The Second City is coming to you soon!

Kate Duffy (ensemble) is thrilled to be performing with The Second City’s Touring Company. Originally from the small town of Marion, MA, Kate came to Chicago to pursue her passion for comedy. She has studied at The Annoyance Theater, iO Chicago and is a graduate of The Second City Conservatory. You may have seen Kate performing with Children of a Lesser God, a troupe critic’s called, the best all-female improv group in Chicago. Kate also performed with Schnuffy, Otis, The Signatures, Lindberg Babies 2.0, The Baritones and FELT, a critically acclaimed puppet show. Kate just returned from 5 months at sea aboard the NCL Gem for The Second City and recently performed part of her solo show at the TBS Just for Laughs festival. She teaches improvisation at iO and The Second City and for companies around the country. She would like to thank her friends and family for their constant love and support.

*Shad Kunkle (Ensemble) hails from the great state of Iowa where he grew up hoping his favorite team the Hawkeyes wouldn’t lose "too badly". Shad is thrilled to be working with Second City. He has been improvising in Chicago for over 8 years and would like to thank Improv Olympic and Comedy Sports Chicago for giving him the opportunity to perform and learn the craft of improvisation. He currently performs with Carl and The Passions and the Armando Diaz Experience. He is also the proud coach of Chicago’s best Harold team, The Reckoning, at Improv Olympic. Shad would like to thank his family, friends, Kate and Azul for their love and support.

*Mark Piebenga (ensemble) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has been improvising in Chicago for seven years.  He is thrilled to be a part of the Touring Company, and also he performed for Second City onboard the Norwegian Star, as well as with the Outreach and Diversity Company, and teaches at the Second City Training Center.  He can be seen improvising with Chicagoland at the Annoyance, and with Mike Helicopter and Rattlesnake High School at the iO Theatre.  He is a vegetarian but he's not annoying about it.

*Katie Rich (Ensemble) is very lucky to be a part of this stellar cast. A Chicago native, Katie earned a B.S. (yup) from Northwestern University before getting the opportunity to tour all over the world with The Second City. She also performs at the iO Chicago with Carl and the Passions, the Frank Hayes 4, The Deltones Improvised Musical and Women Aren’t Funny. You can see her in those ubiquitous Sonic Drive-in commercials, in Martin Short’s Let Freedom Hum, in the Harold Ramis movie The Ice Harvest, and with Abigail Breslin in the upcoming film, Janie Jones. Katie is proud to be an instructor for both the iO and The Second City. She’d be nowhere without her friends and worse than nowhere without her family to whom she owes everything. Katie spends a lot of time figuring out what to do now that her dream has come true. Go Bears.

*Tim Stoltenberg (ensemble) lived in Atlanta, Georgia for 7 years where he worked with The Second City in the show Atlanta; Too Busy to Hate, Too Hard to Commute.  Tim also worked with such companies as; The Alliance, Academy, Scyconithicity, Laughing Matters, Agatha’s, and was Improv Director for Dad’s Garage Theatre for 4 years where he regularly performed and taught improv.  Tim is from Wisconsin where he graduated from St. Norbert College with a degree in Theatre. 

Sean Cusick (Director) hails from tropical upstate NY and now lives and works in Chicago. Some of his recent directing credits include An Aerosmith Christmas and the cult hit Dr. Amazing, Your Country Needs You. In addition to directing, he performs throughout Chicago and teaches at the Second City Training Center and the Annoyance Theatre. All his love and thanks to Nissa.

*Meghan Teal (Stage Manager) comes to Chicago from Baltimore and is so excited and grateful to be living the dream working for The Second City! Meghan has been stage managing in Chicago for over five years now, four of them at The Second City - touring the country and the world, and as an understudy for the e.t.c. and Mainstage theatres in Chicago. She has also worked all over the city stage managing at numerous theatres for various sketch, improv, and traditional theatre shows. Meghan 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 Maryland. Meghan sends all the love in the world to her incredibly supportive family and friends, McNally, Bea Arthur, and Mighty Mighty BlueCo!

Chuck Malone (Musical Director) hails from Calumet City, Il. This is his first cruise ship adventure and is thrilled to be joining the Spirit cast. He has recently finished composing and mounting his first musical, A Bucket of Blood. Chuck has been a musical director for The Second City Touring Company, the Annoyance theatre, and has recently accompanied for the musical Rod Blagojevich Superstar. He would like to thank his parents for supporting his piano education and his wife for singing when he plays.

* denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union for actors and stage managers.

A Little Bit of History

An old Chinese laundry might be an odd place to start a comedy theater, but even in 1959 The Second City did things their own way. Over the next 50 years The Second City has established what the New York Times called “A Comedy Empire.”

Just a few short years after The Second City launched in Chicago, the theatre formed Touring Companies that began performing all over North America at theatres, clubs, colleges, and performing arts centers. This became the model for developing the comedic talent that would grace the Chicago and Toronto resident stages of The Second City and often onto movies and television shows like Saturday Night Live.

Many of the comedy world’s best and brightest have gotten their start performing everywhere from Peoria to Portland and Vegas to Vienna. Some of The Second City’s alumni include: Alan Arkin, Harold Ramis, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Candy, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Chris Farley, Jane Lynch, Mike Myers, Jack McBrayer, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Jason Sudekis, and Steve Carell.

Drawing from the vast archives of material, the Touring Company produces a two-act review of The Second City’s celebrated brand of topical sketch comedy, hilarious songs, and on the spot improvisation that changes with every performance. An evening with The Second City provides audiences with the chance to see comedy stars in the making, a night of cutting edge comedy, and an unforgettable experience.