Dana Andersen is a Canadian actor, improvisor, filmmaker, writer and director. He has served as director of the live improvised soap opera

Die-Nasty ''Die-Nasty'' is a live improvised soap opera, running weekly in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada since 1991. ''Die-Nastys improv comedy format features a continuing storyline and recurring characters, live music, and a director who sets up s ...

, and has been a core member of the troupe since its founding in 1991. From 1995-1999, he co-hosted The Johnny and Poki Variety Hour at Edmonton's

Varscona Theatre The Varscona Theatre is a live performance venue in the Old Strathcona neighborhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since 1994, the Varscona has been operated by a consortium of small theatre companies, including Teatro la Quindicina and Shadow Thea ...

. His theatre credits include shows with

Teatro la Quindicina Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band member ...

, Panties Productions, and

Rapid Fire Theatre ''Rapid Fire Theatre'' (RFT) is an improvisational theatre company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. History The origins of the company stretch to 1981, when Edmonton's Theatre Network became the third company in the world to regularly prod ...

. Film credits for Andersen include Purple Gas, ''Turnbuckle!'', and ''Stray Dogs''. He has written, directed and produced a number of independent films, including ''Rio Loco'', ''Subplot'', ''Subplot II'' and ''Hearts of Plastic''.

Other work

In 2005, Andersen exported the

company's annual Soap-A-Thon to England, working with legendary British theatre artist

Ken Campbell Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...

to produce a 36-hour-long soap opera in London. Several members of Campbell's company made the pilgrimage to Canada in 2006 and 2007 to take part in the original 53-hour-long event. In January 2008, Andersen returned to London (along with several members of the

troupe) to direct the 50-hour Improvathon at the People Show Studios. There, he worked with Adam Meggido, Oliver Senton, and Ruby Lake. He was joined by Canadian improvisors

Mark Meer Mark Meer is a Canadian actor, writer and improvisor, based in Edmonton, Alberta. He is known for his role in the ''Mass Effect'' trilogy, in which he stars as the voice of the player character, Commander Shepard. His voice is featured in a numbe ...

, Kory Mathewson, Matt Alden, Kurt Smeaton, Davina Stewart, Jamie Knifefight Cavanagh, and Belinda Cornish, as well as Musical Director

Jan Randall Jan Randall is a Canadian composer, singer songwriter and professional musician. He has had an extensive career composing sound tracks, performing original songs, and improvising music for comedy theatre. He currently plays regularly with his ba ...

. Andersen is the recipient of a

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

for co-writing the revue Not Based on Anything by Stephen King with Second City. He has been nominated for several

Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award The Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award (also known as the Sterling Award) is a local Edmonton, Alberta award presented annually which honours excellence in theatre. The award covers a number of categories, including production, performance, direction ...

s, and received the Sterling Award for Outstanding Fringe Production for co-writing and starring in the play ''Giant Ants''.

Miscellany

Andersen appeared in a video for a song by Ian Thomas in the 1980s which aired on

Much Music Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

. This was filmed in the period of time that Dana was with Second City.

References

External links

* * Die-Nasty Homepag

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Dana Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male comedians Canadian people of Danish descent Dora Mavor Moore Award winners 20th-century Canadian comedians 21st-century Canadian comedians Canadian sketch comedians