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Sat., June 28 @ 8PM
Wed., June 25 @ 6PM
See Jesse Perform:
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Presented below are the individual bios of JoKyR and Jesster. For more information about them, see the About page.
In 2003, Joseph Kyle Rogan completed the University of Utah's prestigious Actor Training Program (a bachelors level conservatory program) and Theatre Education Program, where he studied such diverse subjects as Shakespeare, Commedia dell'Arte, Japanese Butoh Dance, Dialects, and Stand-Up Comedy. While at the University of Utah, Joseph also took part in an acting internship with Pioneer Theatre Company, and received an Irene Ryan nomination for his performance of the title role in the U of U's 30th annual Classical Greek Theatre Festival Production of Euripides' Ion. During his college years, Joseph worked as the Artistic Director of the Theatre Complex Trolley Square Live. Throughout his education, it was apparent that Joseph had a particular and profound love of improvisational theatre. This love affair began when he was enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Salt Lake City's West High School. His IB Drama teacher, Rett Neale, loaned Joseph a copy of Truth In Comedy over the summer. That was all it took. Since then, he has read every book on Improv he could find, and has traveled the continent to take every workshop he could afford (and even some that he couldn't). Among the teachers Joseph has been fortunate enough to receive training from are Liz Allen, Jason Anfinsen, Joe Bill, Chuck Charbeneau, Bob Dassie, Martin deMaat, Armando Diaz, Andy Eninger, Noah Gregoropoulos, Jeff Griggs, Peter Gwinn, Stacey Hallal, Charna Halpern, Clifton Highfield, Shaun Himmerick, TJ Jagadowski, Eric Jensen, Nick Johne, Shaun Landry, Jenni Lillendahl, Susan Messing, Mick Napier, Dave Pasquesi, Dave Razowsky, Asaf Ronen, Avery Schreiber, Mark Sutton, Zach Ward, Andre Washington, and Ross White. Once Joseph's eyes were opened to the wondrous possibilities of the far reaches of the improv art form, he was dismayed to discover that the only improvisational theatre being performed in his home town was competitive short form (just the tip of the improv iceberg). In August 1996, he brought this sad state of affairs to an end by founding Knock Your Socks Off Improvised Productions (KYSOff), and dedicating himself to perfecting his craft and expanding the boundaries of the Utah improv community. An experienced teacher, Joseph has taught hundreds of public and private workshops in long form improv at venues throughout the Salt Lake valley. He has also founded and directed the long form improv teams The 8-Bits, IMP-451, To Moscow!, and The Prototypes. Recently, he performed with the def poetry inspired group The Hook at the 2005 Del Close Marathon in New York City. Today, Joseph is recognized as the founder of long form improv in Utah. Joseph believes in a character based approach to improv that relies heavily on listening, emotional affectation, and the heightening of patterns. He lives in Utah with his wife Micki, and daughter Patience. He performs regularly with the Off Broadway Theatre's Laughing Stock and Highly Irregular's The Hook, and as the solo act JoKyR's Wyld. He is currently the maestro of Knock Your Socks Off, a theatre teacher at Glendale Middle School, a trainer for Improvisational Teen Theatre Training, Inc. and the first half of the two man long form team, JoKyR and Jesster.
A native of Massachusetts, Jesse started college at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, MA in 1992 and was heavily involved in theater, joining the Masque and MW Repertory Theater student groups as an actor (and even once a director), as well as being inducted into the national theatre honor fraternity Alpha Psi Omega. In his first year at college, Jesse became involved in Chain Link Fence, WPI's improvisational acting troupe. Jesse was actively involved with the troupe until his graduation in 1996, occasionally helping out when they performed at reunions he happened to be at. Jesse moved to Utah immediately after receiving his computer science degree, taking a long break from acting and improv to focus on work and family. In 2001, he took a class with the Lincoln Hoppe (then of The Skinny Lincolns) because he missed improv and was reintroduced to the art form he loved. He then took workshops with Quick Wits' Bob Bedore and Knock Your Socks Off's (KYSOff's) Joseph Kyle Rogan and was asked to join KYSOff in November of 2001. Jesse has performed with Laughing Stock, KYSOff, and Quick Wits Clearfield as a full cast member and has also performed with other Utah troupes such as Quick Wits Salt Lake City, Off the Wall, Mixed Company, 3.2 Improv, Salt City Improv, TBA - In No Particular Order and in ComedySportz Utah's Yellow #2 show (longform). Jesse has also performed in local Utah festivals such as Trolley Brawl 1, 2, and 3.2, The Quick Wits Clearfield Comedy Extravaganza, Septemberprov 2004, and Decemberprov 2004. He has performed in the Showcase venue of the 5th Annual Chicago Improv Festival with KYSOff as well as in the 6th and 7th Annual Chicago Improv Festivals with other improvisers at the Improv All Night event. Jesse performed with The Saint, featuring Ryan Locante, Ross White, and Austin Nava, in the 5th Annual Del Close Marathon and the 2nd Annual Dirty South Improv 24:Live Event. Jesse also performed throughout the 3rd annual 24:Live event, which included performing with The Beatbox and Sickest F***ing Stories. At the 3rd Annual Miami Improv Festival, he performed in Joe Bill's "The Scramble" class recital and was invited by Joe Bill to perform "The Scramble" again at the 4th Annual Phoenix Improv Festival (where he also performed with Hemi and the Buzz, a group that joined JoKyR and Jesster with Men in Shirts) and at the 7th Annual Del Close Marathon (where he was also invited by Joe Bill to perform with the White Trash Intellectuals, a group that opened for Bassprov). At the 4th Annual Miami Improv Festival, he was invited to perform with Puny Humans and Mark Sutton's All Stars. Jesse has taught improv classes for KYSOff, Quick Wits Clearfield, ComedySportz Provo, Off the Wall, TBA - In No Particular Order, and Laughing Stock in Utah, Guerilla Improv in Massachusetts, the Gulf Coast Comedy Festival, the Miami Improv Festival in Florida, the Beatnik Syndicate in California, and the Dirty South Improv Festival in North Carolina. He has also helped run student workshops for KYSOff and Quick Wits Salt Lake City and was the coach for the improv team The Prototypes and the improv troupe 3.2 Improv. Jesse has taken workshops with Andy Eninger, Charna Halpern, Joe Bill, Mark Sutton, Todd Stashwick, John Thies, Billy Merritt, Gary Austin, Ross White, Zach Ward, Matt Elwell, Peter Gwinn, Noah Gregoropoulos, Craig Cackowski, Dave Razowsky, Shaun Landry, Jason Anfinsen, Nick Johne, Asaf Ronen, Chuck Charbeneau, Clifton Highfield, Shaun Himmerick, Kerstin Caldwell, Topher Bellavia, Stacey Hallal, Jeff Griggs, Bob Dassie, Ian Roberts, Liz Allen, Jimmy Carrane, TJ Jagadowski, Armando Diaz, and Mick Napier. He also used to teach a weekly class in Salt Lake City called "Four Weeks a Form," where he developed the slam poetry inspired format, the Hook, which was performed at the 7th Annual Del Close Marathon and by groups in San Francisco and Boston. Jesse is passionate about promoting long form improvisation and community in Utah. He co-founded UtahImprov.com with Ryan Locante and travels frequently to improv festivals to take classes and perform and brings his acquired knowledge back to Utah. He also has helped build and establish Web sites for numerous improv troupes in Utah and beyond. In 2006, Jesse was named as an Artistic Associate of the Chicago Improv Festival. Jesse is proud to be the second half of the two man long form team, JoKyR and Jesster.
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Joseph Kyle Rogan
Jesse Parent