Our team of instructors has a lot to share: passion, expertise, and a commitment to learn alongside their students. At Verge Theater, you can expect to work with professional instructors who listen, are flexible, and value every step of the learning process. They will challenge you. They will support you. They will help you grow!
Chelsea Hogan began her improv career in middle school, when she played in a traveling short-form group that performed in parks and senior centers. She picked improv back up as an adult, when she was dumped and laid off at the same time, and wanted to reconnect with something she loved as a child. Since then she has substituted having a personal life for performing and teaching improv, having cut her teeth on the Westside of Los Angeles (tastes like sand) and performed in such illustrious places as Athens, Capetown, Waikiki Beach, Joshua Tree National Park, and Cedar City, Utah. Chelsea loves helping people listen better, connect to themselves, embrace the moment, and learn to love being stupid in front of others. She can be seen performing weekly in mainstage shows Winging It! (Musical Improv) and Whiz Bang (short form improv) at Last Best Comedy.
Jack Wickum is a musician and improviser from Edwards, Colorado. He performs regularly at Last Best Comedy, where he's a player in shows like Notorious BOZ, One Woman Show, and the Improvised Musical: Winging It. Beyond the stage, Jack shares his passion by teaching at various age levels, from middle school to high school.
Emma Rathe is from Waverly, IA and holds an MFA in Acting from The New School and a BFA in Musical Theatre at Missouri State University. She has performed in Avenue Q in Chicago and also wrote, directed and performed in two one-woman cabaret/musical standups, perFectly imperFect and Fishhooked, in Chicago as well. She wrote, directed and acted a few short films: On the Rocks, It’s That’s A Wrap and The Key; two of which have participated in film festivals. After graduating from The New School, she brought her one-woman cabaret, Fishhooked, to NYC and performed it at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, hoping to also take it to LA later this year! She has taught privately in Chicago, New York and now has taught classes at The Ellen. She absolutely loves learning from and teaching actors and artists, focusing on storytelling and connection! Emmarathe.com
Isabel is a movement artist and community organizer. She volunteers with Gallatin Valley Sunrise and currently sits on the Bozeman Sustainability Board. Isabel is a company member of Nervous Theatre, devises original works and has performed with Monica Bill Barnes & Co. and Double Edge Theatre. She continues to train in a variety of movement practices including Suzuki Method of actor training, Six Viewpoints, and somatic embodiment. She believes that through bringing more awareness to our body experience, we can learn to care for ourselves and each other, live in interdependence, and create true structural change.
Heather Buck (she/her) is an award-winning performer, director, designer, and theatre jack of alltrades. She is thrilled to have been invited back to the Verge as a director! Previous directorial credits include, “Five Course Love”, “The Andrews Brothers”, “Xanadu”, and “The Porch” for Lucky Penny. She assistant directed the Verge’s production of “Assassins” and worked with the Verge Teens as Musical Director and Co-Director. When not at the theatre she is mom to Atty, Jasper, and the twins, Mirabelle and Helena, and wife to her wonderful Travis! She also represents Lucky Penny Productions in Napa, CA as Vice President of their board as well as being a new addition to The Verge board! For so much more information please visit www.heatherabuck.com
Sarah Rider aka “Pink Sarah” has been involved in theater since the 2nd grade. She started volunteering for the Verge right out of high school and has been involved in several productions since including Talking With, The Producers, More Than Bruises, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and most recently the Revolutionists. Sarah was born in Montana and grew up mostly in the Belgrade/Bozeman area. She is the youngest of four with two sisters and a brother. She loves all things pink and is extremely excited to be working with the Verge again.
Jaelyn Silvey began her theater making journey at Verge as an elementary student and has been hooked ever since! She grew up performing in the Teen Theater program before moving on to perform on Verge’s Mainstage and diving into the world of directing and production management.
Storytelling is vital to Kate. She believes that is how humans find, and make meaning in their journey through life. A native to the west, she then brought her mountain energy along to live in London, Los Angeles, and New York for fifteen years. She's now returned home to Montana, and is eager to be a part of this community.
Jenna Ciralli is originally from Great Falls and an award-winning actor, writer, producer and teaching artist with 13 years experience on the New York City scene. Jenna has taught at the Seattle Children's Theater, professional theater George St Playhouse in NJ and piloted the drama program at Missouri River Dance in Great Falls. She received her BA in Theatre Arts - Acting, with Honors, at Willamette University in Salem, OR, and studied under the mentorship of master NYC Meisner Technique teacher Terry Knickerbocker in his Professional Actor Training Program.
