angel
city Improv
Angel City Improv (ACI) was created to serve our company membership and the local community. Our program offers weekly workshops to help performers develop creative skills using their own personal stories by using the tools of improvised theatre through engaging, playful, creative performance, and training. With monthly showcases, ACI provides family-friendly comedy to the local community, plus partnerships with community partners who share our vision of community building through the power of the arts.
In 2020, we said “yes and” to Covid-19 and the injustices going on…EVERYWHERE. We continued, forging ahead in any way we could! Despite internet connection and mic issues, multiple laptops, echos, and muted scenes, we brought together our improv team to the virtual stage for a monthly improv show in partnership with some of L.A’s best Spoken Word artists and organizations with like-minded missions.
Corinne Chooey,
Angel City Improv Director
Corinne is originally from San Francisco and studied at The American Conservatory Theater, East West Players Conservatory, and UCLA's School of TFT. She began her improv training at The Groundlings and Cold Tofu Improv. She is an improv graduate of UCB and the Pack Theater, where she was on the Decon house team. A past participant in Fox Television’s Diversity Writers Program, Corinne completed the sketch comedy program at ACME and was a weekly performing company member for over three years. She also completed the J. Paul Getty Foundation’s Arts Management program and spent her residency at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. Currently, Corinne performs with The Color Collective Comedy and the improv team, Friday, which is coached by Billy Merritt. She is a company member of the Company of Angels, where she directs the improv comedy program, Sacred Fools Theater, and the Pack Theater. Recent theater and television credits include "Akuma-shin" and "Rose & The Rime" at Sacred Fools Theater, "LA Views IX, X and XI" at the Company of Angels, Code Black (CBS), The Young and the Restless (CBS) and Switched At Birth (Freeform). Follow her IG @corinnechooey or online at corinnechooey.com.
team
Elizabeth Covarrubias
Elizabeth is a Mexican born, Los Ángeles raised - Puerto Rican style, Actor & Comedian. Has been a Company of Angels member for a couple of years and has performed in several of their productions. Her resume includes many Theater, Film and TV credits. She performs Stand-Up throughout Los Ángeles. She is currently moonlighting as a Face-Mask-Maker to help reduce the spread of Covid-19...one mask-at-a-time. Stay safe!
JASON ENG
Jason is an actor and content creator, born and raised in the Bay Area. He made the big move to LA in 2020 and joined CoA in 2021. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and learning new things through YouTube.
JJ JOO
JJ Joo began his acting journey as a member of hereandnow, a touring theatre company. As the artistic director of the Asian American Community Teen Theater, JJ taught drama and script development to promote awareness around the issues of HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and suicide. JJ founded A Society of Heritage Performers, along with Soon-Tek Oh, Tc Chang, and Philip W. Chung. Notable cast members included Dana Lee, Dante Basco, John Cho, and Tim Lounibos. During his acting hiatus, JJ interviewed talent and publicized various films for international release, including Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy, starring Ron Perlman; The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, starring Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Blake Lively; and Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. His TV credits include Days of Our Lives, Full House, and The Young and the Restless. After graduating from UC Irvine with a theatre minor, JJ studied improv at Company of Angels, Cold Tofu, and East West Players, and he is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Costco.
MILDRED INEZ LEWIS
Mildred Inez Lewis writes and directs for theater, film and the digital space. A member of the Dramatists Guild, she belongs to the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative, Company of Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, and Playground-LA playwriting groups. She earned an MFA from UCLA’s film school. Most recently she directed for the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights. Cast Me! which she wrote and directed screened at Outfest and Outfest Fusion (2018). Recent productions of monologues include Pat’s Place and Unrendered Aid for Theatre is the Cure, Content Moderation for the Last Frontier Theatre Conference and Between Me and My Man for the Black and Brown Theater. Short Plays produced in 2020 include Discharge Your Power and The Peace of Home for We, the People (Sacred Fools), Piece Work at the Roots and Wings Project, and Submerged for the Actors Circle Ensemble. Recent publications include Roost First, Then Fly for Applause Books’ 10-Minute Play Collection and CowGirls for Breathe Fire literary magazine. She is looking forward to a staged reading of her full-length dark comedy Bad Paper from Coast to Coast Theatre Ensemble (UK).
NAKASHA NORWOOD
Nakasha is originally from Des Moines, IA, but has lived in FL, VA and NY before setting down in CA. She began to develop her interest in performing while a student at Virginia Tech. Upon graduating, she made her way to New York City and began to study acting at Stella Adler Studio of Acting. It was there that she got her first taste of improv and loved it! She continued her studies in acting and improv at Atlantic Acting School. She performed in several off-off Broadway shows, including Convention/Atlantic Theater Company, The C Word/Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Acceptance/Sundog Theatre, Criminal Hearts/Stella Adler Studios and The Women/Stella Adler Studios. Once Nakasha moved to Los Angeles, she immediately got involved in Company of Angels. She performed in the company’s LA Views X: Sanctuary, Short Play Festival: TomorrowLAnd, and Wing’s project: Solidarity Is A Four Letter Word. She’s also been in other projects, including Dracula/New Hollywood Theater Company, We Breathe/Willie Agee Playhouse and the short film Door Post/Screenland Entertainment. Nakasha is excited to not be a member of Angel City Improv, but to co-produce the group with Corinne Chooey and Julianna Stephanie Ojeda.
JULIANNA STEPHANIE OJEDA
Julianna is a Latinx Theatre artist born and raised in the Gateway Cities of Los Angeles. She currently serves as Associate Producer for Company of Angels. Her improvising and clowning background go back to her community college days at Rio Hondo College taking clown workshops with faculty at the Clown School of Los Angeles. She expanded that training at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts where improv classes and more clown training was a part of her curriculum. During that time she also served as an associate producer with Four Clowns. Now learning under Corinne Chooey she’s excited to be flexing her funny bone again.
HEIDI SHON
Heidi Shon is an LA based actress. She's been doing theater and has appeared in short films. She was in Monsters of Man, an MB Stage Production as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and played the part of Anna in Jennifer Blackmer’s play Unraveled, a Collaborative Artists' Ensemble production. She has appeared in the short films Invisible Child, Half Vanilla, Suburban Jungle, Beam, and the feature film I Can Speak. She is thrilled to be part of the Angel City Improv group!
RAUL VEGA
Raul is a native of Boyle Heights and a graduate of UC Irvine with a B.A. in Drama. His recent credits are A Bag of Options by Joel Ulloa, Intimacy by Jaime Mayorquin, My Mythology at Inner City Arts, Lydia by Octavio Solis, Woyzeck by Georg Buchner, Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca and Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca. Outside of acting, Raul is an avid rock climber and guitar player.
LEAH ZHANG
Leah grew up in the Midwest and is from Kansas! She studied with many funny people at IO West. Go to her incredibly un-funny website www.leahzhang.com to learn more about her. I'm not kidding, it's not a funny website. Instagram @leahteaches
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