Staff and Volunteers
If you’re passionate about building positive spaces for comedy community, stay tuned! We’ll keep this space updated with opportunities to work with us, start new projects, and help run our events as they arise.
If you want to volunteer to help us out at future events, visit the Get Involved page.
For general questions, comments, or just saying hi, please email hello@bandittheater.org.
Our admin team is also joined by our amazing teachers, directors, and board!
Admin Team
Annie Barry
Founder & Artistic Director
(She/Her) Annie Barry is the Founder and Artistic Director at Bandit. She has been performing improv and comedy for over a decade. She is delighted to be performing on "Swipe Right" and "Gram Worthy". She loves playing make believe in a world that discourages it in adults. She currently directs, "The Reader" and teaches improv at Seattle Children's Theater in a partnership with Bandit. She is a vegan, please don't hate her.
Mary Stratton
Visual Brand Manager
(She/Her) Mary loves surprising and truthful reactions in improv. Though she is a fan of cleverness and details, she thinks the highest compliment you can give with laugh is “stupid”. Mary is part of the first graduating class of Bandit Theater’s core training program, and she now performs in Bandit’s tarot-based improv show, The Reader. She’s also a graphic designer and Bandit staff member. As Visual Brand Manager, Mary designs and determines what the brand looks like. She might be making that up as she goes along too —but the best performers AND brands are both strong and adaptable, right?).
Kevin McVey
Education Lead
(He/Him) Kevin is an improviser and educator with over a decade of experience on stage and in the classroom. Prior to Bandit Theater, Kevin was a teacher at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science where his experiential curriculum design applied the practice of improv to STEM and won numerous departmental awards. Today, Kevin performs on the cast of Mad Science with Bandit Theater and co-produces the comedy mashup Ten Percent Luck with his indie team Yeah Okay. Kevin believes that everyone has a unique voice in improv and delights in supporting new improvisers as they find theirs.
Ilana Degann
Social Media Editor
(She/Her) By day, Ilana works in marketing and data analytics. By night, she is sleeping. She got her improv start 10 years ago with the ComedySportz High School League and continued throughout college doing both short and long form performances with Improv Revolution. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ilana recently left the life of air conditioning and traffic behind and moved to Seattle to experience real seasons. A recovering TikToker, Ilana now lives a more peaceful life tending to her cows in Stardew Valley. Ilana is also an actor, musician, and stand-up comic and is so thankful to Bandit Theater for her first stand-up and improv opportunities in Seattle!
Jen Petti
Marketing
(She/Her) Jenn saw her first improv show when a high school team came and performed for her middle school drama class. Ever since then, she's been a sucker for a good button. Jenn has been active in the Seattle improv community since 2017, is the co-founder and managing director of Fancy Cafeteria Musical Improv, and her love language is croissants. Jenn is delighted to join the show formerly known as Gram Worthy and race her team members on stage to play "Sentient Kale" or "Dead Body."
Chris Zimmerman
Blog Curator
(He/Him) Chris is an improviser, self-proclaimed DJ and backyard bar owner from Seattle. Starting in 2020, Chris has taken classes at Jet City and has now taken an unsolicited blood oath to all things Bandit Theater. You can find him behind a computer as the editor of the Bandit Bulletin, performing in The Reader or vigorously taking notes as the assistant director of Swipe Right. He's 5'9".
Aspen Mearns
Showrunner/Box Office
(They/Them) Aspen's improv journey began with Bandit Theater in 2023 after attending their first show, Who's High. Though Aspen missed many guesses, the game ignited a passion for improv and a desire to join the community. This new interest helped Aspen break free from a reclusive lifestyle, building confidence and sparking a curiosity about why they hadn’t been a theater kid before. The skills and self-assurance gained from improv transformed Aspen’s daily life, allowing them to tackle challenges with a fresh perspective. This personal growth led Aspen to leave a stable corporate career to pursue their passion for community, pastries and coffee, with dreams of opening a welcoming café.