Instructors

Todd Brotze – Acting 1 is a film, stage, voice-over actor and sketch comedian based in San Francisco. He has been a member of Killing My Lobster since 2006, and performed in KML Faces the Music, KML Takes a Cruise, and most recently KML Reboots. Todd has appeared in multiple SF SketchFests and one-weekend shows with KML. He has also produced work for KML, including KML Preaches to the Choir and KML Holds the Mayo. In 2009, Todd directed KML Hits Highway 101. In addition to his work with KML, Todd has starred in the independent feature film Where’s My Stuff, The Village Barbershop with John Ratzenberger, and a number of short films around the Bay Area. You may have even heard Todd on the radio pushing tickets to the SF Ballet, or extolling the virtues of Gallo wines. Todd has trained at Studio A.C.T., the Shelton Theater, and Seydways Studios. He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. In his off time, Todd enjoys overeating at Tartine, teaching his parrotlet ad jingles, and obsessively watching the Daily Show.

Damon Brennen – Writing 1  has been a writer for Killing My Lobster since 2009. He’s written for over 10 shows from Killing My Lobster Hits Highway 101 to the recent KMLZ Holidaze. In addition to writing, Damon also heads up the KML video department where he has written and produced some of the groups biggest viral hits including Oakland! and Why Is Everybody Here?. In addition to KML shows, Damon’s video work has been featured on Funny or Die, The New York Times, Laughing Squid, Boing Boing and The Daily What. Damon is also very tall and has an awesome dog named Fergus.

Erin Carter – Acting 1 is a Bay Area actor, writer & director, and has been a Killing My Lobster company member since 2007. Her most recent KML credits include: Pure Shock Value (actor), Patronizes the Arts (director) and Hits Highway 101 (writer). She has also appeared in several KML short films, including our viral video, Oakland!. Erin has recently been seen on the Brava! mainstage in the Kitchen Series with Precarious Theatre. Other Bay Area credits include: I’m Yours! or Deranged by Love and Chemical Imbalance (Precarious Theatre); Ragnarok, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Heavy Days (Shotgun Players); Criminal Genius (TheatreFirst); Purple Tourniquet (Magic Theatre Launchpad); and Nicky Goes Goth (Impact Theatre). Erin has trained at the American Conservatory Theatre and is a graduate of Princeton University. She enjoys chocolate milkshakes from Happy Donut and making fun of Robert Pattinson.

Ken Grobe - Writing 1/ Writing 2 is a San Francisco-based comic and musician. He was writer/producer of the NYC sketch comedy show Member Drive, which the Village Voice dubbed “Zany.” Grobe has written and performed with sketch comedy ensemble The Onion Burglars, and Gotham City Improv’s Off Level, Skam, and Kamikaze sketch reviews. As co-creator and writer/performer in comedy/rock act Pink Steel, he’s appeared at The Chicago and Seattle Sketchfests, on the stage of CBGBs, and in the pages of the Village Voice, Blender, and Bust magazines. His first KML video,  The Coffee Wars, got over 50,000 YouTube views in two weeks. He was the Head Writer for The Whole Megillah; a purim-themed collaboration with JCCSF/The Hub. An award-winning interactive media writer, he also has the distinction of performing—and winning—on The New Gong Show. Ask him about it sometime.

Sang S. Kim – Writing 1 has been a writer for his twin homes in New York and San Francisco for the past decade. A graduate of New York University, his work has been seen in the New York Fringe Festival and San Francisco’s SketchFest. His writing has been acclaimed and featured in the Village Voice, Time Out: New York, SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian and the SF Chronicle. He is currently in the SF Playground writers pool at Berkeley Rep, a company member for Thunderbird Theatre Company and Killing My Lobster as well as a contributor to the Asian American Theater Company. Outside of theater, he is a practicing immigration and nationality law attorney and was a congressional staff member for former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. This is his very serious biography but he usually writes silly bios but someone told him to knock it off for a change which he guess is warranted under the circumstance but would much rather talk about how to get to second base with Gary Busey.* (*bottle of pinot and over the shirt. Busey keeps it classy and so should you.)

Ken Slattery –  Writing 1/Writing 2 has been a writer for Killing My Lobster since 2007. As well as writing for a zillion shows, Ken produced KML Debates: Will the Future Be Awesome or a Living Hell? in 2009, co-directed the summer show Killing My Lobster Goes Undercover in 2010, and was the Head Writer for the spring show Killing My Lobster Reboots in 2011. Ken is a playwright as well as a sketch comedy writer. He has been a member of PlayGround’s Writing Pool for seven seasons, writing many comic short plays and a full-length comedy Truffaldino Says No during that time. Truffaldino Says No will be produced by Berkeley’s Shotgun Players in the summer of 2012. When not doing any of the above, Ken is usually out and about walking his dog Daisy, who you’ll probably meet at some point if you take this class. You probably won’t meet the tiger though. Ken is also a closet Doctor Who fan; by this, he means you should really see his closet full of Doctor Who DVDs and old-timey videos.