The Second City

The Second City is a long-running improvisational theatre based in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto, metro-Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York.

History

Second City evolved from the Compass Players, a 1950s cabaret revue show started by undergraduates at the University of Chicago. The troupe chose the self-mocking name "The Second City" from the title of an article about Chicago by A. J. Liebling that appeared in The New Yorker in 1952. In 1959, the first Second City revue show premiered at 1842 North Wells Street and moved to 1616 North Wells in 1967. Co-founder Bernard Sahlins owned the theater company until 1985, before selling it to Canadian Andrew Alexander.

The style of comedy has changed with time, but the format has remained constant. Second City revues feature a mix of semi-improvised and scripted scenes with new material developed during unscripted improv sessions after the second act where scenes are created based on audience suggestions. A Second City innovation is the inclusion of live, improvised music during the performance.

A number of well-known performers began careers as part of the historic troupe and later moved to television and film. In the mid-1970s, Second City became a source of cast members for Saturday Night Live and SCTV, which borrowed many of the writing and performing techniques pioneered by Second City and other improv groups.

Along with its theaters, training centers, and television shows, Second City also produces improv and sketch shows for Norwegian Cruise Lines.