THEATER / 2017-2018
Improv with The Second City!
WORKSHOP
Know Before You Go
The Second City began as a small comedy theater over 50 years ago and has grown to become a leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy, today including a variety of theaters, training centers, and full-time touring ensembles.
The Second City’s Training Center is the largest school of improvisation and sketch comedy in the world, with an impressive alumni list featuring countless stars of television and film. The school serves beginners and advanced players alike, as well as those looking to use the techniques of improv to develop skills useful in business, communication, and other applied areas.
When participating in an improv curriculum, students develop skills in areas such as stage presence, character development, theatrical games, and scene work to create theater. Unlike sketch comedy and many other kinds of theater, this is all done without a script. Everything is created on the spot, but there are methods to the madness! A lot of skill goes into the ability to construct interesting and workable scenes on the spot.
Building skills in improv takes time and practice, just like any other art form. But anyone with an open mind and a willingness to try new things can participate in introductory games and exercises—and have a blast doing it.
Good to Know
Viola Spolin The Second City’s work in improv is based on the work of actress, educator, director, and author Viola Spolin (1906-1994). During the 1920s and 30s, Spolin was working as a social worker at Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago, where her job was to help immigrant children better assimilate into their new surroundings. She created a number of easily-grasped theatrical games that could cross cultural and ethnic barriers and gave the children hands-on experience at behaving collaboratively and empathetically.
Spolin’s son, Paul Sills, was enamored with the games and taught them to his University of Chicago friends, where their true potential to develop material and entertain audiences was uncovered. He used the new techniques in productions for the Playwrights Theater Club and with the Compass Players. In 1960, Spolin began running improvisation workshops for the cast of The Second City, at the time a still-new theater company Paul co-founded.
As an outgrowth of her work with The Second City, Spolin published Improvisation for the Theater in 1963, resulting in much critical acclaim and solidifying her reputation in improvisational theater. She continued writing and teaching throughout her life.
The history of The Second City—and its extraordinary alumni! Walk through the theater of The Second City in Chicago, and you’ll be amazed at all of the familiar photos on the wall of their famous alumni. Tina Fey. Bill Murray. Keegan-Michael Key. Stephen Colbert. The list goes on and on!
Explore a timeline—and see how many faces you can recognize.
Explore More
Are you interested in learning more? Check out the websites above for resources and check your library for Viola Spolin’s book, and others, that include descriptions of improv games you can try. Take a look at local theaters to see if they offer classes, workshops, or other opportunities to continue to study and practice. If you know a theater teacher, you can ask if this is an area they know and if they would be willing to teach it separately or incorporate it into other theatrical classes. There may even be local improv troupes who offer opportunities to learn or performances to attend.
Go even deeper with the Second City Extras.
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Comedy at the Kennedy Center Presenting Sponsor
© 2017 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts