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The Second City Cast & Crew – BlueCo

The Second City Cast & Crew

Please silence all devices and refrain from taking photos during the performance.

All Actors and Stage Managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional Actors and Stage Managers.

DANI JAMES

DANI JAMES (she/her) is an actor and curve model from Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. She can be seen improvising all around Chicago. She is a graduate of The Second City Conservatory and the School at Steppenwolf. Her most recent credit is her one woman show “You Can Cry When You Get Home” which she performed at Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of The Lookout series.She has also modeled nationally and locally. Some favorites include Macys, Famous Footwear, and HUM Nutrition.She is represented by 10MGMT and 10 Talent Agency in Chicago. For upcoming shows and cute outfits Instagram: @Dani_James

MAX LAZERINE

MAX LAZERINE (Ensemble, he/his) is an actor and improviser from Minneapolis Minnesota. He received his BA from Columbia College Chicago. He can be seen performing with the legendary Holy F**k comedy hour at the annoyance and also with his writing partner and best friend Annie Sullivan

CAT MCDONNELL

CAT MCDONNELL (Ensemble, she/her) has performed with The Second City at sea aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, and on land in ‘She The People,’ ‘The Best Friggin’ Songs of The Second City,’ ‘Improv Brunch,’ and ‘Late Night Date Night’ (a show she created). Cat has had the pleasure of understudying The Second City Mainstage revues ‘Don’t Quit Your Daydream’ and ‘Do The Right Thing, No Worries If Not,’ as well as The Second City’s BlueCo and HollyCo. She has also enjoyed directing The Second City’s National Touring Company, ‘Late Night Date Night,’ ‘Improv After Hours,’ e.t.c. improv show ‘Out of The House Party,’ and teaching in The Second City and iO Theater training centers. Cat is currently an ensemble member of iO’s ‘Phony Award Winning Musical’ (co-created and music directed by Laura Hall of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’) and the proud curator of ‘Lovesome,’ an LGBTQ+ long-form improv show.

ZOE MCKEE

ZOE MCKEE (Ensemble, she/her) is a comedian and actor originally from Oklahoma City. As a black, queer, big, hot, funny lady, her greatest passion is making others laugh! With big dreams in her funny bone, Zoe studied at Columbia College Chicago and graduated in Comedy Writing and Performance. Before being a part of the Second City Touring company (BlueCo), she understudied for the Second City Mainstage Do the Right Thing, No Worries If Not, and Don’t Quit Your Daydream. Zoe is proudly represented by Paonessa Talent. You can find her on Instagram at @zoeisaslug.

PRESTON PARKER

PRESTON PARKER (Ensemble, he/him) is thrilled to perform with The Second City National Touring Company. Originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, previous credits with Second City include The Best Friggin’ Songs of the Second City, and understudying for the Mainstage and Touring Company. Other sketch work has been featured at Austin Out of Bounds Festival, Chicago SketchFest and Austin SketchFest. He also writes and composes original musicals, including The Election of William Henry Harrison (Best Ensemble, Premier Premieres Festival), When Jared Met Ivanka, and Titanic 2042 (Best Musical nominee, Chicago Reader). He is the proud Champion of the 2019 ESPN1000 Holiday Parody Song Contest. You can follow him on Instagram @prestonleeparker to see too few photos of himself and way too many photos of his cat, Kuzco. Overwhelming love and gratitude to Bianca, Ashley, Shelby, Dad, and Mom, always

CASSIDY RUSSELL

CASSIDY RUSSELL (Ensemble, she/her) has been doing improv since middle school (cool!). She’s a member of Chicago’s longest running improv team, Deep Schwa, as well as Annoyance Theatre house team Sight Unseen. She directs plays and teaches improv around Chicago, and in the summer she gets to teach comedy classes in Alaska at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp (an actual dream!). Touring with the Second City is another actual dream, and she’s very, very happy to be doing it. Cassidy has pretended to eat chicken on camera so many times and was once in a commercial where all four of the other actors were cats. She’s appeared in multiple (multiple!) local car commercials. Follow her on Instagram @ramblingcass IF YOU WANT.

CARISA BARRECA (Director, she/her) is honored to be Directing Blue Co! She is an alum of The Second City’s resident stage, where she wrote and performed in three critically acclaimed revues. Most recently she was honored to direct the 111th Mainstage Show, Don’t Quit Your Daydream! Along with the Mainstage, she also directed the award-winning show She The People, Second City’s SING OUT and Deck The Hallmark. She has had the honor of performing at Lyric Opera of Chicago with Sir Patrick Stewart and Reneé Fleming in The Second City’s Guide to the Opera at Goodman Theatre; The Kennedy Center with Twist Your Dickens; and wrote and performed in Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Second City’s collaboration The Art of Falling. Follow her @Cinderisa.

SAM SCHEIDLER (Music Director, he/him) teaches and performs at The Second City, and can be found playing with Baby Wants Candy, Shamilton, and Deep Schwa. In his spare time, Sam plays board games, NYT crosswords, and takes care of his two cats.

LEO (they/them) has been in the theater game for most of their life, and is thrilled to be spending time stage managing, producing, and directing this year. This has been especially true since starring their own production company, Destined For Chaos Productions, which will be putting up two original reviews this year. You will find Leo stage managing various things throughout the building, including the long-running shows, “Baby Wants Candy” and “RIFF”. You can also see Leo performing around town, often doing music improv, which they have enjoyed since graduating Second City’s Music Improv Conservatory last year. Leo is happy any time they are doing something in a theater and is thrilled to be a part of this show! Check out their productions @destined_for_chaos

Understudies

HOLY BARRAS

HOLY BARRAS (she/her) was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but spent a lot of her childhood skipping rocks around Oklahoma before moving to Chicago in 2017. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2021 and is a Comedy Studies alumni. She can be seen performing with the Annoyance Ensemble Team Modern Crimes, and independent team Smoochers. She is currently an understudy for Second City’s Touring Company. Other performing credits include Splatter Theater (The Annoyance), Trigger Happy (The Annoyance), and New Team Smell (iO Theater). She would like to thank her Dad for his constant love and support! When she isn’t performing and writing comedy, you can catch her playing Dance Dance Revolution and eating hummus (sometimes at the same time.) Follow her on Instagram @hollaycomeday

DOMINIC RESCIGNO

DOMINIC RESCIGNO (he/him) is a comedian, writer, and actor from Chicago. He starred as Antoni in QUEER EYE: THE MUSICAL PARODY at The Second City, where he also understudied DON’T QUIT YOUR DAYDREAM and DO THE RIGHT THING, NO WORRIES IF NOT on the Mainstage. Other credits include CHILDREN OF EDEN at the Cadillac Palace (with Stephen Schwartz!), MY FAIR LADY and DEAD MAN WALKING at Lyric Opera of Chicago, TONY N’ TINA’S WEDDING, and performances with iO Chicago, The Annoyance, The Onion, ClickHole, Walt Disney World, and more. His web series, The Dominics, has been critically ignored. Love and thanks to Cody, Lottie, and his family for all the support. www.dominicrescigno.com | @dominicrescigno

CONNER STUMM

CONNER STUMM (he/him) is a Chicago based actor and comedian. He also performs weekly at iO Theater with his improv team, Creamboy. He has written several shows at the Annoyance Theatre where he has played roles like Batman, Scooby Doo, and The Grinch. He would like to thank his dad for always supporting him.

ANSLEY ROWELL

ANSLEY ROWELL is a Chicago based actor, writer, and improviser from Los Angeles. She got her start in improv in Second City Hollywoods youth program where she was a member of their teen ensemble, “Detention Hall”. In LA she also trained and performed with UCB and ComedySportz. She moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College Chicago, where she got a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance. After graduating, she moved to Melbourne, Australia where she spent a year teaching and performing sketch and improv. Now, she’s back in Chicago where you can see her performing all around the city! You can find her on Instagram @AnsleyRowell

EMILY ANDERSON

EMILY ANDERSON (she/her) is a comedian and actor who studied Theatre and Creative Writing at Northwestern University. Favorite credits include Her Honor Jane Byrne (Lookingglass Theatre), understudying The Second City mainstage and e.t.c. revues The Devil Is In the Detours and Best Kept Secret: Tell Everyone!, and solo show Mean to Me: An OCD Odyssey. She improvises with Whirled News Tonight (iO Theater), improv duo ME Time, and impersonates her own mother as the creator/host of the variety show, Doing Our Moms. Emily is represented by Grossman & Jack Talent. You can follow her on Instagram: @emilytheobsessed and @doingourmoms

KENZIE ISZARD

KENZIE ISZARD (she/her) is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. You may have seen her in Delirium at The Second City or The Spades Table at The iO Theater.

BRYCE HALLIDAY (Understudy Music Director) is an Australian musician and audio producer, who has been based in Chicago since 2022. Since completing his Bachelor of Music at the Australian Institute of Music in 2012, Bryce has created music and sound design for a huge variety of projects, with a focus towards sketch and improvised comedy. In Chicago, he has been a music director at the renowned Second City, The Annoyance and iO theatres, and in 2023 he toured with original members of the US ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ cast. His compositions can be found in video games (Birdsketball, Particulars), films (Diagnosis, Jimbra) and podcasts (Snowball, Conversations From The Abyss). Before moving to the USA, Bryce worked for five years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation where he produced several acclaimed podcasts. Including the cult-hit comedy documentary ‘Finding Drago’ and the stand up comedy series ‘Alice Fraser Trilogy’, which Apple Podcasts named in their ‘Best Australian Podcasts’ 2018 list.

KATIE DREHER (Understudy Stage Manager, she/they) was born and raised in Reno, Nevada. She spent time in Colorado studying educational theatre before coming to Illinois to pursue a career in stage management. Her recent stage management highlights include Matilda Jr. Paramount Theatre, Three Little Pigs Chicago Kids Company. Other credits include Young Performer Supervisor Sound of Music, School of Rock Paramount Theatre. (she/they)was born and raised in Reno, Nevada. She spent time in Colorado studying educational theatre before coming to Illinois to pursue a career in stage management. Her recent stage management highlights include Matilda Jr. Paramount Theatre, Three Little Pigs Chicago Kids Company. Other credits include Young Performer Supervisor Sound of Music, School of Rock Paramount Theatre.