Well Known Alumni & History

History

Well Known Strangers premiered October 8th, 2012 as a House Team at Steel City Improv Theater and performed every Monday night as part of Totally Free Mondays; they were the first SCIT House Team to have their original six-month run extended, with their final performance as a House Team in August 2013. Upon retiring as a SCIT House Team, Well Known Strangers began performing throughout the Pittsburgh area as an independent team. They held the title of MAKE NICE BOOM Champions, a monthly improv competition at Unplanned Comedy Pittsburgh from 2014 to 2015 and began hosting the weekly Pittsburgh Improv Jam in February 2014.

Fun Fact: At their first public performance, their original team name was “Graceful Landing,” but quickly changed to Well Known Strangers the following week.

Alumni

The original members of Well Known Strangers (Amiri, Antonuccio, Derks, Goodnack, Karel, Kozlowski, McCanlus) were cast from House Team auditions run by Steel City Improv Theater, as were the additions of Koury and Ross. All other team members were added independently by Well Known Strangers after retiring as a SCIT House Team in 2013.

  • Nicole Antonuccio
  • George Aivaliotis
  • Laurie Bolewitz
  • Dan Derks
  • Brett Goodnack
  • Tessa Karel
  • Travis Koury
  • Lorin Kozlowski
  • Tami Ross

Coach

The incomparable Greg Gillotti is the current coach of Well Known Strangers. Greg is a comedy dynamo known to all in the Pittsburgh improv community. Check out his great work with Irony City and The Death Show!

Woody Drennan was the coach and spiritual guru of Well Known Strangers from its inception in October 2012 through June 2014. Woody can be found in his very own comedy venue Unplanned Comedy.