| Jason Anfinsen |
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FLORIDA After graduating from Palm Beach Gardens High School in Florida in 1994 he went to the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Palm Beach and received a degree in communications. At 18 years old he became co-host and producer “Meathead” on ''The Morning Buzz'' on 103.1 The Buzz (WPBZ) a modern rock radio station in West Palm Beach Florida, and eventually voiced the commercials for the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. Along with partner Mark Summers, he interviewed Adam Sandler , Noel Gallagher , Chris Farley , Adam Yauch , Iggy Pop and broadcasted at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta Georgia. NEW YORK In the Fall of 1998 he moved to New York City and became a production assistant for Late Night With Conan O’Brien . His part time job consisted of voicing and programming in store music at the world’s largest record store, Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Anfinsen studied theatrical improvisation with Burn Manhattan and Upright Citizens Brigade . He was a founding member of KURU which performed at the Solo Arts Group under the direction of Todd Stashwick who was a major influence and encouraged Anfinsen to move to Chicago to explore improvisation. CHICAGO A student of Mick Napier and Joe Bill at the Annoyance Theater , Charna Halpern at ImprovOlympic , and Michael Gellman at The Second City , he spent seven years performing, writing, producing, and directing productions in Chicago. His main performance group was Mr. Fancypants, a member ensemble that played for five years at the nation’s only co-op theater, The Playground. Hatched from the theater’s incubator program in 1999, MFP performed at the Del Close Marathon in New York, Dirty South Improv Festival in North Carolina, and Chicago Improv Festival. They created the improvised horror movie spoof, Terrorslide!, which the Chicago Reader called, “as intelligent as the horror genre will allow.” Their final show was July 10, 2004. A company member of the ComedySportz Chicago main stage and national touring company where he performed in various productions including the acclaimed ''MC Willie And The Music Factory'' which was Highly Recommended by the Chicago Reader. With CSz he performed across the United States, Singapore and Malaysia, where he participated in the first public improvisational performance in the history of Kuala Lumpur. SEATTLE AMERICA In 2005 he fled to Seattle America and began teaching at Northwest Actors Studio, Youth Theatre Northwest, recently opened the Jerk Alert Improvisational Laboratory (J.A.I.L.). His directorial debut ''Stimulus'' was called 'fierce' by seattleactor.com, and 'magic with all the stops out' by the Seattle Gay News and was an official selection to the 2006 Seattle Festival of Improvisational Theater. He wrote and self published his first book Stab At Sleep written at Bellevue and Pine on Capitol Hill. He joined the radio airwaves of Seattle’s Alternative 1077 The End and can be heard screaming every weekend around the world on HD Radio via 1077theend.com. JERK ALERT PRODUCTIONS He founded Jerk Alert Productions , an independent theatrical revolution, and began creating his own experimental art projects which include Chartreuse, Popularity Contest, Fun Factory, D & J, Kitchen Sink, Hogwash, Stimulus, 86’d, Radio Retardo, Haener Vs.Haener, Stab At Sleep. With Jerk Alert he wrote and performed a pair of solo shows that he wrote and performed, Popularity Contest under the direction of John Lutz at WNEP Theater in 2002, and Fun Factory under the direction of Dan Izzo at the Playground Theater 2003, Various monologues from both performances can be found in Stab At Sleep . In 2004, with his comedy partner Dori Goldman, the group D & J traveled to Toronto and performed at the Bad Dog Theatre in the Toronto Improv Festival. NOW Magazine called the performance 'first-rate.' Later that year they performed two packed houses at the famous RADA Theater in the London Comedy Festival in the U.K. D & J performed their final show in February 2005 at the Miami Improv Festival. Hogwash, the improvised tall tale for small children, mixes improvisation, live music, and spontaneous art on stage for the amusement of little kiddies. Hogwash is a national touring company and has performed at the Toronto and Chicago improv festivals, and is now run by BJ Tregoning the show's executive producer. His directorial debut Stimulus, self proclaimed ‘make believe theater,’ that combines improvisation with pulsating lights scored by a live band, performed a pair of acclaimed runs at the Freehold Theater and Northwest Actors Studio. The press quotes. Stimulus was an official selection for the 2006 SFIT. He will direct a sketch comedy revue called Haener Vs. Haener in July 2006, and Radio Retardo, a radio show live on stage. In 2000 he helped created and write for The Tripwire, a music and culture web magazine where he wrote album & live concert reviews, news bulletins, and social commentary on the entertainment world. He has written free lance articles for Redefine Magazine, UR Chicago Magazine, Capitol Hill Times, and posts a regular column called the Bellevue Mental Hospital. In 2005 he wrote and self published his first book with Jerk Alert Productions called Stab At Sleep , a weirdo collection of stories, poems, monologues, tangents, and prose written at Bellevue and Pine in Seattle America. the booook was described by The Tripwire as 'incredibly vivid, vicious and at the same time heartfelt'. |
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