Bret Runestand

Bret started improvising seriously in college, playing alongside the founding members of Duke University Improv. From there he went on to study and perform at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre in New York City. Upon returning to North Carolina he regularly performed and coached at the DSI Comedy Theater.

Paul Overton

To say Paul Overton is a Renaissance man might be overstating things a bit, but he has done lots of stuff and plans to do a lot more stuff before he dies. He has produced radio documentaries for NPR, traveled the world as a swing dance teacher, taught in the public school system, been in a theatrical union, taught himself to knit, plays ukulele, oh, you get the point. Paul cut his teeth on improv in 2004 and has been a part of several teams in the Triangle area. His favorite and longest lasting relationship has been with Four String Samurai.

Eric Hirsh

Eric Hirsh is the mysterious "5th Beatle" of Four String Samurai. Brought into the group in March of '07 as an accompanist, not as an actor, Hirsh has been experimenting with the role of musical interplay in longform improv ever since.
When not creating whimsical merriment with the FourString boys, Hirsh spends his time as a professional musician. As a composer, he is a three-time winner of the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composers Award. As a pianist he has turned heads playing in ensembles across a variety of genres: Beast Reality, Orquesta GarDel, The Remix Project, The ESP Trio, PrimeraJazz, and the John Brown Quintet. As a producer he has recorded albums for Bazungu, Full of Stars, and, of course, the Samurai Hour Theme Song.

Ryan Locante

Just like with food, improv is often commodified into a fast-food version of itself, relying on a safe, familiar recipe. However, if you seek it out, there's a not-so-hidden culture of improvisers who'd rather not serve you up the same thing you had in a strip mall in Omaha. Ryan is one of those improvisers.

Ryan got his improv start in Salt Lake City with Knock Your Socks Off (KYSOff) in 2001. He is a graduate of the iO Training Center in Chicago and has worked alongside a broad range of artists including those who have trained, performed, and taught at iO Chicago, Second City, iO West, UCB, DSI, and elsewhere.

There's a secret buried beneath Ryan's improvisation and it lies in his motive: to echo ideas off as many people as possible. To achieve this, he performs, coaches, directs, practices, takes classes, and teaches whenever he gets the chance.

He also has a Terrible Towel above his front door.

Ben Birken

Ben Birken started studying improvisation with the many talented individuals at the DSI Comedy Theater after moving to North Carolina in 2004, thus fulfilling a self-made promise that would try to rediscover the creative spark that obtaining a graduate degree had effectively beaten into submission. He joined Four String Samurai as a free agent pickup after clearing waivers in the summer of 2007.

Back in his California Dreamin’ days, Ben edited and wrote for The Heuristic Squelch, UC Berkeley’s award-winning humor magazine. He also performed stand-up comedy in the SF Bay Area in many prestigious locations, including a Laundromat/coffee bar hybrid that still gives him nightmares.

Ben and his wife live in Chapel Hill, where they enjoy judging reality show contestants and marveling at how much nicer people are in North Carolina.

Christopher Conklin

Christopher Conklin has been improvising since 2000. He was a founding member of Haverford College's The Throng and the Philadelphia troupe Rare Bird Show. Since moving to North Carolina, Christopher has performed in numerous shows and ensembles and has directed several others. He served in many capacities at the DSI Comedy Theater, including sitting on the Artistic Committee, working as School Manager, and teaching for the Training Center. In his various ensembles, Christopher has played the Del Close Marathon, the Philadelphia Improv Festival, the Black Box Improv Festival in Atlanta, and the Dirty South Improv Festival in Chapel Hill/Carrboro; he also taught workshops at the latter two fests.

Christopher lives in Carrboro with his wife and son; they enjoy organic produce and human rights, as is the Carrboro way. He works in web advertising. If for some reason his several posts per week on the Four String blog do not satiate you, Gentle Reader, please check out Christopher's Twittter feed and personal blog.