Lauren began as an actor and writer for The Brave New Workshop in 2004 and has starred in more consecutive shows than any other performer in Brave New Workshop history. You can also find her on YouTube as the creator and host of Noodle Pie Island, an interactive children’s show, and performing with other improv groups such as Five Man Job, FOTERSON, and Mud Coven. In addition, Lauren is a founder and co-producer of the Twin Cities Improv Festival and Improv-A-Go-Go.
Denzel is marking his 16th comedy revue with the Brave New Workshop. Denzel’s work as a playwright and writer has been featured in New York’s Queer Window Comedy Festival, Washington’s Blackness Is… Festival, AWF Magazine, and the Fearless 5 New Play Festival. Denzel continues to work with Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Minneapolis Musical Theater, and Mixed Precipitation, and he serves as the Artistic Director of Threshold Theater.
Isabella is an actor, writer, and improviser in the Twin Cities. Since receiving her BFA at the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Actor Training Program she has made her way into the world of improv and sketch comedy. She is a co-founder and player with the group Latins On ICE, which premiered a show of the same name in January of 2020. She recently made her Brave New Workshop debut with This Show is Cheaper Than Gas and was recently seen in Walking Shadow Theater Company’s Cabal.
Katy is excited to return to the BNW stage after an 11-year hiatus. She was a part of the BNW from 1996 (roughly) to 2018 (even more roughly) working as a company member, corporate performer and director, teacher, and eventually Associate Artistic Director. Between then and now, she was primarily a “stay-at-home” (in the words of an ancient cabinet salesman), also working as a teaching artist and performer with groups such as The Children’s Theater Company, Park Square Theater, and Mixed Blood Theater. For many years, she was proud to write scripts and serve in a creative and administrative capacity with St. Paul’s Circus Juventas, where her two children still attend more classes than any human children should be allowed to attend. In case you were wondering, she has been married to BNW Artistic Director Caleb McEwen for 30 years (NO, they are not siblings, and NO he did NOT hire her back in 1996. He was like, the janitor at the time…) She is happy to be back on the BNW stage where everything is exactly the same yet completely different than she left it and thrilled to inform you that she probably wrote any sketch that makes you say, “whoever wrote this seems old…”
An accomplished actor, director, choreographer, and improvisor; this will be Doug’s 9th comedy revue with Brave New Workshop. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Doug has spent more than two-and-a-half decades gracing stages across the Twin Cities including The Children’s Theatre Company, Theatre in the Round, The Mystery Cafe, and The Minnesota Fringe Festival. Doug is Artistic Director Emeritus and a long-time cast member of ComedySportz, Twin Cities and current Interim Artistic Director of Youth Performance Company in St. Paul. When not performing, you can find Doug cruising the World or visiting a Disney theme park.
Jon has been with the Brave New Workshop since 2017. In addition, he served as the music director for Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. He also works as the director of music for Grace Lutheran Church of Northeast and runs a successful music/comedy YouTube channel that has garnered over 180K subscribers and 87M views as of January 2023.
Matthew designs lights, sound, images, and videos for each Brave New Workshop production. He also serves as the technical director for The Hennepin event center. He has been working professionally in theatre for almost twenty years doing sound design for theatres in the Twin Cities including Yellow Tree Theatre, Theatre Mu, Theatre Pro Rata, Commonweal Theatre, and many more.
Caleb began as a performer on the Brave New Workshop stage in 1996, hired by the legendary Dudley Riggs. Caleb directed his first show on the mainstage in 2001 and became Artistic Director the same year. Since then, he has directed all Brave New Workshop productions except three. In his time at Brave New Workshop, he has performed in over half-a-dozen countries and most of the fifty states.
