Festival Directors
David Owen | Bio
Cole Stratton | Bio
Janet Varney | Bio
Graphic Design
Sheridon Keith Design
Lead Photographer
Jakub Mosur
Photographers
Dan Dion
Tommy Lau
Erin Lubin
Maurice Ramirez
Eric Rorer
Webmaster
Doug Jones
2010 Festival Staff
Theatre/Volunteer Manager – Michelle Mitchell
Publicity – Lori Kaplan
Artist Services Coordinator – Beau Blanchard
Technical Production Manager – Moe Beitiks
Technical Assistants – Josh Hillinger, Sarah Phykitt, Matt Stines
Box Office Manager – Rebecca Lord
Festival Coordinators – Michael Kennedy, Casey Ley, Andrea Runge
Graphic Design – Sheridon Keith Design
Web/Email Design – Doug Jones
Photography – Jakub Mosur, Dan Dion
Original Design Elements
Christopher Ryan, Atmostheory
17 Feet
David Owen co-founded SF Sketchfest in 2001 with Cole Stratton and Janet Varney. Along with Stratton, Varney and Gabriel Diani, he was a founding member of the comedy group Totally False People, which was featured at SF Sketchfest, the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and SketchFest Seattle. He wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the feature film Stuck, which is distributed by Film Threat, and works as a Festival Producer with the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Stanford Jazz Festival. At The Purple Onion he presented Zach Galifianakis, Todd Barry, Judah Friedlander, Matt Besser and the legendary Mort Sahl. He is on the Board of Directors for Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park and he lives in San Francisco.
Cole Stratton is currently "paying his dues" in Los Angeles, where he enjoys losing parts to minorly more successful actors such as Barry Levinson's nephew. Due to planet alignment, he has appeared on TV's Nash Bridges, re-enacted on America's Most Wanted, played with puppies and Betty White on the Animal Planet original The Retrievers, thrown-down like the sarcastic white boy he is on Wilmer Valderrama's Yo Momma, and was a cast member on NBC's competitive comedy show Comedy Colosseum. He's a lead in the indie comedy Callback opposite Kevin Farley, has also appeared in the films Around the Fire and Dead Man on Campus, and will be seen soon as office gossip Ed in the horror/comedy The Selling. He's also hawked wares in national commercials for Verizon, Popeye's Chicken, a Wilco-scored VW spot, and a five-spot campaign for Group Health. Along with Janet Varney, he has written and performed downloadable comedic commentary to the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost for RiffTrax.com, an online venture helmed by Mystery Science Theater 3000's Michael J. Nelson. In addition to co-founding SF Sketchfest, he co-founded the Bay Area sketch collective Totally False People (who performed at the 2004 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado), and LA's improvising Pretty, Pretty Pony and Mosey. He performs regularly with MI's Westside Comedy Theater's house improv team, Bruce. Be sure to check out his humorous ramblings on weird album covers, cinematic gems, fake celeb gossip and other randomness at Riverbottom Nightmare Blog.
Janet Varney works as an actor, writer, and producer in Los Angeles. She has most recently appeared on such shows as ABC's Better off Ted, FOX's Bones, CBS's How I Met Your Mother, and has recurred for two seasons as studio exec Amy Miller on HBO's Entourage. Janet was a series regular on the Steven Spielberg-produced series On the Lot, starred in a sketch pilot for FOX with Will and Grace's Sean Hayes in 2008 and a sitcom for ABC this year co-starring Leah Remini, Matthew Lillard, and Jonathan Silverman. She also just completed a role in the feature film The Selling, and can be seen in the sequel to college cult classic Waiting... aptly titled Still Waiting. She is currently enjoying her fifth year as host of TBS's Dinner and a Movie and is a recurring panelist on Chelsea Lately. She performs live with improv group Mosey, produces and hosts the variety show Theme Park with Cole Stratton, with whom she is working on a new Rifftrax film commentary following the success of their previous riffs on Ghost and Dirty Dancing.
