Kevin Gillese (born 24 December 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

actor, writer and

improvisor Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Career

Gillese started as a performer with the improv company

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 ...

and also works regularly with the Atomic Improv and performs annually at the Die-Nasty Soap-A-Thon. He was the Associate Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre from 2005-2007, then Artistic Director until December 2009. In January 2010, Gillese began his term as Artistic Director of

Dad's Garage Theatre Company Dad's Garage Theatre Company, located at 569 Ezzard St. in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1995 by Chris Blair, Marc Cram, Sean Daniels, George Faughnan, John Gregorio, David Keeton, Joseph Limbaugh, Matt Stanton, and Matt Yo ...

in Atlanta, Georgia. Gillese left college to take up improv. In 2004, he was nominated for an AMPIA award for best director for his first film ''Turnbuckle''. He performed a spoken-word show "Wisdom Teeth" directed by Chris Craddock at the

Edmonton International Fringe Festival The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is an annual arts festival held every August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Produced by the Fringe Theatre Adventures (FTA), it is the oldest and largest fringe theatre festival in North America (based on ...

in 2009 and hosted a cabaret night at the fringe with Amy Shostak. Gillese has toured across Canada and internationally with the show Hip Hop 101, as well as with his improv show, Scratch, which played twice weekly in Edmonton when not touring. He appeared with Arlen Konopaki in Scratch at the

New Zealand International Comedy Festival {{Short description, Annual comedy festival in New Zealand The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is held simultaneously over three weeks during April/May in Auckland and Wellington. From its beginnings as a 2-day event, the Festival has n ...

in 2008, and they toured Europe for six weeks at the end of 2009. In 2010, they wrote "Fairy Tales Scratched", a modern surreal take on fairy tales. Gillese is the co-writer, co-creator, and executive producer of the short series ''Hart of America''. The series was a product of Gillese's long time collaboration with Arlen Konopaki, and was based on their long-form improv format developed through their show Scratch. ''Hart of America'' also stars his wife,

Amber Nash Amber Nash (born June 6, 1977) is an American actress and improvisational comedian. She is known as the voice actress for Pam Poovey in the animated TV series ''Archer''. She was also featured in the animated TV series ''Frisky Dingo''. Early li ...

. Additionally, Gillese co-wrote and directed the show Battle Space Wars, also based on his Scratch shows, in February 2015. Gillese is known as an arts leader that promotes diversity initiatives in theatre, specifically those that empower women. When Dad's Garage lost its long-term base in 2013, Gillese led the search for and acquisition of a new home for the company. The initiative coalesced around the renovation and rezoning of an old church. Part of the funding for the move and renovations was derived from a successful

Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign that mobilized Dad's Garage's fanbase and supporters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillese, Kevin 1980 births Living people Canadian male comedians Canadian male stage actors Male actors from Edmonton Canadian artistic directors Comedians from Alberta