Kimberly MacLean
Company Member since 2006
Coach since 2006
Kimberly MacLean has been a consistent presence in Bay Area theatre as an actress, director, singer, improviser, and instructor since moving here in 1991. In addition to her ample work in more traditional and musical theatre styles, her love of improv has brought her to work with several Bay Area troupes. She has also appeared in a handful of indie film shorts and television pilots. She portrays Tina in the film All the Others Were Practice (released 2015).
In 2003, she founded The Super Dupers, an organization revolutionizing arts integration in the classroom. Kimberly has been integral in the evolution of arts in the classroom, combining theatre and core curriculum in more than ten Bay Area districts using Project-Based Learning and other progressive hands-on learning techniques. She holds a M.Ed. in Educational Best Practices and a CA Single Subject Teaching Credential. Currently she teaches acting techniques with the animation department of California College of the Arts and heads up BATS’ Educational Outreach division.
Kimberly was a founding member of the improv, sketch, and short film phenomenon The Last Laugh, San Francisco. She is also proud to be a producer of the San Francisco Improv Festival. Her writing includes the internet hit Ho Babies, a satirical commentary on the current marketing of girls’ toys and The Tale of the Wicked Winter Witch, a hit family show that combines musical, scripted, and improvised theatre.
Kimberly graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. She also performs in a satirical improv duo with Rachel Hamilton and coaches & performs with Speechless. She keeps pretty busy living an improvised life full of teaching, travel, laughter, and learning.
Q & A
What are your favorite formats?
Longform, anything musical
Funniest moment on the BATS stage?
There is something spectacular that happens in every show, I can’t pick one!
What are your artistic influences?
Growing up, my very tolerant mother allowed me to listen to hours of comedian’s records on my little Mickey Mouse record player, let me stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live, and endured countless productions of the new and improved “Kim Show.” My grandmother introduced me to old films at the downtown Paramount. My influences include the likes of Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, Betty White, Catherine O’Hara, Burns and Allen, Steve Martin, Katherine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Carole Lombard, Lauren Bacall, Monty Python . . . I could go on and on.
Favorite movies?
It Happened One Night, Star Wars, Waiting for Guffman, My Man Godfrey, Desk Set, Some Like It Hot, Moonrise Kingdom, What the Bleep Do We Know, Life Is Beautiful, Chocolat, Monsters, Inc., The Jerk, Dumb and Dumber . . . again, I could go on and on. I love sci-fi, but also love epic period pieces.
Favorite music?
Blues, bluegrass, old swing, jazz, punk, classical, rockabilly
Favorite theatre?
Fires in the Mirror, Los Vendidos, Noises Off, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Tartuffe, The Producers, The Rocky Horror Show, The Tale of the Wicked Winter Witch (okay, I wrote this musical, but it is a favorite!)
Shows Every 
