Meet Your Instructors/directors
Tony Rielage
Tony is Theatre Momentum's Artistic Director and Head Instructor. He has been performing, directing, and producing improv theatre since 1992, with the past 15 years focused entirely on dramatic/grounded improv. He has trained at iO Theater, the Annoyance Theatre, and the Playground Theater, and founded TM’s predecessor workshop, Workshop-in-Progress. His training style centers around an outside-in approach focused on neurology and psychology, leading to improv about vulnerable human beings acting naturally, bravely, and honestly.
Jamie Custer
Jamie Custer is a writer and performer directing their first show with Theatre Momentum. A long time player with the theatre, Jamie has been seen in The Porch, The Golden Age, and Mixtape. As a writer, their work, including "Daydream Damsel", "Ghost Tour", and "The Guard (The One Who Dies)" has been performed by Forward Theater, in Madison, WI.
Matt Elwell
Matt Elwell has spent the last 25 years gallivanting across the Chicago and U.S. improv scenes. He has spent most of his artistic career with ComedySportz where he played, taught, directed, and did all sorts of leaderly things. He taught at Second City and performed with Second City Theatricals and GayCo. He also performed at places like iO, the Playground, WNEP, and in Theatre Momentum’s own Porch Play.
Alyse Dionne
Alyse Dionne is a Chicago based actor, writer, director, and improviser who has been improv-ing through life since the teenage years. During the pandemic they took the dramatic improv courses at Theatre Momentum to expand on the craft, and not only learned a lot, but got to meet people from around the world. They also directed improv shows with OLIAO, and the 24 hour Play festival. When not directing an Anthology, you can find them at iO a part of Malarkey Comedy's Expo League Sundays at 6PM! as well as running around town as an Influenza, with Influenzastheseries on Instagram and TikTok. Follow for upcoming projects @A.M.Dijon
Heather Marie Vitale
Heather Marie Vitale (she/they) is a Chicago-based improviser, actor, writer, and teaching artist. She has studied at the Washington Improv Theater (where she was a faculty member for seven years), Second City Conservatory, the Annoyance, Magnet Theater, WGIS, Acting Studio Chicago, and the Vagabond School. She has performed improv and sketch across the country, and can be seen on stage most weeks in Chicago.
Past directing credits include Lots of Feelings at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Heather Marie is also an actor, writer, improviser, and teaching artist, and has appeared in three Theatre Momentum shows (Lies, Damned Lies, & Statistics, The Porch, and Before & After).
Matthew Hellon Hodges
Matthew Hellon Hodges is a Chicago‑based director whose work fuses grounded character work, emotional precision, and a deep commitment to ensemble‑driven storytelling. His directing style emphasizes clarity, momentum, and a strong visual sensibility, often exploring human behavior with humor and honesty while shaping narrative from chaos.
A graduate of The Second City Training Center Conservatory with extensive training at Annoyance Theater, CIC Theater, and Theatre Momentum, Matthew draws on a wide creative vocabulary spanning stage performance, physical theater, voice work, and long‑form improvisation.
Haylee Pasche
Haylee Pasche has loved acting ever since she was a child. She has her degree in acting and dance from the University of Northern Colorado and has performed in four different countries. She has been with Theatre Momentum since 2018 and looks forward to using those skills and knowledge to effectively teach improv classes.
Joe Sergio
Joe Sergio has been with Theatre Momentum since 2017. Chicago Credits; Romeo & Juliet-Shakespeare All-Stars, El Stories: Holiday Train-Waltzing Mechanics, Twelfth Night, Hamlet-Midsommer Flight. Regional Credits; HAIR, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing…Forum-Venice Theatre, As You Like It, Henry IV, Part 1-Long Island Shakespeare Festival.