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.

Hayle Barry is not sure how she got here. Seriously, does anyone have a map? She is lost and confused, having recently moved here from NYC. She is a graduate of Coastal Carolina University, where she earned her BFA in Theatre Arts (Acting). She is thrilled to be joining the Mothers for her first season, as soon as she can find the theatre (please help).

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

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!

Grace is a goofy lil goober, and this is her second year with The Mothers! She’s so grateful that she gets to write and pal around with her talented friends up here. She hopes that when you watch the show, you forget your troubles, even just for a time. Thanks to family and friends! And also to strangers! You’re nailing it, strangers! A “yes and” to all, and to all, a “yes and…”

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.

Vanessa Gustafson is a former elementary school teacher turned full-time mom of two, who has always had a fascination for comedy. After spending years in the classroom, she decided to trade in the whiteboard for punchlines, using her quick wit and knack for storytelling to keep her family — and now the world — in stitches.

Amir Jenkins has been performing for nearly a decade with the mothers around in the Southeast area. From performing, writing,  even directing, and producing, his innovative comedy comes from his background of psychology. a recent grad of USC's psychology program. His comedy likes to stay in the intersection of talking about silly things in a serious way and doing serious things in a silly way. Duology

Martha Hearn is the founder and artistic director of The Mothers Comedy Group (2020-2024 Free Times Best of Columbia) as well as a performer and writer for their improv and sketch shows. Martha has studied and performed improv with The Second City in Chicago and The Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC. She is a proud company member of Trustus Theatre. She has performed at Trustus in Stupid F*cking Bird, Hand to God,BOY, and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly. Martha is the theatre teacher at Hand Middle School. She is also a real life bona fide mother to Helena, who is already funnier than her mom and it’s a problem.

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.

Originally from Miami, FL, Gaby moved to South Carolina in July 2022 to start medical school in the Upstate. She began her improv journey with Alchemy Comedy Theatre in Greenville, where she completed courses in short-form and long-form improv, with a focus on The Harold. She is thrilled to be joining The Mothers for her first season and loves living in Columbia with her partner, Billy, and pitbull, Kiwi!

KJ Smalls stumbled upon a wonderful improv group by pure chance; but joke's on them now they'll never leave. With little to no formal acting, singing, or dancing direction to their name they are extremely grateful to having been a Mother for 3+ years and all they've taught and learned since then. They've always had a passion for creativity in writing and the arts and supporting the community and sharing that community with others so you'll probably catch them, as always, stumbling into cool events all across the tri-state area.

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.

Kelly Gibson is a theatre educator and artist that has been writing and performing with The Mothers since its inception almost ten years ago. She holds a BA in Theatre from USC (Go Cocks!) and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Lee University in Chattanooga, TN. She notoriously taught English in South Korea for 5 years and hasn’t stopped talking about it since. Kelly’s biggest claim to fame is being the favorite aunt to Gavin & Maggie and making them laugh is her life’s goal.