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Catherine Carroll Arvay, or CC if you're cool, would literally not exist without theatre, thanks to an outdoor production in North Carolina that occurred 30+ years ago. Since then, she has been in more productions than she can count (in the community as well as in her Alma Maters in both Columbia and Chapel Hill) , but she categorizes her time in the Mothers as what ideal theatre should be: shared artistic collaboration with incredible likeminded individuals, in which each person gets their chance to excel, while simultaneously bolstering others in their theatrical endeavors. Plus, she got to be a bunch of grapes once, and that was fun! When not casually engaging in theatre, CC is usually doing something science related, or making overly elaborate props and Cosplays for Dragoncon, or just waiting on the perfect opportunity to make a pun. You’ve been warned.

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Hayle Barry is excited for a terrific third year in the Mothers! Recent credits include: Gypsy (Town Theatre), Footloose (Workshop Theatre), and Guys & Dolls (Workshop Theatre). She received her BFA in Acting from Coastal Carolina University. She is a silly lil gal.

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Ash is excited to join the funniest group of people she knows! When she’s not running the box office and socials for Trustus, you can find her performing on many stages around Columbia. Follow along to keep up with her current show endeavors and hilariously crafted story posts (IG: @ahboland)

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Jesse is an improviser, actor and award-winning visual communicator. He brings several years of experience as a previous president of the Overreactors Improv group at USC and actor in numerous USC Theatre productions like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Rumors, and These Shining Lives. When he’s not on stage, you might catch him on the sideline of a Gamecock athletic event capturing social media content for the USC Alumni Association. IG: @jessebreazeale

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Ben Brill recently moved to Columbia from Asheville, NC. He is excited to bring his background in music and puppetry to the stage with The Mothers!

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Adai’shun is super excited to be a new team member of The Mothers! He started his improvisation interest, during his freshman year at Newberry College with the Newberry College players! Since then, he has developed such a love for long and short form improv! You may have also seen Adai’shun in past productions around the midlands community such as Hairspray, Beautiful: The Carol King story, A Chorus Line, and most recently Escape To Margaritaville! When not on stage performing you can find him obsessing over live dance music or learning new skills like his current one, stiltwalking! So far, with being in The Mothers, Adai’shun is excited to open his mind with writing and performing sketches as well as learning from the veteran members!

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WOOHOO! Rachel is crazy excited to join the Mothers this season. She holds a B.A. and M.A.T. in Theatre from the University of South Carolina and has loved teaching theatre in the public school for the last 30 years—and she's still going strong! Some of the things that make her happy are piddling in the yard, good sweet tea, watching Law & Order, and traveling/adventuring with her daughter, AR. Let's have some fun...shall we?

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Tony is excited to join the Mothers this season. His interest in improv began after seeing his first Mothers show in 2024, and he's been hooked ever since. Tony loves Dungeons & Dragons and credits it with sparking his interest in improv, his questionable character voices, and preference to roll dice to make significant life decisions.  When forced to earn money for trifling things like food and shelter, he works as an attorney specializing in technology, privacy, and administrative law.

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Olan is thrilled to be joining the Mothers in Columbia! Though - they may not be so thrilled with his plethora of dad jokes. You may have seen him on the Trustus Stage or sitting in the audience of numerous shows, laughing just a little too loudly. Wielding an MFA in Acting from the University of South Carolina, a Buckeye-state branding on his birth certificate, and a wit that rivals Chandler Bing, he's excited for the opportunity to bring some joy to Cola City. He enjoys playing piano, long walks on the beach, and never knows when a bit has gone too far. IG: @olandomer

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Grace is so excited for her third year with The Mothers! She’s endlessly grateful that she gets to write and pal around with her insanely talented friends—it is truly her favorite thing in the world. Besides comedy, she loves to do Shakespeare and sing 80’s power ballads (maybe someday, someone will let her do both at once?). Big thanks to family and friends for their continuous support of her creative endeavors!

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Dan Freeman has been performing with the Mothers since 2018 and will be back as long as they will have him.  In addition to performing sketch and improv at Trustus, Dan has also served on the Board for the past three years.  For his day job, Dan works at Unum (Colonial Life) as a Product Owner.

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Vanessa Gustafson is a former elementary school teacher turned full-time mom of two. This is her second year with The Mothers! She is having a blast learning and performing comedy with such talented friends.

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Amir Jenkins has been performing with The Mothers across the Southeast for nearly a decade. A performer, writer, and director, Amir draws on his background studying psychology to shape his innovative approach to comedy. His work lives at the intersection of talking about silly things in a serious way and doing serious things in a silly way. A duology, if you will.

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Cameron Muccio is an actor, writer, director, and teaching artist with a BA in theatre from Winthrop University. You may have seen his work on the Trustus Theatre mainstage as Dev in Stupid F*cking Bird or as the assistant director of Dandelion: An Original Musical. Before moving back to his hometown of Columbia in 2023, Cameron performed with a variety of theatre companies throughout the Charlotte area, including Queen City Concerts, Piedmont Players Theatre, and the Queen City New Play Initiative. Currently, he teaches classes at Columbia Children’s Theatre.

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Russell is a writer/performer. He is a part of Lead Deals Productions producing films and podcasts. He has worked with the University of South Carolina’s improv group Toast and the internet sketch group Pasta Robot.

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Bryent is thrilled to be back for this season of the Mothers! Local theatre audiences may recognize them from past performances at Workshop Theatre in Escape to Margaritaville and Putnam County Spelling Bee. Catch Bryent next in A Case for the Existence of God in the side door at Trustus this May.

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Julia Vaughn is thrilled to add a Mother's hat to the stack on her head! Julia is from Rochester, NY and attended Long Island University for Musical Theatre and Arts Management. Big thanks to Julia's Mom, who made her.

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Elaine is an actress originally from NE Ohio who recently graduated with her MFA in Acting from USC. She has been seen in various productions at USC and Trustus during her time in Columbia and is so excited to begin a new journey as a part of The Mothers! Although fairly new to sketch and improv, Elaine believes comedy can change the world and cannot wait to learn and grow alongside this group of performers!