hayes was able to perform in Europe and Africa because of this troupe, as well as most of the major stages and Off-Broadway stages in New York City. Hayes sings, plays guitar, writes music, and has created some music videos on social media. Hayes is probably the worst dancer that has ever performed in theater. He has however been allowed to do movement in two productions of Ain't Misbehavin’ in Albany New York. Hayes was formally introduced to the world of improv through The Mopco Theatre of upstate New York. His passion for this form of theater continues to grow by leaps and bounds, because of great instructors like Michael Burns. Hayes is currently pursuing his dreams of theatre in every form, including voiceovers, film, stage, and whatever opportunity presents itself. However dancing, he shall eschew as though it was an ancient plague that has been enclosed in a sarcophagus sealed by an evil wizard's curse.

Riley started taking improv classes around the turn of the century and ran a weekly jam for 3 years in Massachusetts (“Home By Ten—Improv for the Middle Aged and the Middle Aged at Heart”). And she’s been hired by a few cohousing communities to run improv workshops. BUT she never joined a performing troupe until moving to Schenectady and finding the welcoming, age-diverse Mopco community. When not impersonating animals and inanimate objects, Riley attempts to save America from itself through deep canvassing and election reform… activities that are about as lucrative as performing improv.

Kara’s earliest performance as a villager in the 3rd grade production of “The Magic Pasta Pot” was neither memorable nor the beginning of any kind of desire to perform. That would come some 30 years later when saying yes to a one-off improv class led to becoming instantly hooked to an artform and community of amazing people. A proud former recipient of the Mopco Annual Get Shit Done Award (2016), when not doing improv Kara is singing in their car, and recharging in their private bio-pod they share with a small quadruped feline while entertaining people by passing along memes and fun history facts they learned with anyone who will listen.

Catherine likes to think she is new at improv, but her pandemic hobby was tabletop roleplaying, which is basically just improv with a lot more math. After some past stints doing community theater and taking a class with The Mopco Improv Theatre in 2022, she threw caution to the wind and decided to audition for Down the Rabbit Hole. Then, to her surprise, she managed to get in! When she is not busy being a funny little guy on stage, Catherine does marketing and marketing-adjacent things in the games industry.

Jessica Callahan was born and raised in Kensington, Brooklyn. She was always a shy kid with a hidden passion for theater and performance. It wasn’t until March 2022, when she took a chance on an Improv 101 class at Mopco, that the passion came to the forefront. Since then, she has become a very active member of the Mopco community, participating in countless workshops and classes. She has worked to refine her skills with a performance group called “The Regulars” who she still regularly rehearses with.  In the fall of 2023, Jess joined “Down The Rabbit Hole" where she continues to grow and entertain folks of all ages.

Paul first got the improv bug as we came out of the pandemic.  After being an audience participant during a Mopco Improv show, he was hooked.  Paul started by going to the Monday night workouts.  Fast forward 4 weeks later and he was jumping right into the classes and workshops.  People started to notice the time and effort and soon was offered an opportunity to work with Down The Rabbit Hole.  Paul continues to go to classes and workshops thanks to the wide variety offered by the Mopco Improv Theatre.

Paul believes everyone has a chance to learn improv.  He is constantly talking with others to enhance his skills and help others that may be interested in learning improv.

Joe is a visual artist and creative with little background in theater. On a whim he decided to try improv! Joe began his theatre journey right here at MopCo, testing the improvisational waters at their weekly Monday Night workouts. After plenty of success, failure, laughs and humiliation - he was hooked and quickly became involved in further classes and workshops. Joe has had the pleasure of working with various performers and communities on an international level (because of that one time in Montreal). Joe is charming, clever, devilishly handsome, and above all... humble.