Today we celebrate the retirement of Lois Kaz. Lois has been part of The Second City for over 40 years starting as a House Manager in 1968 during the Democratic National Convention. She's worn many hats during her time at North & Wells - House Manager, Building Manager, Purchaser and Accountant. We thank her for all of her years of service.
Congratulations on your retirement, Lois! We'll miss you.
Thursday, November 1
The Tribune's Rick Kogan is taking Chicago Live! to the south suburbs for one special night. On Thursday, November 1, meet Rick and enjoy a special evening of interviews and musical performances, with comedy from The Second City. Special guests include WVON's Cliff Kelley, Three Floyds Brewery and hip-hop artist Psalm One, plus The Tribune's Dawn Trice and Bruce Dold and much more.
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University, 1 University Pkwy., University Park
Tickets: $20, www.chicagolive.com
Lock the door, leave a bowl of candy on the porch and have a drink on us at The Second City's 100th Revue: Who Do We Think We Are? on Wednesday, October 31st at 8:00 p.m. Use the code "SPOOKY" when purchasing your tickets and you'll be treated to one of our delicious Halloween cocktails. One Halloween specialty cocktail is included in the purchase of a full price ticket ($23.00). Offer limited to 4 tickets per order and valid only on 10/31/12.
Our Halloween Specialty Cocktails are:
Brain Hemorrhage Shooters
A terrifyingly delicious concoction of Peach Schnapps, Irish Cream and grenadine. Hold onto your skulls! $5.25 or $7.75 with a souvenir shot glass
Toasted Marshmallow Martini
The perfect drink to keep you cozy at the theater. Dark Crème de Cacao and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur are shaken with cream and garnished with graham cracker crumbs. $8.50
My Bloody Sangria
A favorite amongst local vampires. Meritage blended red wine served on the rocks with muddled fruit, a splash of Sierra Mist and Orange juice. $7.25 or $18.25 with a 20oz souvenir glass.
The Second City scoured their address book to assemble a cast of seven luminary L.A.-based alumni for their hilarious take on the beloved Charles Dickens tale of hope and redemption. The world premiere of The Second City's A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens! is written by Second City alums, Peter Gwinn (formerly of "The Colbert Report") and Bobby Mort (currently of "The Colbert Report"), and opens November 29, 2012, at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Previews begin November 24 and performances will run through December 30.
Directed by yet another Second City alum, Marc Warzecha (Resident Director, The Second City) the cast features Frank Caeti ("MADtv"), Larry Joe Campbell ("According to Jim"), Dan Castellaneta ("The Simpsons"), Amanda Blake Davis ("Second City Does Dallas" at the Dallas Theatre Center), Joe Flaherty ("SCTV," "Freaks and Geeks"), Brian Stepanek ("The Suite Life of Zack and Cody") and Jean Villepique ("Up All Night").
The scenic design is by Tom Buderwitz, costume design by Leah Piehl, lighting design by Brandon Baruch and sound design by Cricket S. Myers. The production stage manager is Kirsten Parker.
With its trademark humor, irreverence and originality, The Second City, in a creative collaboration with CTG, is taking the classic Charles Dickens' Christmas tale and giving it a hearty twist. In addition to Scrooge (played by Joe Flahety), the ever-morphing ensemble will bring the famous Victorian streets to frenzied life with Tiny Tim, that fat, plucked goose, all those know-it-all ghosts, a host anachronistic characters and hilarious improvs which will have Dickens guffawing in his grave. The cast will be joined by an ever-changing stable of starry, drop-in special guests.
The Second City specializes in sketch comedy and improvisation and has delighted audiences for over 50 years. With resident stages in Chicago and Toronto and touring ensembles, The Second City entertains over a million guests each year. It is also the largest training center in the world for improvisation, sketch and acting, with schools in Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto, and 20,000 registrations per year. The Second City served as a training ground for a host of famous alumni, including Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Candy, John Belushi, Catherine O'Hara, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and more. Colbert said, "The Second City was everything to me," and Murray said, "Second City is the best job anybody in the American theatre can get. It's incomparable." The New York Times reported that "The entire recent tradition of America satire can be summed up in three words: The Second City."
Tickets for A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens! are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre or two hours prior to performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office. The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.
Dionna Griffin Irons, Director of Outreach & Diversity shares info about a new open mic jam for up and comers. New voices in comedy hit the stage on Saturday at 7:30pm before the program's new show Race: The Final Frontier show.
See Urban Twist in Race: The Final Frontier every Saturday at 9pm in Donny's Skybox. To buy tickets, visit or call 312-337-3992
Meet the Urban Twist cast and hear about the show!
Emmy Award winning writer, comedian, actor, producer and director Dave Thomas will be in the Training Center October 24-26 leading workshops and participating in our Writer's Salon. On October 24 & 25 Dave will be leading two days of How to Sell Your Comedy and Make Money. In this wide-ranging and interactive workshop he will take ideas provided by our TC students and show you how to take a comedy concept and work it up into a pitch. Students may enroll in either or both days of the workshop. Click here for more information.
On October 26 Dave will be our guest in the Writer's Salon series where you can ask questions and hear about his experiences working in a variety of entertainment media. Don't miss out on these opportunities to learn from a comedy legend! Click here to reserve tickets.
Check out this sweet 360 degree video of our Toronto Training Center! Just click and drag the footage to change what you see.
January can't come soon enough! Yesterday, it was announced that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are confirmed to host the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards airing live on NBC January 13. If this is any indication, 2013 is going to be the best year ever. Click here to read more about it.
It was a big night at the Jeff Awards! Congratulations to Jeff Award winners Edgar Blackmon (Actor - Revue), Ryan Bernier (Director - Revue) and the cast and crew of The Second City e.t.c.'s "We're All in This Room Together" (Production - Revue).
The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee celebrates the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards and honors. The committee fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation, and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community.
Click here for a complete list of winners.
On Sunday, Stephanie Cutter was featured in the New York Times and they included a nice shout-out regarding the "Stephanie Cutter Freaks Out" video that had been produced by The Second City Network's Andy Cobb.
Second City alum Alan Arkin returned to Chicago last night to promote "Stand Up Guys," which opened the 48th annual Chicago International Film Festival. While on the red carpet, he told Chicago Sun Times reporter Bill Zwecker, "This was the beginning, thanks to Second City." Even today, Arkin said, he has "many, many friends in Chicago."
Watch the trailer for "Stand Up Guys" below. Read the full article here.
It's in the works! Check out this feature from The Globe and Mail to hear more about the process.
Nancy Fast interviews members of the new Twisty cast Sean Cooley and Alan Linic! Learn about The Second City Training Center’s House Teams, auditioning, Alan’s thoughts on food tiers, Sean’s apocalyptic survival plans and more!
You can see Twisty every Saturday at 9pm in the de Maat Theater. To buy tickets visit Secondcity.com/tc or cal 312.337.3992
Listen to the Podcast!
Congratulations to all of our alums that have booked deals in the past couple of weeks! Here's a sampling of some of the shows you'll see:
Tami Sagher with Kourtney Kang just went to CBS with a pilot production commitment for a single-camera comedy. Titled "Nerds In Love," the project, from 20th Century Fox TV, is based on the unlikely real-life friendship of "How I Met Your Mother" writers Kang (former cheerleader) and Sagher (former mathlete). It explores the dating lives of the social haves and have-nots at a marketing firm. "It lies somewhere between '2 Broke Girls' and 'The Big Bang Theory',” said Winer, who is executive producing and will direct the potential pilot. Tami Sagher will write the script and executive produce.
Brian Gallivan (currently a staff writer for "Happy Endings") has landed at CBS with a put pilot commitment with an untitled single-camera family comedy. The project is being produced by "Happy Endings'" Sony Pictures TV and studio-based Olive Bridge Entertainment. Loosely inspired by Gallivan's life, the big family comedy revolves around an Irish-Catholic, sports-crazed Boston clan and the gay son whose greatest sin is not his sexuality but his desire to spend less time with his family.
Stephnie Weir's "Leisure Club," from Sony Pictures TV and studio-based Original Films, has received a script commitment with a sizable penalty from the network. It revolves around a group of younger Baby Boomers living in a 55+ retirement community who revert back to the archetypes they were in high school. Weir will executive produce with Original's Neil Moritz and Vivian Cannon. Weir's manager Meghan Schumacher will also produce. The project stems from the last of several blind script deals Weir had at Sony TV. The previous two resulted in two comedy pilot orders at ABC, for the Debra Messing starrer "Wright vs. Wrong" in 2010 and "Counter Culture" this past season. Weir is with UTA and attorney David Fox.
Peter Murrieta's comedy is a multi-generational family show based on his own family – juxtaposing the immigrant generation, the assimilation generation and the modern one. This is an area Murrieta first mined in his maiden series as a creator, the WB's "Greetings From Tucson." He is executive producing the NBC project with 3 Arts. CAA-repped Murrieta served as showrunner on the first three seasons of Disney Channel's "Wizards Of Waverly Place," helping the comedy achieve ratings success and land the first best series Emmy Award for the network.
Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Prods. has sold a single-camera comedy to NBC to be written by rising young scribe Lauryn Kahn. Universal Television, where Gary Sanchez is under a deal, is producing. Title "I Guess I Do," the comedy centers around a sham green card marriage between a womanizing British celebrity trainer and a psychology grad student who is using her new husband as the subject for her dissertation on the modern male. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will executive produce the project, which has received a script commitment from the network.
