Brian Tanner

Brian Tanner was born and raised in Marion, Iowa. He moved to Iowa City in 1989 to study at the University of Iowa, majoring in English. Sometime during the 90's, he started performing stand-up comedy at local comedy clubs. In 2001, he decided to fulfill a lifelong ambition of acting and auditioned for Moon Over Buffalo at Iowa City Community Theatre (ICCT). He wasn't cast. But shortly after that, someone told him that Dreamwell Theatre had auditions coming up for Lysistrata, so he tried out for that too, and this time was cast. He never looked back.

He has worked on and off the stage in many productions since then for several theaters: Dreamwell, ICCT, City Circle Acting Company, Starlighters II, Rage Theatrics, and Catalyst. For Dreamwell Theatre, he has also served as Box Office Manager (2003-04), Executive Director (2005-06), and President (2007-08). He currently is an at-large board member for 2009.

Brian is also a member of Comics in Action, a local comedy improvisation troupe, and Riff Raff Theater, a local group giving movies the MST3K treatment to movies. Besides all that, he is a member of the Black Doggers, a playwriting group founded by Joe Jennison.

Below is a table summarizing Brian's theatre career so far. Coming up next, another one of Brian's monologues will be featured in Riverside's November 2009 Walking the Wire, called Black Friday. In April 2010, he will make his ICCT directorial debut with Neil Simon's Chapter Two.