The Third Coast Comedy Show

An improv show featuring both short-form (as seen on Whose Line is it Anyway?) and our unique long-form styles. The entire show is made up on the spot with the help of suggestions from the audience–no two shows are alike! The Third Coast Comedy Show cast is composed of improvisers from all over the country who have been trained by veteran improvisers from schools of improv that include The Second City, iO (ImprovOlympic), The Annoyance Theater, UCB, and others. Featuring the best improvisers in Nashville, this is THE show to see!

MEET THE CAST:

Aleta Myles, Ensemble
Aleta Myles is an Ohio native that moved to Nashville to discover gold. She found it. She has been acting professionally since 2009 on stages all over Nashville and on film. She joined the Third Coast comedy family in 2017 and struck gold once again. When she’s not manicuring her eyebrows she is writing and creating content for her YouTube and Facebook channels: AletaMylesTV. She wants you to know she loves you.

Allison Summers, Ensemble
Allison was born and raised in Mount Juliet, TN. She graduated from the University of Maryland and studied improv at The Second City, UCB, and iO West. She has performed at numerous improv festivals across the country with her one woman show, “Collections”. You can watch her on Netflix in Hollywood Sex Wars where she plays the adorable, fun loving, and homeless crack head, Ash. She also performs regularly with LOL Nashville. Allison fears Raw Head Bones.

Bill Hillsman, Ensemble
Bill wears a lot of hats, but his biggest and best hat represents performing at Third Coast Comedy Club. Other hats include: producer (Third Coast Short Film Showcase), writer (Late Night with Johnny Carsick), director (Infinity Etc. Improv), bartender (The Bar at Third Coast), media lead / show manager (The Far Booth), and crash test dummy (Redbull Flugtag). Bill loves the concept of hats, but hates to physically wear one.

Dan Fairall, Ensemble
Sprouted in Minneapolis, Dan began his search for the sun. In 1992 he budded his first branches and now he's a full fledged tree.
Nurtured by Western State of Gunnison Colorado and Iowa State University. He was watered by Spolin in Seattle and Upright Citizens Brigade and The Magnet Theater in New York. He has performed all over the country as an actor and has landed at Third Coast for some nutrients. He believes in patient, grounded play, but has been known to pop off into wild absurdity and dark humor. He is inspired by you, please don't stop.

Leigh Truemper, Ensemble
Leigh is from Little Rock, Arkansas and graduated from the University of Missouri. She got her start in improv at Third Coast Comedy Club after to moving to Nashville in September of 2017. It has since become a passion of hers, and she quite frankly can’t get enough of it. Third Coast Comedy Club is her favorite spot in town, and she can easily be wooed by a breakfast sandwich.

Luke Watson, Ensemble
Luke is the Founder of LOL Nashville and Co-Founder of the Third Coast Comedy Club. He got his start with improv in Atlanta, GA with an independent troupe made up of improvisers from troupes across the city. Luke is also the Founder and Executive Producer of Nashville’s Improv Festival, Third Coast Improv Fest.

Margaret French, Ensemble
Margaret has been a Mainstage cast member since the very beginning and has loved performing and learning on the Third Coast Stage. Her improv training started at The PIT (people’s improv theater) in New York City where she attended her first class to get out of her head and help with the grind of life as an actor...and because it’s real fun. Margaret has also performed around the country in various musicals, plays, and oratorio. If you’re not at Third Coast go visit another Nashville theater company! Support the arts! (And you may see her on another stage.)

Mike Garvin, Ensemble
Hailing from myriad corners of the Great American South, Mike is equal parts improv fan and trained practitioner. Exploding onto the stage as the runaway sheep in a Murray, Kentucky Christmas pageant, his training spans graduate studies in comedy and performance at Southern Illinois University to improv courses at iO in Chicago and Nashville’s own Third Coast. He has coached and performed with the troupes Community Floss and Cult of the Stage Monkey, and his celebrated duo Date Night with Mike & Eric has appeared at the Twin Cities and Dirty South Improv Festivals and in venues across the Midwest. In Nashville he performs stand up and storytelling, and leads unwitting patrons through historical tours of the area.

Patrick Shaffner, Ensemble
Somewhere, out there, Patrick Shaffner is.

Mark Neglia, Music Director
Mark recently concluded a 10 year stint working for Second City Theatricals, performing in over 2,500 sketch and improv shows in that time period. Mark has also worked for The Second City National Touring Company, where he has co-written songs with Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Big Short), Neil Flynn (Scrubs, The Middle), Nancy Walls-Carell (The Daily Show), Todd Stashwick (12 Monkeys) and Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live). Additionally, Mark has produced records for the New York artists “Marwood” and “Pawnshop” and has been a music producer for corporate clients IBM, Boeing, and Nissan/Infiniti. Mark lives in East Nashville with whatever dog he happens to be fostering at the moment.

Ryan Citrino, Music Director
As a music director, he accompanies The Third Coast Comedy Show and Music City Improv. As a performer, you can see him competitively “doing them goofs” with house team Infinity Etc. As a producer, he co-hosts Triple Threat, an Improv Cagematch with Bill Hillsman. As a musician, he plays regularly with a variety of acts throughout the Southeast region while simultaneously yelling that his EP is going to come out soon. As a lover, he is gentle.

Sandra Partridge, Music Director
Sandra lived in Boston, Massachusetts before moving to Nashville in 1997, and she has worked as a dance accompanist and theatre musician with Boston Ballet, Vanderbilt University, and Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. Sandra has the most fun performing when others on the stage with her are also having a blast, and she happily joined Nashville's comedy improv community in 2014 when she became the keyboard player for LOL Nashville. She is a long time Charlie Chaplin and silent comedy fan, and she loves comedians that talk, too.

ALUMNI

Shannon Clark, Ensemble
Sarah Daddario, Ensemble
Edd Garcia, Ensemble
Brendan Gray, Ensemble
Ryan King, Ensemble

Nathan Larison, Ensemble
Phil Rothermich, Ensemble
Austin Williams, Ensemble
Tim Yager, Ensemble

Erica Elam, Creator
Erica Elam currently lives in Nashville, TN, but has traveled the world with The Second City on Norwegian Cruise Lines and performed at Tony-Award winning theaters including The Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Chicago Shakespeare. Erica teaches improvisation and acting at The Second City, iO Chicago, and The School at Steppenwolf. She also teaches improv workshops at Notre Dame, Dartmouth, Stanford, UGA, and Princeton University. Erica is a company member with the critically-acclaimed musical improv group, Baby Wants Candy, as well as HOME: An Improvised Play and The Improvised Sondheim Project. Erica was named one of the “Top 5 Actors to Watch” by The Chicago Tribune and is a graduate of The University of Georgia, The Second City Conservatory, and The School at Steppenwolf.