Meet the cast of ImprovCity

MainStage
Thursday/Sunday
Tuesday

Neiman Araque

Having starred in over 40 improvised shows for Comedy Sportz High School League, 4 musicals, 3 plays, 6 theater festivals, 1 research symposium, 2 school-wide conventions, 10 monologues, 1 choreographed Homecoming King Nominee number, 2 halftime show dances, 3 stand-up performances, 3 talent shows, 1 senior year cabaret, 1 short documentary, 1 artsy student film, and now shows with his wonderful friends at ImprovCity, Neiman still cannot schedule a doctor’s appointment on his own.

Andy Ball

A long time teacher and camp counselor, Andy was happy to join this ImprovCity family of adult children in March of 2018. While his primary gig is teaching Choir, Andy has also dabbled in acting, fencing, puppetry, climbing, cat herding, dancing, dressing poorly, and procrastinating. As you can see, he’s well rounded.

Aubrie Bishop

Aubrie is thrilled to have found a place where her “let’s play it by ear” and “let’s just wing it” attitude is cherished. She is a big fan of guessing games, creating games on the fly, and the (still a hit) television show, Survivor.

Jack Brubaker

Jack has been improvising throughout his entire life, constantly making up characters and stories for his own entertainment. At ImprovCity, he is finally putting that skill to use. In the future, he would like to be a writer/actor, which he is currently studying for. According to his friends, he is a ‘Grade A Jamoke.’

Jeff Bueno

Jeff Bueno has trained/performed at The Second City Conservatory, Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center, and performs Stand-Up. He also likes dogs and fitness.

Bob Burns

Robert Burns has been a proud member of ImprovCity since 2018. He has been acting for over 40 years, and enjoys every aspect of performing. He continues to audition for commercials, and especially loves comedy. He thanks IC for the opportunity not only to do improv but to try his hand at stand-up comedy. Long live Bobby B.

Bob Craig

Bob Craig

Bob has been performing improv for many years. He has trained at The Second City and iO in Chicago and at Groundlings in LA. He published his first novel, Sportsmans, in 2022 and is working on his latest work now. He is a teacher here at ImprovCity and thanks Devin, Gina, and everyone here for welcoming him to the fold.

Devin Dugan

Devin Dugan is the Artistic Director of ImprovCity’s Main Stage cast and a nationally recognized performer, instructor, and comedy writer. He has performed, taught, and trained with acclaimed improv troupes across the country, including The National Comedy Theatre, The Second City Hollywood, ComedySportz, ComedyCity, and LA Connection. He has headlined comedy clubs, theaters, and colleges across the United States, performing both improv and standup comedy. His appearances extend beyond the stage with on-screen credits of such major networks as NBC, ABC, and TruTV, as well as roles in numerous films and national commercials. A published book author and former contributing writer for Nostalgia Digest Magazine, Devin is also an international award-winning screenwriter.

Gina Dugan

Gina Dugan

Gina is a founding member of ImprovCity and the Artistic Director of its Thursday/Sunday cast. She is a graduate of The Second City Conservatory and has trained with Upright Citizens Brigade. In addition to improv, Gina is a veteran sketch comedy performer.

Tim Erickson

Tim Erickson

Growing up in small town North Dakota/Minnesota, Tim’s background includes a love of musical instruments and singing, lingering disappointment as a MN Vikings fan, and niche ice fishing knowledge. His life dream is to win Survivor.

Lee Godden

Lee is the co-founder of Advantage Improv, an applied improvisation team building and education company. Also a musician, filmmaker and actor, Lee has appeared in feature films and national TV commercials. A U.S. Navy veteran, Lee later worked with startups and Fortune 100 companies, managing high technology sales teams. He’s the author of the internationally-translated book ZenWise Selling.

Naz Haririnia

Naz dabbled in theater back in high school and got to perform off Broadway. She also had the opportunity to play at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland before moving to Southern California. Once she got to Fullerton College she took almost every acting class and performed in several small productions. She found ImprovCity and is excited to be a troupe member. She enjoys the basic millennial things: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the MCU, Star Wars, avocado toast, iced coffee, and carrying around her emotional support water bottle covered in stickers.

Shirin Haririnia

Shirin is a longtime listener, first time caller, when it comes to improv and acting. From watching Who’s Line Is It Anyway as a wee lass, to obsessing over hosting SNL one day, she is more than THRILLED to be living her best life at ImprovCity. Modeling is her forte, having appeared in YITTY and Torrid campaigns, she also strongly advocates for the plus size fashion community.

Josh Hoover

Josh is thrilled to be back on the stage acting a complete fool of himself as per the usual. Josh studied Theatrical Design and Production at Cal State Fullerton and is an advocate for pineapple on pizza. He measures in at a whopping 6ft. 8in, weighs around (wouldn’t you like to know), and is always ready to rumble. He would also like to thank his friends and family for their supportive banter including but not limited to ‘whoohoo!’ and ‘you go girl!’ Finally, Josh would like to leave you with this proverb, ‘I like my coffee like I like my women. . . I don’t like coffee.’

Asic Khatchatryan

Asic Khatchatryan

Raised in the San Fernando Valley and unable to whistle until the age of 21, Asic found her way to improv obsession via the ComedySportz High School League, UC Irvine’s Live Nude People (With Clothes On), The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and South Coast Repertory. Her interests include writing, birds, fact-checking dubious claims, British panel shows, sour candy, Tony Shalhoub, and social anxiety.

Allen Kim

Hooked since his first exposure to improv, Allen is pretty invested in it. He’s studied short form in OC and long form in LA. Now you can see the payoff yourself at one of ImprovCity’s shows!

Alen Kolenovic

Alen’s improv journey commenced with ImprovCity in the summer of ’21. He is also a writer, actor and director, with credits in film and television. A NYC native, he can be spotted habitually jaywalking in Old Town Tustin.

Armon Kolver

Armon Kolver

Texas born and Midwest raised, Armon is a multi-sided polygon trying to squeeze into a round hole. His acting credits include one of Jud’s pallbearers in Oklahoma, First Knight in Once Upon a Mattress, and a shout out in the credits of Paranormal Activity.

Andrew Livingstone

After writing and performing for Cornell University’s Humor Us! sketch comedy group, Andrew departed his native East Coast for Texas, where he graduated from the improv conservatory at Station Theater in Houston and never once used the word “y’all”. Since relocating to California, Andrew has trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, co-founded Orange County longform team Tan Sedan and ImprovCity house team StoryTime, and appeared on his grandmother’s favorite syndicated game show.

Tim Magoun

Tim Magoun

While Tim is a graphic designer by profession, acting and the performing arts is where his heart lies. Whether it’s acting in a scene study class, a community theater play, a TV commercial, or even doing live improv… entertaining people is always the thing that brings the most joy to his heart. Other things he enjoys beyond performing: video games, iced coffee, horror movies, singing, and quietly enjoying his eclectic taste in music.

Meghan Manning

Meghan has been doing comedy since she was 14 and it’s been an incredible journey full of laughs and joy. When she’s not doing improv comedy, you can catch her working with the character department at Disneyland where she gets to use her crazy improv skills to create magical memories for guests. Meghan also loves being outside, playing ukulele, and trying to convince her cat to audition for ImprovCity.

Brian Minton

Brian grew up in Westminster and graduated from UC Irvine. Brian has been a member of ImprovCity since July 2013 and was the creator of the genre long-form improv show, The Wheely Funny Show. He has studied improv at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and with Impro Theatre in Los Angeles.

Katie Nocerino

Katie Nocerino

Grab an introvert with a moderate addiction to cheese; mix in a Lisa Frank folder and a dash of Frank’s Red Hot; fold in two heaping scoops of sarcasm; blend ingredients together on a stage in front of a live audience for about 15 years; finally, garnish with gibberish and pair with a chilled bottle of frizz-control mousse. Et Voila! You’ve got yourself a recipe for one heck of a middle child.

Bryce St. Peter

Bryce has dual BAs in Music and Drama from UC Irvine and is a graduate of The Second City. Bryce wears many hats: singer, songwriter, saxophonist, composer, actor, comedian, improviser, musical improv accompanist, and most recently, aspiring writer. Bryce is a FunGuy!!

Jennifer Pizzolo

Jennifer began performing improv in the early 1990s with ComedySportz Philadelphia. She has performed longform improv with Farm to Table, Words of Wisdom and Snatch’d. In addition to improv, Jennifer is a trained Salsa dancer and also performs sketch and stand up comedy.

Dan Scheinberg

Dan is a writer, actor, and producer. He adores the magic of storytelling—whether it be planned, sketched, or improvised from the ether.

Sadad Talhouni

The only type of violence Sadad believes in is violently making your ribs shake from laughter. He hopes the joy of improv brings healing and collective liberation from oppressive negativity. Sadad also loves watermelons, from the rind to the seed.

Elana Vlodaver

Elana studied musical theater and vocal performance throughout high school and her time at Bowdoin College but fell off the wagon in pursuit of some science degrees. She went to UPenn for veterinary school but was saddened to learn that cows do not care for improvised musical numbers during their rectal exams. In a desperate whim to revive the right side of her brain, she studied improv at the Philly Improv Theater. The science thing brought her to SoCal and ImprovCity, where she found community, laughter, and great snacks.

Ben Wetzel

Ben Wetzel

Ben’s adventures into the entertainment industry started by taking voice acting & acting classes in 2016. This quickly led him to ImprovCity where he has been a troupe member since 2017. He enjoys nature, video games, movies/tv, books, and being introverted.

Nick Bradfield

Nick has been doing improv comedy for the past 10 years. He is a graduate of both AMDA (The American Musical & Dramatic Academy) and Second City LA. He has performed with various theatre groups throughout Southern California. He has also toured doing stand up comedy to places such as San Francisco, Las Vegas and Austin.

James Holmgren

James has been doing improv for over 8 years. He was the captain of UCI’s Improv Revolution for 3 years and hosted the OC Improv Fest in 2022.

Blake Lawson

Blake Lawson

Blake’s parents told him acting was vain but still put him in church plays as a child; confusing his adolescent pursuit of an acting career {insert lack of acting credentials here}. Fast forward to moving to Southern California for university, student debt and corporate burnout, Blake had the hopes of reviving a short-lived voice acting career, leading him to trying his hand at improv. He only hopes to make his parents proud.

Jared Lomeli

Jared has studied/performed at Spectacles Improv Engine, Improv Collective, ImprovCity, The Pack Theater, UCB LA and UCB NY. He is very excited to be a part of the Thursday/Sunday cast.

Carmina Manley

Carmina lives to entertain and inspire people. She’s insanely thrilled to be part of the ImprovCity Family, and excited to make memories for those who come here.

Jordan Marshall

Jordan Marshall

Jordan, a SoCal native with a penchant for mischief and useless video game trivia, blends his theatrical training and Voice-Over artist background to bring outlandish characters to life on the stage. His performances are a lively concoction of nerdy charm, physical finesse, and a splash of daring, ensuring each show is a hilarious exploration into the unexpected.

Tom Newman

Tom is the bad boy of the group.

Madi Patterson

Madi loves improv, American Sign Language, making video edits, jumping into lakes, monster hunting, and deciphering secret codes! (Eyawqk emke, ‘egebqof kagd qxpqde!’) p.s. M = A ;D

Arthur Rogers

Arthur doesn’t take himself too seriously and wants to bring a smile to everyone he comes across. You can also find him playing Ice Hockey/other sports, being competitive at absolutely everything, and completing his lifelong quest to find the best burrito in Orange County.

Rahmat Sarpas

To the windoowwws (of Orange County) to the walls (of ImprovCity) ya boy Rahmat is back at ya again! A student of acting, improv, and history, you can catch me performing a humble soliloquy outside of the gates of the Taj Mahal.

Nina Sharifi

Nina’s passion is storytelling; having studied film, television, and theatre, the craft of improv became another outlet for her to build scenes and bring characters to life. From being improv club president in high school to studying at Second City LA, improv has shaped her into the enthusiastic ImprovCity teammate she is today.

Byron Spears

Byron Spears was involved in over 50 plays in college and community theatre. His favorite role was Grumio in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Byron was also a player in The Corporate Recess Players for over 7 years. He is overjoyed to have found a new home with ImprovCity and hopes to call this group of very funny and talented actors family for years to come.

James Stebick

James Stebick is a passionate improviser who has been part of the Orange County improv community for over twenty years now. In addition to performing at ImprovCity he’s also the coach and manager for local team La Ronde James and can be seen in the IFL where he is the only Grand Slam Champion in the league’s history.

Redda Talhouni

Redda studied pharmacy only to discover laughter is in fact the best medicine. A claim technically not backed by science.

Edwin Trovada

Edwin is a Filipino-American Stand-Up Comedian from Anaheim. As the youngest of 5, he always was the quiet one in the corner, struggling to find a voice. He got into theatre in high school and college, but didn’t find his calling until he started doing comedy. Through Stand-Up & Improv, he discovered the greatest thing in life is laughter, and bringing laughter and joy to others.

Joann Veera

Joann Veera

Joann’s most proud of her two awesome kiddos who are way funnier than she is. When Joann’s not improvising, mom-ing or wife-ing, you can find her actively ignoring her Marriage and Family Therapy license to chase childhood dreams.

David Walker

David is a tech person who has somehow found himself on stage, and would like to remind everyone to not tap on the fourth wall as it scares the improvisers.

Paulina Abena

[Insert bio that is as funny as it is charming. Mention In n Out, Californians LOVE In n Out.]

LouLou Adora

LouLou is currently in college pursuing a BA in Theatre Acting. Her favorite part of improv city is the community and family, and cannot wait to share that feeling with the rest of you!

Nick Garcia

Nick Garcia

Nick first got his start in comedy being the class clown in elementary school. Wanting to make others see the simpler part of life, he’s wandered off into the sunset grasslands of improvising and stand up comedy. By the way the patchy beard shown above is experimental, he’s feeling the waters with it.

Melissa Hatch

Melissa Hatch

Melissa, born and raised in Orange County, discovered her passion for improv while at Corona Del Mar High School through Comedy Sportz. She continued to hone her craft with Sketch N’ Sniff at UCSB and later with Laugh Chance Improvisation Troupe. Melissa is thrilled to be a part of the Tuesday Troupe at ImprovCity!

Antonio Hayes

Antonio Hayes

Antonio started his comedy journey in the world of stand-up in 2018. Originally from Tucson, AZ, he moved to OC to pursue his passion for the arts and has found his home at ImprovCity.

Carolyn Herr

Carolyn’s first and only acting credit stems from a 3rd grade performance as the ‘Tea-Taster’ in a historically inaccurate reenactment of The Boston Tea Party. She’s a fan of red lipstick and big sunglasses. And she’s ridiculously excited to be part of the Tuesday cast.

Britt Hollaway

Britt Hollaway has been coming to ImprovCity for almost a year now. She started when a friend randomly invited her to a drop-in class and has been addicted ever since. She thinks improv is a great activity for therapy and Hinge dates. She’s excited to be a part of the Tuesday Team and keep ‘yes, and-ing’ to new experiences.

Kian Maleki

Kian had a mid-life crisis in early 2023 and has enjoyed improv ever since. He brings decades of experience making up silly songs for his cat, and is the proud father of a son he plans to mine for stand-up comedy material. When he isn’t performing Improv, Kian is a freelance writer and author (cool!) and marketing consultant (lame).

Neo Patel

Neo Patel

Neo is often called a modern day renaissance man considering his talents in many different areas, including acting, photography, TTRPGs, improv, magic and hypnotism to name a few. Neo only has one answer to the question of ‘How many hours of sleep do you get?’ – ‘Yes.’

Tony Phonethibsavads

Tony Phonethibsavads

Tony (aka ‘Dr. T’) completed a PhD in Learning Sciences at Indiana University, researching rule-bending in improv. Although a scholar first, he performed improv since 2010 in Indiana and OC.

Eva Stanton

Eva Stanton

Eva, a once theatre kid turned #WomanInStem, began her comedy journey with ComedySportz in high school and has been dabbling in the art of Standup. She spends her time registering voters with Headcount at concerts/festivals, recording 1Pod2Peas with her sister, as a YMCA camp counselor, supporting the Adaptive Snow Sports community with The Achievers, pursuing a career in environmental justice through statistical analytics and data visualizations, but for now, Eva is just happy to be here.

Jack Stone

Recently retired from being the coolest guy at community college.

Esther Tang

Esther Tang

In times when Esther questions whether humankind is worth saving, she recalls the co-creation that is improv. Here, the whole is far greater than the sum, and it readily welcomes all. In improv, her longing for connection, civil discourse, and inclusionary diplomacy finds hope.

Bryce Verket

Bryce has been improvising since 2018. He’s an avid illustrator, musician, and binge-reader. Somehow, he’s the SECOND saxophone-playing improviser named Bryce on the cast.

Sola W

Sola fell in love with improv as a kid when she saw it on TV, and she made it relationship official when she started learning and performing in 2017. When she’s not doing improv, she’s with her other love, dance. When the stars align just right, you might find her dancing her way through an improv scene.

Mike Whelan

Mike is originally from NY, and after the Navy moved to California to pursue stand up and acting, performed at The Comedy Store, the Improv and has a terrible movie on Amazon, The Mason Brothers.