WHO: Amber Dernbach,
WHAT: Improv actor and coach; theater and EL (English as a second language) teacher, Memorial High School
LIVES: Eau Claire’s Eastside Hill neighborhood
FAMILY: Husband, Jon Olstadt; daughters, Esme (7) and Lila (4); border collie, Gem
IN EAU CLAIRE FOR: Grew up in the city, moved away after college, and returned about 10 years ago

If Eau Claire’s growing improv comedy scene has a heart and soul, it’s Amber Dernbach. The Eau Claire native had her first improv performance experience at age 17. “It’s been in my blood since,” she explains. “It’s more than a performance medium, it’s a philosophy and a way of life.” For more than 20 years she’s been teaching theater and improv professionally, and for the past 10 years she has coached Memorial High School’s improv team. In addition to coaching and teaching at Memorial, Amber performs with BareBones Improv and Shambles Improv. The latter group will join Memorial’s team as the only two Wisconsin entrants at a national improv festival in Omaha, Neb., in late June. Before returning to Eau Claire for her teaching career, Amber lived in Minneapolis and New Mexico, toured with an improv-based theater company, and worked with the pre-college program Upward Bound as well as a program for runaway teens.

What place in town considers you a “regular”? The public library.

What frustrates you about the Chippewa Valley? Not enough businesses utilizing the scenic beauty of the rivers.

What is one of the best cultural experiences you’ve had in the Chippewa Valley?  Hmong New Year.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to say “yes” to in an improv scene? Succumbing to drowning.

What is your favorite local festival? Eau Claire Improv Festival.

What is your favorite piece of local trivia? The circus elephants who were watered and bathed right in my neighborhood, the Eastside Hill, during their stops in Eau Claire. The famed Molly the trick elephant was struck by lightning in EC in 1901. I love language, and The New York Times article from 1901 about the incident which uses the word “shocked” in both the headline and the first paragraph cracks me up. 

Death bed, one meal from a local restaurant, what would it be?  Pad Thai from Singha Thai Cuisine (formerly Pad Thai Restaurant) and an egg roll with extra hot sauce.

Water Street or Downtown? I hold hands with each! Two locations have been very good to me with hosting improv shows and the Eau Claire Improv Festival: the House of Rock on Water Street and Pizza Plus downtown. It’s an open relationship!

What book, TV show, or movie would you recommend to the members of the City Council? Book: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Movie: Which Way Home (a documentary by director Rebecca Cammisa). Both resonate with my belief in government honoring all members of any given community.

Describe your latest encounter with local wildlife (yep, squirrels count). One of my favorite features of living in the Eastside Hill is the local wildlife that I see on my daily walks over the river. I see an eagle nearly every morning, and it’s not unusual for me to see deer (or blue heron in the summer).

What are the three words that describe Eau Claire best?  Accessible, affordable, park-like.

What sort of economic development would you like to see in our area? I’d like to see more attention to Banbury Place. One of my favorite places to shop in Minneapolis is the Midtown Global Market. Banbury Place is a perfect space for such a retail venue, which would be a way to increase small-business development with our ethnic communities in Eau Claire.

If you could rename Eau Claire with a different French name, what would it be?  “Un bijou cache” (Hidden Gem).

Who would win in a fight, Paul Bunyan (minus the Blue Ox) or Adin Randall (minus the trash can on his head)? Hands down, Paul Bunyan. Bigger biceps!