The Second City

I am a graduate of The Second City Comedy Improv in Chicago, Illinois.  I flew to Chicago, from Ohio, every weekend for classes for 2 1/2 years.  I earned quite a few frequent flyer miles.  The last three months of my career at The Second City I had the privilege of performing on stage every Monday night at 8:00.  I was also teaching full time in Ohio during this entire experience.  I would catch a plane immediately after my students left the building in Ohio every Monday, perform on stage in Chicago, fly home ready to teach on Tuesday morning!  It was an experience of a lifetime!  I loved every second of it.

This page takes you through the journey of my Second City experience!  

Orientation Day at The Second City Conservatory.
I am pointing to my favorite Second City Alumni...Gilda Radner!!!

My very first experience at The Second City Conservatory Program was Orientation Day.  I learned so much from Martin De Maat that very special day.  He studied under Viola Spolin, the mother of improvisational theater.  Martin De Maat and Del Close were the two main figures of the Chicago improvisational comedy scene in the late 80's and throughout the 1990s.  The highlights of what I learned are as follows.

"This stuff (improvisation) is very easy to do if you get yourself out of the way."

Never deny your fellow actor...always agree and add new information "Yes and..."

Don't ask your fellow actor questions in a scene..."What is it?" (Unless you are adding information.)  Questioning during a scene is avoiding commitment to a choice and forces your fellow actor to fill in information and work harder.  Speak in statements.

"You do not have the right to feel inadequate." There are no mistakes...just opportunities!

My 1st Second City Class - 

The very first thing we did were muscle warm ups.

Next, we worked on walking on stage and making eye contact, only saying a one or two word greeting.  For example - hi, howdy, later, see ya, good bye.

We performed a series of 2 person scenes with the 1st line of dialogue given to us by the instructor.  The focus was to notice each person that enters and accept them.  

Lesson Learned - "Give yourself a focus or Point of Concentration (POC)"

Learning Points -

• At times, start a scene as if it were mid-scene.  This helps the scene to move and creates emotion instead of starting from scratch.
• Forget yourself and BE your character.
• Say or do something to effect or affect the scene, or the person in the scene, right away to move it.
• Acting is about affecting other people.
• When doing characters, do what you know.
• A good improvisor offers something good to move things along.
• In improv you have so many things available to you - ie. instant boyfriend in your purse!
• When you are in a scene NEVER talk about what you are doing - ie. If you are in a grocery scene stocking shelves don't say, "Yep, more cans."  Instead, "Gee, I think I left the garage door open when I left for work today."
• Keep your scene in the present.  What's happening here and now.

My 2nd Second City Class - 

We introduced ourselves just a little left or right to our REAL selves.  We created commercials with the idea that in improv - you have so many things available to you.  For example, you have an instant   meatloaf in your purse to use in the scene.

My commercial sketches consisted of Stroller Coasters - a stroller for that thrill seeker baby!  My 2nd commercial was Multi-Purpose Silver Spray - good for old balding hair touch ups, tarnished silverware, spray-on jewelry, auto body touch-ups, and that dental work look!!