Spring, 2004. The Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre in NYC. The lights had just gone down on The Swarm, and a light turned on in Kareem's head. "I have to do this." With that, Kareem decided to pursue improv, and after completing the Heroes of Comedy improv classes in Austin, TX, he became a regular fixture in the Austin improv scene.

Kareem has always had a love of story-telling, and the Heroes training only reinforced that. He spends much of his non-improv time reading about and studying story structure, particularly through the work of Joseph Campbell.

Kareem is a founding-member of Parallelogramophonograph, and he has written and acted in sketch comedy as part of Hoover's Blanket. He has performed with many of Austin's finest improv troupes, and he has been featured in Micetro, Gorilla Theater, Start Trekkin', Cops & Lawyers, and Stool Pigeon. In addition to performing improv, he directed Jerm Pollet's one-man show "Beats, Thongs, and Sugar Substitute" and has done voice-over work for numerous video games and educational applications.

Kareem has an unhealthy obsession with vaudeville.

Kaci Beeler is a freelance artist and represented actor who has been studying and performing improvisational theatre for over seven years. She initially used improv as a tool to help her with her scripted acting work, but has since devoted herself fully to the artform. She has studied under Keith Johnstone (author of Impro and Impro for Storytellers), members of the BATS Theatre in San Francisco, and members of Impro Theatre in LA, as well as many other wonderful teachers who are passionate about improv.

Kaci is the Director of Design at the Hideout Theatre where she also teaches, performs, and directs shows on a regular basis. She performs weekly with the award-winning, internationally touring longform narrative troupe Parallelogramophonograph (Thursday at 8pm) at the ColdTowne Theater as well as in the many diverse shows at the Hideout Theatre, and semi-regularly with the troupes Perfect Season, Available Cupholders, Adventure Squad, and The Amazon and the Milksop. Kaci is interested in telling compelling and dynamic improvised stories in as many ways as possible.

She also improvises on the littlest screen (youtube) through the blog videos she makes for Southwest Airlines as their Blog-o-Spondent.

In 2008 Kaci was nominated for Best Female Improviser, Most Fearless Improviser, and Most Playful and Accepting Improviser by the Austin Improv Collective. She has performed in many festivals around North America including the Chicago Improv Festival, Providence Improv Fest, Out of Bounds, Out of Bounds West, Montreal Improv Fest, and The Hawaii Improvaganza. In 2009 Kaci won the Austin Iron Improviser Tournament and was one of the 8 marathon performers in the Hideout Theatre's epic 40-Hour Improv Marathon.

Kaci is happily married to fellow improviser and troupe member Roy Janik.

Roy's first brush with improv was at the University of Texas, in the Knighthood of BUH. BUH did anything that it found amusing, and this included storming the UT Tower, founding a national holiday (No Pants Day), staging mock debates, and impersonating numerous fictional student organizations. It wasn't until several years later, however, in his first 'proper' improv class, that Roy realized he had been doing improv all along.

Since then he has thrown himself bodily into improv training and performance, and can be seen with Parallelogramophonograph, Perfect Season, The Dark Bloodlords, ColdTowne Theater, and The Heroes of Comedy.

Roy's roots are in Johnstonian improv, having been taught by Andy Crouch at the Heroes of Comedy School, and as such he loves to tell a good story. His current interests in improv are therefore in storytelling, making improv more 'theatrical', and creating realistic characters. That being said, there is always an element of mischief and play in Roy's performance, and he likes nothing more than to make his fellow troupemates smile.

Valerie Ward has been improvising for over six years. She was a founding member of the once-renowned and now forgotten troupe Ed32. As the second-most dedicated member of that sprawling conglomeration, she learned the Johnstonian basics third or fourth hand and had a blast. Since the dissolution of that group, she honed her skill with the Heroes of Comedy until she could trick her way into a fledgling Parallelogramophonograph as a founding member. She has studied with BATS in San Francisco and Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.

Like everyone else, Valerie loves a good story. She also seeks to explore the unique capabilites of improv as an artistic form, usually by making mistakes and being okay with that, as soon as she stops laughing. She also seek to apply the skills and theory of improv in broader realms including her sewing, cooking, social interactions, freestyle rapping, and navigation.

Valerie has also been seen in Vinyl Destination, Improvised Shakespeare (08!), and the probably defunct all-girl rap sensation Cock Sound. She hopes to stop defuncting things and possibly start a solo rap career under her pseudonym, The Cup. Look for her to star with Kaci soon in the dynamic Adventure Squad! improv duo.