2.10.10 Update: Claymore's live fundraiser show was a rousing success! We reached $5,000 and Peyton got a tattoo! Check our Kickstarter page for more updates to come.
peyton brown
Dropped out of college. Co-founded Claymore Productions. Made funny web videos. Started a show every week at Playground Theatre called "The Free Improv Show." Got on a Harold team at i.O. called The Burnham Plan. Etc.
annie calhoun
Annie Calhoun is a Chicago native and received her undergrad degree from Taylor University for Theatre and English Education and then went on to receive her MFA in Acting from DePaul University's Theatre School. In addition to acting in Chicago and doing improv at iO with her group Almost Atlanta, she has always considered herself a writer. She has written original musicals for Northlight Theatre Academy in Skokie, and written a full length play, Elevator Day, which had a successful reading at the DePaul 'Writes of Spring Festival' '09. Her short plays include Smoking Ban, performed at The Theatre School, and The Testimony, which was performed at Gorilla Tango Theatre. Annie also wrote and performed an original solo show Oregon Trail: A Musical Review, at The Theatre School, Stage Left Theatre, iO's Slugfest, and Around the Coyote in Wicker Park. Annie currently teaches Theatre at Chicago's new public performing arts High School, ChiArts, and writes original works for her students to perform.
james chase
James started writing and performing sketch comedy in college, and kept it up after moving to Chicago from his home state of Virginia a couple years ago. He is excited to take part in his first comedic venture in this city that won't cost him $300 for the session.
eric eyerman
Eric was born and raised in Newark, DE for no real reason. Eventually he escaped to the similarly meaningless University of Virginia, where he discovered careers come to those who wait. Uninterested in waiting, he moved to Colorado for a year to hike aimlessly, but with great meaning. Reasonably meaningful experiences prompted his move to Chicago, where he started waiting ever more intensely (see photo). Now, the wait is finally over: he is writing for Claymore Productions, and his life has meaning.
james gardiner
James Gardiner is a 25 year old playwright and actor who currently lives in Alexandria, VA. Mr. Gardiner wrote the book for the one night only Broadway extravaganza GLORY DAYS (music and lyrics by Nick Blaemire), which premiered at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA and opened at The Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway in 2008. As an actor, James has worked at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, John F. Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, and various other venues in the Washington DC area. James received his BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland - College Park.
zachary hanes (that's my professional name!)
Zach has been knocking around the Chicago comedy world since 2007. He originally hails from Neenah, Wisconsin, but people sometimes question that because he really doesn't have much of an accent. After performing improv while in college at the University of Wisconsin, Zach decided to give Chicago a shot. He improvises regularly at iO, is a member of the sketch group Gandergoose, and is contributing writer and graphic designer for The Best Church of God. In 2009 he co-wrote and directed his first sketch revue The 2009 Middle American Existence Expo at the Playground Theater. During the day, Zach writes, and animates cartoons for a website that will hopefully someday be launched. Until then, you'll have to trust him that they exist and they're wonderful.
brian hurwitz
A graduate of the University of Maryland and its prestigious improv group Erasable Inc., Brian co-founded Claymore Productions in 2007 and soon after moved to Chicago with his fellow founders. He is an alumnus of the iO Improv Training Center and the Second City Advanced Writing Program. Brian produces and headlines the weekly show "Claymore presents: The Free Improv Show (Admission $5)" at The Playground Theater. He is also a member of the improv group The Vagabonds and the sketch group The Number 10 Productions. You can see the back of Brian’s head for two seconds in the final season of HBO’s "The Wire."
dave maher
Bio coming soon.
jeffrey murdoch
Jeffrey is from the great state of Michigan where he attended the University of Michigan. Having become a performer in the student improv group Witt's End and the local improv theater Improv Inferno he decided to move out to Chicago in the fall of 2007. He now plays at the Playground Theater and iO Theater, as well as a handful of independent improv teams, here in Chicago.
drennen quinn
Drennen came here from over there. He works and sweats and bleeds like any other man. He thinks he's pretty great. Also, you're welcome. No really, don't mention it.
barry schneiderman
Graduate: Second City Improv & Writing Programs,
average height.
jo jean scott
Jo Jean Scott (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, MI and raised in Kentwood, LA, Scott first appeared on national television as a contestant on the "Star Search" program in 1992 and went on to star on the television series "The New Mickey Mouse Club" from 1993–1994. In 1999 Scott signed a recording contract with Jive Records, releasing her debut album "...Baby One More Time" in 1999. Scott is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America with 31 million certified albums and one of the world's best-selling music artists having sold an estimated 83 million records worldwide. Scott was named as "Most Searched Person" in the 2007 and 2009 editions of the Guinness World Records.
josh segovia
Josh Segovia was supposed to be a writer, that's what his parents wound have liked. Josh wanted to be a performer, this is what he liked. The tension growing up was palpable. "If only a forum existed where i could do both," Josh would write and then act out behind closed doors. He watched Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show and The Upright Citizens Brigade with bated breath. He knew his time would come. Now is that time. With ink on his hands and a funny hat on his head, Josh through the power of Claymore's Live Internet Sketch Comedy Show, quiets the demons of his youth.
tyler smith
Tyler co-founded Claymore Productions in 2007. Since then, he has written, directed, acted in, and produced several Claymore videos and sketches. With Claymore, he produces and headlines "Claymore presents: The Free Improv Show (Admission $5)," a weekly improv show at The Playground Theatre that has been running for over a year. Tyler is also a member of Gandergoose, a sketch group that recently performed at the 2010 Chicago Sketchfest. Tyler is an alumnus of the iO Training Center, having trained with Noah Gregoropoulos, Craig Uhlir, Rachel Mason, Bill Arnett, Greg Hess, and Jason Schotts. He has also trained with Mick Napier, Susan Messing, Joe Bill, and Mark Sutton.
daniel strauss
Daniel Strauss is a University of Michigan graduate who has trained at the Second City Conservatory and the iO Theater. He can be see performing around the city with "Computer," a four man improv team.
matt rice
An unintended side effect of the Large Hadron Collider, Matt Rice walks the earth in search of his bizarro twin (rumored to have survived a plane crash on an island in the South Pacific). When not sleuthing, Matt is planting evidence and bearing false witness...thus ensuring future generations of the Curious and Misled a hobby. Speaking of hobbies, Matt has but one: you. Sometimes he considers it a full time job, but after a good night’s sleep he is able to put things into a better perspective.
steve sullivan
Steve Sullivan has not yet begun to fight, and is progressively becoming more beardlike each day in order to do so. He mires his rampant cowardice in literary and filmic renditions of steam and clock punk narrative. His hobbies include coffee, general fun, exceptional fun, sidling, and Whiffleball®. He has been assured, by varying forms of modern entertainment, that technology (robots) will handedly usurp man’s control of life's most common interactions sometime in the near future. His epitaph will read: "Whatever, I told you so".
