From sagebrush to Sheriff Joe, from Green Valley to kokopelli - it's time to batten down the barrel cactus because The Second City is on their way to the Grand Canyon State to do a no-holds-barred world premiere comedy revue all about Arizona. THE SECOND CITY DOES ARIZONA is an original revue of comic sketches and songs aimed at skewering everything and everyone that is unique, ridiculous and wonderful about the land of rising temperatures and falling real estate. The Second City Does Arizona plays in Tucson at the Temple of Music and Art from April 3 through April 24. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from April 29 through May 16.
Following an intensive tour (fueled by refried beans and Sonoran hot dogs) of greater Tucson, lesser Phoenix and points in between (including the Ostrich Ranch at Picacho Peak), writers from The Second City (closely monitored by photo radar) are creating a show just for Arizona Theatre Company. The writers have assured us that they found plenty of targets-uh, material- to keep Arizona audiences in stitches. Famous for their hilarious sketch comedy and for equally famous alumni like Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and a whole slew of others, The Second City's troupe of expert Chicago comedians have created a topical revue about the special challenges of the high life in the low desert. And as we like to say here in the Southwest: "It's a dry wit."
The Second City Does Arizona was created by writers Tom Flanigan and Ed Furman along with director Matt Hovde, Musical Director Matthew Loren Cohen and and a cast of six experienced Second City performers. Tom Flanigan (co-writer) is the co-founder of the sketch group Galileo Players and his credits include The Second City e.t.c.'s last three revues (including Joseph Jefferson Award winner Studs Terkel's Not Working). He 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 Balgojevich: Superstar! with Mr. T.J. Shanoff, and of Chicago's longest running musical Co-ed Prison Sluts at Annoyance Theatre. Matt Hovde (director) is responsible for several shows at Second City inluding 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. Matthew Loren Cohen (Music Director), is a classically-trained pianist who has spent the past year music directing for The Second City. 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.
The cast of The Second City Does Arizona includes Ryan Archibald, who has worked all over the world for The Second City as a member of their National Touring Company, aboard the MS Norwegian Jewel, Gem and Star, and at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Mr. Archibald is also a member of the Boom Chicago family in Amsterdam where he has been a part of seven revues. Amanda Blake Davis is a veteran of The Second City e.t.c. stage, where she wrote and performed in five original revues, for which she received a Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Revue. Prior to that, she performed with The Second City Las Vegas and The Second City National Touring Company. Cody Dove was a mainstage cast member of The Second City Cleveland, where he wrote and performed in Rivercan't, For Those About to Iraq, Who's Yer Baghdadi? and No Shirt, No Shoes, No WMDs. Since then he has traveled the world (Istanbul, Cairo, Trondheim, Venice, and everywhere in between) while performing within a partnership between Norwegian Cruise Lines and The Second City. Lauren Dowden was recently seen on The Second City's e.t.c. stage and at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Rod Blagojevich Superstar!. Other Second City credits include The Not Ready For $3.99 Prime Rib Players; No Shirt, No Shoes, No WMDs and Who's Yer Baghdadi? Ms. Dowden's Boom Chicago (Amsterdam) credits include Rockstars and Europe: We've Created a Monster. Martin Garcia has been with The Second City since 1995. He toured with The Second City National Touring Company for 2½ years. In 2001, he moved to The Second City Mainstage co-writing and performing another three reviews. Mr. Garcia also performed at The Second City in Las Vegas and has performed on four Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise ships with The Second City. Andel Sudik was born in Chicago and raised in California. She performed and traveled all over the U.S. with the Second City Touring Company. After that, she spent two long years living and performing in Amsterdam with Boom Chicago.
The creative team for The Second City Does Arizona includes Gene Emerson Friedman (Scenic Designer) who has worked at the Lincoln Center Institute, the Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, where he has served as Resident Scenic Designer for 15 years. Brian Jerome Peterson (Resident Sound Designer) celebrates his 24th season at ATC, where he has designed 61 productions including this season's The Kite Runner, George Is Dead, and Ain't Misbehavin' and the world premieres of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Inventing van Gogh, and Rocket Man. His designs have been heard in many theatres including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Cleveland Play House and San Jose Repertory Theatre. T. Greg Squires (Lighting Designer) is the Lighting Supervisor and Resident Lighting Designer for ATC, where he designed Permanent Collection and Tuesdays with Morrie as well as serving as Associate Designer on dozens of productions. 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. Meghan Teal is the Stage Manager.
Accessibility Options
Arizona Theatre Company offers accessibility services for patrons with disabilities for select performances. Audio Description provides patrons with vision loss a running audio description of the movement and activities onstage through an infrared broadcast system. An audio-described performance is offered on April 22 at 2 PM. Interested patrons may request a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. American Sign Language interpretation is presented by professional, theatrically-trained ASL-interpreters for people who have deafness or hearing impairment. An ASL-interpreted performance is offered on April 22 at 7:30 PM. Open-Captioning allows patrons to read the play's dialogue on an LED screen as the play progresses. An open-captioned performance is offered on April 22 at 2 PM. For open-captioned or ASL-interpreted performances, patrons should request seats best suited to ASL interpretation or captioning when purchasing tickets. Large print and Braille playbills and infrared listening amplificationdevices are also available at every ATC performance with reservation. TTY access for the box office is available in Tucson at (520) 884-9723 or via Arizona Relay at (800) 367-8939 (TTY/ASCII).
