MARY CARPENTER joined Act II full-time in 2021. She has been working as a performer, director, teacher, writer and producer in the Philadelphia theatre community for over twenty years with The Second City, 1812 Productions, Act II Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre, Wilma Theatre, and Montgomery Theatre Company, among others. Directing credits include Intimate Exchanges and Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at 1812, On the Road Again, Oh What Fun, Didn’t Your Father Have this Talk with You, Making Spirits Bright, A Few of Our Favorite Things, and Kalamazoo at Act II Playhouse, and I’ll Have What She’s Having at CSZ Philly. She has written and produced two one woman shows: The New & Improved Stages of Grief and Dot & Me. Mary has been a performing and teaching member of ComedySportz for over twenty-five years where she also served as Artistic Director twice. She served as Assistant to the External Relations Director at 1812 Productions for five years, and taught Middle School Theatre at Abington Friends School for eight years. She holds degrees in theatre from Northwestern University and The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and has recently published Do Or Do Not: How to Improvise Like a Jedi.