Billy Martinez
Billy, one of the founding members of WIT Improv, has been performing for over 39 years. Film, television, radio and stage have all been venues for the Tampa native, both as an actor and a musician. As a founding member of the Gorilla Theater, the Public Domaincomedy troupe, the Animal Spirits Show Band (a Blues Brothers tribute act) and Whose Idea was This anyway?, laughs have always been a driving force in his life. Doing stand-up, sketch comedy and improv in New York City in the '80s and in Tampa in the '90s - not to mention 25 years at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - has honed his skill and craft. He considers himself fortunate to be in the company of the tremendous talents of the rest of theWIT Improv troupe, and he is thankful to be a part of what he calls the "Dream Team" of local improv comedy.
Scott Swenson
Scott is another one of the founding members of WIT Improv. He studied at the Goodman School of Drama and holds a BA in acting and directing from Northern Illinois University. After graduation, Scott studied improvisational comedy with Chicago's Second City and Jim Belushi. While still in Chicago, Scott was the Associate Artistic Director for Chi-Town Puppet Theater. Scott's puppetry skills can also be seen in the now obsolete video/computer game series Computersmarts and on the now cancelled All New Captain Kangaroo. Rounding out his resume', Scott has performed at both Busch Gardens theme parks, in several television commercials, training films, and live theater productions from schlock to Shakespeare. After over 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott is now a freelance writer, director and producer with Scott Swenson Creative Development LLC. www.scottswenson.com
Jill Witecki
How ironic is it that the "straight man" of the WIT Improv gang is...a woman? A member since 2006, Jill introduced the formerly all-male group to a whole new world of female-anatomy humor and OB-GYN jokes. As a respite for her college journalism classes, Jill studied acting, directing and playwriting at the University of Missouri, where she was a member of The Living Dead improv and sketch comedy troupe. A prolific character actress (the "always the bridesmaid..." of the theater world), Jill has portrayed a variety of motherly types, knocked-up princesses, dead grandmothers and ditzy blondes with the Loose Change Players, Stage Door, the Village Players, Spanish Lyric Theater, the Salerno Theater Company and Murders She Wrote, and lent her voice to CrossGen Comics' Video Comics on the Web project. By day, she is the Director of Marketing for the historic Tampa Theatre and Mom to two awesome girls.
Eric Hughes
Writer, comedian, lindy hopper, musician, and philanthropist on a very small scale, Eric splits his time between teaching English as a Second Language at USF, and working for the public library. And yet, he always has time to join the WIT Improv gang to play “the smart guy,” except for those two years when he decided to live in Mozambique, Africa as an English Language Fellow (ELF) (that is not a joke). He joined WIT Improv after an impressive run of playing the character of “Charles” on the Serengeti Night Safari at Busch Gardens, a role that netted him a total of zero Tony nominations. Careful observers may also recognize him from his work in high school theater and a well-received three night run where he played Musician #1 in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at Emerson College.
Vinnie Natale
One of the founding members of WIT Improv, Vinnie has been performing onstage for nearly 25 years. He studied theater at the University of South Florida Theater department, and on foreign exchange to Middlesex University in London. As a stand-up comedian he has opened for J.J Walker, Drew Carey, Martin Short and Kevin James. With more than ten years of theme park experience and his background in magic, Vinnie has focused lately on theatrical and outdoor event special effects. Working with Zigmont FX, he recently helped install and run effects for Phantom or the Opera, Warhorse, all of the Disney Parks, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Vinnie lives in Valrico, FL and teaches acting, improv and magic classes to students of all ages (www.BrandonDrama.com). He also volunteers at the Valrico Village Players community theater, where he recently played the part of Bert in Mary Poppins and directed Noises Offand The Little Mermaid.
Seth Keith
While not a founding member of the troop, he was actually there watching during the first year of their performances. Seth has a BM in Music Composition and has been a regular sound technician at Busch Gardens Tampa for 12 years. Always looking for a creative outlet--fate, and a little persistence brought him to eventually ask, "Hey, do you guys (gal) want some music, and sound reinforcement too?" After passing through a rigorous hazing process, including playing a prop or two, he was formally crowned improv piano/sound guy who eats marshmallows from the bag during multiple games because he is hungry most of the time. Seth really enjoys inserting any kind of music into any scene, and also provides a perfect pitch or two, with a little hoedown to boot! When not playing piano, he sits back and watches some hilarious improv acting go down.
