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 has been studying and performing improvisational theatre for over five years. She was first inspired to study the art of improv while in high school. Kaci started out small, learning about improv through watching lots of it, reading articles on the internet, and practicing in a friend's bedroom every Saturday for several hours to an audience consisting of a couple of cats.

Luckily she one day met some awesome people that would soon become the creators of the Austin Improv Collective, and was so inspired by their work, passion, and drive, that she decided to take her improvisation to the next level. Since that decision, she has studied under several knowledgeable improvisers, including big name peoples from out of state and little name peoples in state. Names aren't important. The important part is that she wants to do good work, and lots of it.

Fortunately, the people in Parallelogramophonograph share Kaci's goals, and that is why she is so happy and lucky (and happy-go-lucky) to perform with them every Thursday night at 8pm at the ColdTowne Theater.

Kaci is fascinated with the works of master painter Botticelli, The Victorian Age, nuclear families, Dadaism, theatre history, cheesy 1960's television shows, Sam Shepard, comic books, and orphans. She vows to bring all of these things to the stage at some point in time.

Kaci can be seen with resident troupes Parallelogramophonograph, Available Cupholders, Perfect Season, Adventures Squad!, The Dark Bloodlords, ColdTowne Theater, and The Heroes of Comedy. Kaci is an undergrad student at St. Edward's University and is studying art. She makes no money from anything she does and probably never will.

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.