Titanic at the University of Wisconsin was Titanic's first chapter outside of Northwestern University, making Titanic the first improvisation group to cross university and state lines.
Established in 2007 by Leah Cowen, Titanic expanded to 4 improv groups on campus by 2010. In its young career, the group has already performed at the Del Close Marathon in New York, ImprovOlympic in Chicago, the Titanic Improv Festival, and the 2007, 2008, and 2009 CIF College Comedy Championships. In addition to their on-campus performances, they have ventured on a multi-state tour that included performances and stops in Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, and Florida.
Currently, our groups on campus are coached by Jon Oelke.
Jon Oelke began his improv career in 2004 with the Understudies, a short-form improvisation group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After his first year of improvisation with the team, he was elected their director, a position he held for two years. In 2005, Jon participated in the iO summer intensive, where he received training from Miles Stroth on the form "The Deconstruction." Jon has been trained by notable improvisation teachers, such as Susan Messing, Craig Uhlir, Tara Defrancisco, Paul Grondy, Bill Arnett and Noah Gregoropoulos and has performed at numerous improv theaters across the country, such as iO - Chicago, IL; UCB - New York City, NY; the Mayne Stage - Chicago, IL; the Playground - Chicago, IL; Relapse Theater - Atlanta, GA. Jon was a founding member of the Titanic Players, University of Wisconsin - Madison branch and was coached for four years by Mike Abdelsayed, founder of the Titanic Players and their professional affiliate, One Group Mind. After graduating through the Titanic Players program, Jon has stayed on as the Alumni Artistic Director and currently coaches the oldest teams as well as the campus directors at the university. You can currently see Jon on the One Group Mind team "Tragic Magic" performing once a month at the Mayne Stage.