Tag archives for comedy
How does the longest running play in Chicago remain relevant?
As the car trailed down Ashland Avenue, the one thought running through my head was ‘This cannot possibly be the right place’. Albeit large, the avenue in which the Neo-Futurist Theater is located seemed mostly residential: highly standardized townhouses, dim lights, and no nightlife to be seen. The apparent misplaced location of the Neo-Futurist Theater was, however, one of...
Comedy in Chicago: The Birthplace of Comic Muscle, How Well Is It Holding Up?
For every global tourist who pulls out the Lonely Planet guidebook upon arriving at O’Hare Airport, page 269 makes a bold claim, “Were it not for Chicago’s second city comedy troupe which evolved from intentionally unstructured skits by the Compass Player, a mid-1950s group of University of Chicago undergrads, the proverbial chicken might still be crossing the road of...
The Second City in the Second City
Author: Jinglan Hong Program of Study: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS), Division of the Social Sciences (SSD) Located at 230 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60614, sits a nationally-renowned comedy theater. The Second City has been an influential improv comedy enterprise for the past decades. Its connection to Chicago is so obvious that one can...