The Second City 50th Anniversary Tour coming to Tusculum College on March 18
The famed Second City brand of topical sketch comedy will be coming to the stage at Tusculum College on Thursday, March 18.
A night of cutting edge comedy and a chance to see stars in-the-making turn The Second City 50th Anniversary Tour into an unforgettable experience for audiences. Tusculum will welcome the tour for a performance at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on campus. The performance is part of Arts Outreach’s Acts, Arts, Academia 2009-10 performance and lecture series.
The Second City 50th Anniversary Tour is a comedy revue that dips into the past as a bridge to the present. The show features snippets of scenes written by a plethora of comedy greats who graced the stages of The Second City during the past 50 years such as Alan Arkin, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and more.
But, the show also allows the current ensemble of future stars to use the innovations of their predecessors to create comedy that is wholly of its time – humor that speaks to the current economic woes, political hopes and what it means to be living in such extraordinary times.
The Second City has built a reputation in its past 50 years of launching new talent and creating topical comedy ripped from the day’s headlines. The list of Second City alumni reads like a who’s who of the greatest comics of the past 50 years with names such as Alan Alda, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, David Steinberg, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Martin Short, Bonnie Hunt, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, and Steve Carell.
Will the actors/comedians of the 50th Anniversary Tour rise to the heights of their predecessors? Only time will tell. But, this tour allows audiences to get a taste of the top up-and-coming comedic talent.
The show will feature Edgar Blackmon, Ross Bryant, Dana Quercioli, Natalie Sullivan and Jackson, Tenn., native Derek Shipman.
Blackmon, who grew up in Richton Park, Ill., is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory and has performed in the award-winning play, “Skinny.” He has also been a skit writer and performer for Second City’s Outreach and Diversity division.
Bryant, who has a degree in performance studies from Appalachian State University, is an ensemble member of the critically acclaimed improvisation groups, “The Improvised Shakespeare Company” and “Baby Wants Candy.” The North Carolina native has also appeared at the iO Theater and ComedySportz Chicago and all across the country in the hip-hop improv show, “The Beatbox.”
Quercioli, an Oho native, has performed as part of a number of improvisation groups as well as at Second City Cleveland.
After earning a degree in performance from Northern Kentucky University, Shipman went to study with The Second City in Las Vegas and then joined the casts of Second City that perform on Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Sullivan, who is from Florida, has written and performed several sketch revues with improvisation groups and shows. She has performed at Maine’s ImprovAcadia and at Second City Detroit and is currently an ensemble member at ComedySportz Chicago.
Admission for the show is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors (age 60 and over). For more information, contact Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620, e-mail jhollowell@tusculum.edu or visit http://arts.tusculum.edu.
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