about us
David Hess got a master's degree in organizational communication in 1996 and immediately set out to damage his brain with late nights and rock and roll music. After ten years of singing and guitaring on Austin stages, Hess cleaned up his act, whittled his musical commitments to just four bands, and started studying improv at ColdTowne Conservatory, graduating in 2009. In addition to The Glamping Trip, Hess performs in Escape Hatch with his Conservatory chums and in "Austin's premiere Harold troupe," Boy Toy. For the record: improvisation comedy is much harder than music, pays less, and isn't cool.
Lisa Jackson spent ten years studying engineering, geophysics, and philosophy of literature before discovering the lucrative world of improv comedy, writing, and acting. Until she discovered ColdTowne Conservatory in Ought Eight, she struggled every day to overcome her debilitating disease of laughter. Since then, she has trained at Chicago's Annoyance Theatre and now teaches improv at ColdTowne. Lisa has a healthy relationship with her cats.
John Ratliff has worked as a copy editor, freelance writer, record store clerk, customer service manager, stained-glass glazier (El Paso, TX), radio DJ (Ruidoso, NM), English teacher (the Czech Republic), and drafter of congratulatory and honorary resolutions (the Texas Legislature). A former musical director for the all-female musical improv group Girls Girls Girls, he was voted Best Musical Improviser by the Austin Improv Collective in 2007. He is a graduate of ColdTowne Conservatory and has trained at iO and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. He teaches improv at ColdTowne and in the high schools of Pflugerville.
