Before sitting down to watch this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, fans can catch the troupe where most of the show’s cast members got their start.
Second City, Chicago’s renowned comedy theater and school of improvisation, will bring its Laughing Matters Tour to Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium Saturday night as part of the Performing Arts Series.
Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, said he expects the show to sell out by Saturday. Ticket sales have already covered the $9,000 it took to bring the troupe back this year.
“We were getting such positive feedback last year; it’s really the perfect show for all ages, so we booked it shortly after last year’s show,” he said. “It was kind of a no-brainer to book again.”
The troupe has launched the careers of such comedy stars as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and John Belushi, a fact that Chelsea Devantez, a current touring member, said gives her job “a lot of weight.”
“It feels amazing,” she said. “If you look up to somebody and you get to step into their shoes and act the lines they wrote 15 years ago, well, it’s a big honor.”
The rehearsals — which Devantez described as nonstop — involve pulling from 15 years of archived material. The director, she said, is constantly changing acts and adding new ones, and cast members are constantly pitching new ideas as well.
“It’s a whole wheelhouse of scenes,” she said. “That way, it stays fresh, but it also has a history behind it.”
While known for its improvisation prowess, the troupe actually performs mostly pre-rehearsed sketches in addition to two sections of the show based solely on improvisation. Even in the scripted parts, though, Devantez said improv is thrown in.
“That’s what’s new and fresh and exciting and magical,” she said about the improv sections. “It’s alive and in the moment. You can do whatever you want to. You can just put your hand out and say you’re holding a sandwich if you want to.”
Devantez wasn’t on the comedy track until college, when she saw an Upright Citizen’s Brigade show while studying acting at New York University — a life-changing moment, she said.
After spending a semester studying at Second City in Chicago, Devantez did everything she could with Second City, from internships to volunteer work. She made the move to the Windy City to work with the troupe, and became a permanent touring cast member this past spring.
And after months spent with the touring company, Devantez said she still loves her job.
“Doing these shows is our favorite thing ever,” she said. “There’s going to be a lot of new really fun scenes and my touring company really has some amazing improvisers. It’s going to be an exciting night.”
nb360409@ohiou.edu
