WIT adds 33 new players to its Harold Night program

Thirty-three new players will join WIT’s Harold teams for the cycle beginning in October 2025. Another 21 are remaining in the program but switching to new teams, and three players are returning from hiatus. The program will continue to hold steady at eight teams in total, including five new ones being formed that are currently called: Sunflower, Nightshade, Doghobble, Monkey Puzzle, and Scarlet Pimpernel.

The teams Don’t Be Alarmed, BURDKALL, and DoorPlay are all returning for the upcoming cycle, while Mirepoix, Quacker, Them’s the Breaks, World’s Greatest Dad (mug), and Queensberg are taking their final bows during the final two Harold nights of the current cycle on Oct. 6 and 13. All but one of the teams have 10 players each. Doorplay has nine.

The Harold Night program gives players the opportunity to work with an experienced coach on a weekly basis and perform regularly on the WIT stage. Most teams rehearse and perform the Harold, a format known as the “mother of all long form improv formats,” due to its complexity and global popularity.

Harold Nights currently take place at Studio Theatre on Mondays. Shows are at 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM, followed by a “free for all” jam at 9:30 PM when everyone (including students and others from outside the program) are encouraged to join in the fun. (The shows are “pay what you choose.”)

The new Harold cycle will run from October 2025 to March 2026 . Players who are new to the program are denoted in bold.

• Becky Steffen
• Carolyn Clendenin
• Cassie Hoffman
• Chris Olinger
• Dave Barak
• Matt O’Neill
• Memphis Worley
• Michael Lawrence
• Stephen Ho
• Thomas Huelskoetter

 Nightshade coached by Turner Meeks

• Abigail Kameny
• CJ Libassi
• Daarel Burnette II
• David Cranberg
• John Rosenberg
• John Stabile
• Lillian Hall
• Liz Schurgin
• Matt Knapper
• Rose Buchbinder

Doghobble coached by Jeff Bollen

• David Lapkoff
• Emily Dalton
• Jillian Misner
• Jonah Garland
• Kate Fridley
• Shawn Peabody
• Lore Leupold
• Olu Okusaga
• Sam Sanders
• Stacey Pelika

Don’t Be Alarmed coached by John Carroll

• Aaron Harris
• Abigail Brown
• Hannah Lord
• Ian Stout
• James Nugent
• Lisa Saladino
• Marcy Coburn
• Peter Tzeng
• Phil Jones
• Stephanie Wester

BURDKALL coached by Cissy Fenwick

• Alex Wilkinson
• Allison Wilson
• Catherine Mullins
• Court McGrew
• Gwendolyn Bogard
• Jacob Goodman
• Nicole Barrett
• Remy Michaels
• Stephen Gabauer
• Zhaokang Ong

DoorPlay coached by Erick Acuña

• Ashley Holmes
• Colleen Ryan
• David Spears
• Fiona Leary
• Hassan Halim
• Jacksón Smith
• Joel Larin
• Kevin Seefried
• M.J. Welch

Monkey Puzzle coached by Sarah Herhold

• Amber Bellsdale
• Betty Yu
• Bryan Lisman
• Cole Fritzenkotter
• Izzy Hartnett
• Jackie Cheng
• Justin Fedich
• Lucas Feldman
• Maja Côté
• Meghan Burns

Scarlet Pimpernel coached by Hannah Piper

• Aimee Lee Savage
• Anna K. Nelson
• Cat Hayes
• Clint Pettit
• Jared Leute
• Kass Colón
• Lisa Schreihart
• Maxwell Hauptman
• Quinn Kelly
• Vito Prime

Image: Vito Prime (left) and Alex Wilkinson are among the 21 players, who are remaining in the Harold Night program for the upcoming cycle. By Mikail Faalasli