When Chicago advertising executive Jon Rappoport, an account supervisor at Leo Burnett, was looking for some fun, he took acting classes at the same place to which the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor turned when planning its national conference, held recently in Chicago.
And it’s the place Toni Vollmers, in charge of training and development for Chicago’s Ariel Capital, contacted when she was looking for a non-traditional approach to improving communication skills, and where 16-year-old Peter Mathias followed up on a passion for comedy sparked during the Latin School’s Project Week.
That one-stop comedy and training shop is Second City. It seems that the famed troupe that spawned Barbara Harris, Alan Arkin, Jim Belushi and Harold Ramis is not only an entertaining nightspot and talent incubator but a community resource as well.
After work and on Saturdays, adults and high schoolers eager to learn improvisation at Second City’s renowned Training Center flock to Piper’s Alley, the troupe’s Chicago home at North Avenue and Wells Street. Second City also has theaters, training centers or both at branches in Arlington Heights, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Cleveland and Toronto.
During the week and at weekend conferences, Second City alumni, national touring company actors and other members of Second City’s professional family cross over from the entertainment side to Second City Communications, working on- and off-site with business people and educators interested in improving their skills.
Ed Dunkelblau, conference chairman for the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, tapped Second City Communications when he learned his organization’s annual meeting would be in Chicago.
“When you think about humor in Chicago, you think Second City,” said Dunkelblau, a Des Plaines consultant who works with middle management on issues such as teamwork and friction and with school systems on stress and violence problems. “It made perfect sense. Second City has taken their improv methods and expertise and adapted them to the workplace. Our organization is all about finding new methods for the betterment of the human condition. We relate humor and laughter to health care, business and education.”
At the microphone in Chicago’s Hotel Monaco, former Second City touring company member Dan Bakkedahl, just back from a USO trip to Bosnia, put about 100 association members through some exercises.
“Grab a chair and a partner, start a conversation. When the person is obviously through with a thought say, `Thank you,’ then add to the conversation,” he said.
He explained the exercise afterward: “It’s a lesson about waiting until the other person is done. Saying `thank you’ shows you value the person’s words. If you say thank you, you can’t help but have a thank-you face.”
Next, he told them to converse but to start each exchange by repeating the partner’s last word or phrase, the better to focus the listener’s attention.
“Was that frustrating?” he asked. “People interrupt, verbally or non-verbally, if a person stops listening.”
“We’re a perfect match,” Dunkelblau said later of enlisting Second City Communications. “They were blown away by our group’s excitement and cooperation and this was like ice cream for our group. They loved it.”
A few trial runs
Vollmers gave Second City’s expertise a try before booking a day and a half-long retreat at the Fairmont Hotel in January. She had heard about SC Communications classes from a co-worker. Then she and a group from Ariel went to Piper’s Alley for a half-day session in July.
“It was kind of hip and cool,” she said.
The retreat was the next step in working on communication skills through a variety of exercises.
“I didn’t want someone to just stand up and talk on communication with a `blah, blah, blah.’ I wanted it to be experiential. Then people go, `Aha.’ That’s more effective than us saying you are terrible listeners,” Vollmers said.
Businesses and organizations have embraced the idea of mastering skills used on stage and turning to them in work and social situations, said Tom Yorton, Second City International Communications president.
“We doubled the business the first quarter of this year over last year,” Yorton said. “We’ve had staggering growth.”
The attraction, he said, is that Second City tailors its exercises to company needs.
“It’s not a generic presentation skills workshop,” he said. “We talk over the issues to cover.”
He pointed out that SC improvisation was based on games and exercises used by Viola Spolin when she taught drama at Jane Addams’ Hull House in the 1920s. Spolin’s son and Second City founder Paul Sills adapted the techniques, which had been used by his mother to bridge cultural and communication gaps and build confidence and teamwork.
“The tenets of improvisation are good as an education tool,” Yorton said.
They are also in abundant evidence at Second City’s Training Center, an assortment of rooms tucked down halls and into nooks on the fourth floor of the Piper’s Alley facility. A variety of students mingle in Levels A (lowest) through D (highest) of the Adult Beginning Program (Improvisation) and Acting or Writing. From there they may audition to continue on in Second City’s Conservatory Program, a five-level advanced program that further develops scene and character building and offers performance opportunities in the Training Center’s 4th floor Donny’s Skybox Theater and the more prestigious main-floor e.t.c. Theater.
“We have everyone from people with no acting experience to actors,” said Rob Chambers, training center director. “Some people want to expand their social life. Some in their 30s are tired of the bar scene and it’s harder for them to meet people. Lots of relationships have developed here. Some people want to change careers. Some people want to become actors. Some want to increase their social skills and develop confidence. We have people of all ages. [The adult program] really runs the gamut from 19 to retirees. What’s really interesting is our lobby is like a college commons.”
Being funny, just for fun
After spending a year working his way up through the levels, Rappoport is ready to go on to the conservatory–just for fun, he said.
“I started for a number of reasons,” he said. “First, I heard that other people at Burnett take it. That intrigued me right away because my hobby is theater. I had done some in college but hadn’t done that in a while.
“And I can continue through the company to enhance my skills,” he said, pointing out the connections between advertising and improv.
“What’s unique about improv is that it is as much about wearing a number of different hats as my job is. My job is like a snowflake. Literally no two days are alike. Improv is all about being able to adapt to changing situations and the people around you. The key is not that what people say on stage is funny but how they interact, their level of spontaneity,” Rappoport said. “My job centers on support and reaction. I have to facilitate what people want to accomplish. It’s not about my own chance to shine in the spotlight. The worst performers are those who want the spotlight. For me all the world’s a stage and always has been. It’s not your stage, however, but everyone’s stage.”
Some form of that message, that acting is about interacting and communicating, works its way into every class.
On a recent Saturday in a fourth-floor classroom, instructor Jackie Stone had her Level A class toss imaginary balls to each other.
“Remember, the ball has weight, it has size,” she said. “The catcher has to know that weight and size.”
Downstairs, on SC’s Mainstage, instructor Michael Piper told a couple of members of his Acting 1 class to build on each other’s emotions and reactions.
Actors embark on journey
“What you find yourself doing when working with another good actor is you’re going on a journey together,” Piper said.
It took just one Second City class to show Latin School sophomore Peter Mathias just how much the world can be a stage and how people interact with each other on that stage. He sought out the class after a weeklong improv sampling arranged through his high school whetted his appetite for more.
“I’ve always lived in a very close radius to Second City. My older sister [Alice, a senior at the Latin School] completed the program there and I always watch `Saturday Night Live’ so I definitely valued comedy. But I play hockey and did not have time to experience theater, to develop my theatrical side,” Mathias said. “Then I took `Truth in Comedy’ at school during Project Week. The foundation of the class centered on the book of the same name written by Del Close [an SC alumnus, class of 1961]. The class inspired me to continue improv. And I can do it right in the neighborhood. Second City is my live, new outlet.”
His Second City class ended as his high school baseball season began but Mathias plans to take more classes in the future.
“Even if I don’t go on with it as a profession, I know for a fact that the skills I have already learned in the Level A class won’t just help in the theater. They will help in all aspects of life: thinking, public speaking and others,” he said.
His mom, Julie Mathias, is just as enthusiastic.
“Second City is a neighborhood treasure,” she said. “It’s incredible.”
———-
For class or summer camp fees, schedule and descriptions call 312-664-3959 or visit www.secondcity.com.
