The Short Fuse Team

Short Fuse brings together many of the most experienced and talented professionals in New England.  Members have performed on stage and screen from Broadway to Chicago City Limits to America’s Most Wanted.  The company includes highly experienced teachers and facilitators currently at work in the business and educational community.

Our Mission

Short Fuse is committed to the use of theatre skills, effective storytelling and audio applications for Sales and Human Resources training in organizations throughout New England. Through a variety of experiential formats, we are an agent for change in workplace attitudes, behaviors and customer relations. Our work results in more fully realized employee potential, better company morale and increased productivity.

• Call 207-329-0000 email: kdakin@maine.rr.com

Representative Clients:

• United States Postal Service
• Reed & Reed
• Fairchild Semiconductor
• Gentle Giant Moving Co. of Boston
• Maine State Housing
• Maine General Hospital
• Mount Desert Island Hospital
• York Hospital
• Martin’s Point Healthcare
• Pierce Atwood
• Portland Water District
• Maine Assoc. for Dispute Resolution
• Time Warner Cable
• Lamprey Brothers New Hampshire
• Coastal Enterprises, Inc.
• Legal Services for the Elderly

Administrative Director: Kym Dakin facilitates training events for business and education, as well as producing a variety of audio products in her home studio. She is the winner of national narrative award – the Audie – and has done recording work for BBC, Brilliance Audio, among others. Kym has taught at Bowdoin College, USM, and the University of New England, and through a series of residencies with Maine Alliance for Arts in Education.  She has her masters in Adult Education through the University of Southern Maine. Kym began her career as a professional actress and has over twenty years experience on and off Broadway, in national tours and regional theaters.  For the last 5  years, her focus has been on storytelling and audio applications in a variety of business and educational environments.

Grace Cleaves has performed theatrical and comedic improvisation for nearly 20 years. She’s studied with ImprovBoston, Second City Chicago, Acorn Studios and Laughing Stock Comedy Company. She is an actor and business manager for Portland Playback Theatre. Gracie is also a marketing executive at a nonprofit community development and finance company, where she provides strategic branding, PR, and communications for the nationally-focused organization and its for-profit subsidiaries. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband.

Janice Cohen is principal of Cohen Leadership Consulting. Janice offers leadership development programs to organizations for high potential leaders that include classroom, action learning and coaching. She has fifteen years experience as a leadership program developer, coach and consultant plus twenty years of experience as a leader in private, public and non-profit organizations. Janice designed and implemented a nationally recognized civic leadership program, the Institute for Civic Leadership in Portland, ME. She is an MTI certified mediator, ICF certified coach, facilitator, and certified to administer and interpret the LEA and MBTI. She has a B.S and MEd in education and was accepted Harvard mid-career in public administration.

Michael Howard is a Professor of Acting and Speech communications at Southwest Texas State University,  Associate Professor of Acting and Voice at USM, with an MA in Directing and an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College.  Michael is a familiar face in the arts community through numerous leading roles at Portland Stage Co. and the Madhorse Theatre Company. He is an instructor in Voice and Storytelling at the University of New England and has directed multiple productions at Portland Players, Biddeford City Theatre and Scarborough High School.

Dennis Hunt has been performing improvisational comedy in the Portland area for the past five years, also appearing in plays such as “Turn About” and “The Subject was Roses.” Over the span of five years, he has been working as Assistant Director and teacher of Improvisation with the Artsmart program at Bates College. He has been performing as a stand up comic for the past year and is a member of the Comedy Connection Improv Company.

Kathleen Kimball has worked with Laughing Stock in many corporate presentations including  Southwest Bell, GH Bass and Dr. Pepper.  She has been on film for the Maine Council on Domestic Violence and in the Rockport International Film Workshop.  She was a finalist for the Irene Ryan Award and has been seen often onstage with the Mad Horse Theatre Co. Good Theatre and Portland Stage.

Michael Kimball trained with Laughing Stock and the Rockport International Film Workshop.  His film credits include, “In Solitude.”  Michael has done many industrials and commercials for Yankee Ford,  Cape Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce and Fairchild Semiconductor.

David La Graffe is an actor/educator who teaches acting and improvisation at the University of Southern Maine and at Lights Up Theaterworks, an acting school for children located in Westbrook, Maine. David was a reader for “Maine Reads” a Maine Public Radio series and is presently a member of Maine’s Rocky Coast Radio Theatre and the Ever-Ready Readers, a reader’s theatre company offering performances and workshops in Maine’s schools. David is also the artistic director of Portland Playback Theater, a company using structured improvisation to portray stories from the audience. For more information about Lights Up Theaterworks, the Ever-Ready Readers or Portland Playback Theater, email David at:dlagraf1@maine.rr.com.

Rob Neal owns and operates Rob Neal Consulting, a  firm that specializes in leadership development, executive coaching, and public speaking. Rob Neal develops leaders for businesses, communities, and non-profit organizations. Through executive coaching and training he helps individuals, groups, and organizations improve their leadership development and overall success through better performance.  He has developed an effective coaching practice focused on helping aspiring and seasoned leaders  fulfill their potential – see www.rnealconsulting.com. Rob also provides customized coaching and training in the art public speaking and effective  business presentations.

Janice O’Rourke has combined an extensive theatrical background with years of business experience to create and coach innovative programs that have helped people define their personal vision and develop their creative potential. Her travels have taken her throughout the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, England and Spain to coach top-level leaders to be more effective in areas of Communication, Creativity and Leadership. Janice has worked with executives and educators from the following organizations: The Boston Consulting Group, Merrill Lynch, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Textron, Hay Group, KPMG, Millberg-Weiss Law Offices, Digitas, Innosight LLC, Capezio, The Cramer Institute, Rogers Corporation, The Breakwater School, The Stern School of Business, The New York Board of Education and Professional Performing Arts School, NYC.

Dave Weinberg expatriate of Brooklyn, New York, is a visual and performing artist. As a design consultant, Dave partners with Marketing Professionals, Copywriters, and Programmers to provide integrated cross-media creative services to clients. Dave is also an accomplished Illustrator. He holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Dave continues to explore a broad range of creative forms, both visual and performance-based – over the years, designer, writer, art/creative director, stand-up comic, improvisational actor, cartoonist, banana-blueberry pancake maker. Dave is a proud and adoring Dad who also enjoys a really good nap.

• Call 207-329-0000 email: kdakin56@gmail.com