The Second City Does Arizona, or Close, but No Saguaro

Creative Team Bios

TOM FLANIGAN

Co-writer

Tom Flanigan is the co-founder of the science-minded sketch group Galileo Players. His acting credits include performances in The Second City e.t.c.'s last three revues (including Joseph Jefferson Award winner Studs Terkel's Not Working), Stan Beechum in Invasion of the Minnesota Normals, and various radio commercials. In addition, Mr. Flanigan wrote and directed the short film Dinner is Served and co-wrote Dream Come True, which was chosen as A&E October 2004 Screenplay of the Month. Mr. Flanigan is also a freelance ad writer and is procrastinating on several new short stories and screenplays.

ED FURMAN

Co-writer

is a co-author of the wildly popular Rush Limbaugh, the Musical and Rod Blagojevich: Superstar with Mr. T.J. Shanoff, and of Chicago's longest running musical Co-ed Prison Sluts (Annoyance Theatre). He also wrote and performed in three mainstage Second City revues. Since leaving the Mainstage, he has co-written two children's plays, a best-selling book ("Cube Monkeys," Harper-Collins), and numerous scenes, short films and commercials for Corporate America.

MATT HOVDE

Director

Matt Hovde has directed multiple shows at The Second City, including Studs Terkel's Not Working (Jeff Award, Director/Revue); America: All Better!; Rod Blagojevich Superstar!; Rush Limbaugh: The Musical; Campaign Supernova; Between Barack and a Hard Place; and The Best of The Second City. He is also the Artistic Director of The Second City Training Center in Chicago. Mr. Hovde was born in Chicago, grew up in Omaha, and graduated from Texas Christian University.

MATTHEW LOREN COHEN

Music Director

Matthew Loren Cohen is a classically-trained pianist who has spent the past year music directing for The Second City aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Gem and Star. This summer he will be the first music director for The Second City aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's new ship, Epic. He is co-creator of New York City's award-winning, original, fully-improvised musical, The Next Big Broadway Musical!, now enjoying its 12th year of production. He is also music director of The Nuclear Family, an improvised musical that ran for eight months off-Broadway and will be playing an extended run in Los Angeles at the end of the year. As well, Mr. Cohen has musically improvised on television and with local and international troupes, and his original musical, Jason & Ben, recently played to sold-out audiences in New York City.

GENE EMERSON FRIEDMAN

Scenic Designer

Gene Emerson Friedman is an award-winning scenic designer and costume designer whose work has been seen at the Lincoln Center Institute, the Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Stages Saint Louis, Missouri Repertory Theatre, and at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, where he has served as Resident Scenic Designer for fifteen years. Mr. Friedman was recently cited as "a significant artistic contributor" in the American theatre. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he teaches scenic design and the history of design and technology of world theatre traditions. Mr. Friedman is a consultant to New York City's J. Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum's exhibition "Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theatre and Opera."

T. GREG SQUIRES

Lighting Designer

T. Greg Squires is the Lighting Supervisor and Resident Lighting Designer for ATC, where he designed Permanent Collection and Tuesdays with Morrie. Mr. Squires has been the Associate Lighting Designer for Michael Gilliam, Dennis Parichy, Ann Wrightson, Don Darnutzer, Allen Lee Hughes, York Kennedy, David Lee Cuthbert, and Peter Maradudin. In addition to ATC, Mr. Squires has designed lights and/or sound for Laguna Playhouse, The Pasadena Playhouse, Creede Repertory Theatre, Borderlands Theater, Childsplay and Actors Theatre of Phoenix. He made his international debut with Toni Press-Coffman's Two Days of Grace at Middleham at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2000.

BRIAN JEROME PETERSON

Resident Sound Designer

Brian Jerome Peterson celebrates his 24th season at ATC, where he has designed 61 productions, including Ain't Misbehavin', George is Dead, Somebody/Nobody, Enchanted April, Touch the Names, I Am My Own Wife, Twelfth Night, Tuesdays with Morrie, Crowns, Macbeth, The Pirates of Penzance, The Immigrant, A Streetcar Named Desire, Oh Coward!, Copenhagen, The Drawer Boy, Much Ado About Nothing, Fully Committed and The Mystery of Irma Vep (forwhich he won an ariZoni Award)and the world premieres of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Inventing van Gogh, Rocket Man, Minor Demons and The Holy Terror. His designs have been heard in many theatres including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Mirada Theater, Virginia Stage Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Northlight Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville and San Jose Repertory Theatre.

MEGHAN TEAL

Stage Manager

Meghan Teal currently tours with The Second City Touring Company, which she has been doing for over four years. Ms. Teal also understudies for The Second City e.t.c. and Mainstage theatres in Chicago. She has also worked all over Chicago, stage managing at numerous theatres for various sketch, improv, corporate, and traditional theatre shows. Ms. Teal also produced and directed The Vagina Monologues at the Apollo Theatre as part of the V-Day Worldwide Campaign in 2007. Before moving to Chicago, she planned all kinds of events (concerts, lectures, banquets, film series, etc.) back in her home state of Maryland.

ALENA FAST

Assistant to the Stage Manager

Alena Fast was the Assistant to the Stage Manager for ATC's productions of [title of show] and George is Dead. Prior to that she worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons as the Production Assistant on Don Quixote, Macbeth, A View from the Bridge, Coriolanus and Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter. She has also worked in stage management at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Syracuse Stage and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In addition, she was the Stage Management Intern at Hampstead Theatre in London in 2004. She has a BA in Theatre Studies from Guilford College.

LISA LEONHARDT

Assistant to the Stage Manager

Lisa Leonhardt is in her sixth year with ATC as the Wardrobe Supervisor. She has also staged managed Late Nite Catechism 2, been the Assistant to the Stage Manager for the original remount of 2 Pianos 4 Hands and was part of the run crew and load-in crew on numerous productions at ATC… She is the Production Stage Manager for the Vail International Dance Festival and has stage managed for the School of American Ballet, Nashville Ballet and Childsplay. In addition, Ms. Leonhardt has also worked as a script assistant on the 34th Annual Country Music Awards, the 75th Anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry TV special and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. She graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Design & Production.