The Second City Touring Company (Second City) will bring its improvisational-themed show to the stage at USAO. On March 27, at 6:30 p.m., Second City will perform in the Te Ata Memorial Auditorium.
Improvisational (improv) theatre is performing with suggestions from the audience based on current events. The idea is to bring some comedic relief to anything occurring in society. Improv theatre uses audience involvement, such as teaching the audience the sort of games that will be played onstage, to make a show happen.
The fame that comes with Second City’s improv theatre is the idea of seeing actors, who have undergone years of training, respond to audience suggestions in real-time. The shows that they put on range from a short sketch to a long performance.
“Most people’s connection to Second City comes either through having seen an improv show by them, or by the 1980s they had developed a show called SCTV,” Katie Davis, professor of theatre and executive director of the Davis-Waldorf Performing Arts Series (DWPAS).
Actors are trained for years to make the improv shows happen. The training is imperative to ensure proper delivery of lines, ease of using audience ideas, and more important factors.
“That’s the biggest thing with improv, the illusion in improvisation is that everything happens out of nothing,” Davis said.
Second City’s show will involve topics relevant to the audience, specifically USAO.
“Within 30 days of when they do their show, I have to write them a bunch of stuff about what’s going on in Chickasha, what’s going on in Oklahoma, what’s going on our campus,” Davis said.
Davis also mentioned that the show will include an element of social commentary. The show will be aimed at the college level. Some themes that may appear in Second City’s show are politics, social commentaries, and others related to the audience.
Considering the show is aimed at college students, the themes included are not recommended for younger viewers.
Those who wish to see Second City’s show can purchase tickets via the DWPAS website.
Whitley Brown is a second-year communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
