The Second Citys New Mainstage Revue #107 Reviews
Second Urban center has new home, new bear witness and new first-time director
Managing director Paloma Nuñez discusses the challenges of making people laugh (and recollect) in an increasingly divided world
WELCOME Dorsum TO THE Future written and performed by Tricia Black, Andrew Bushell, Hannah Spear, Natalie Metcalfe, Chris Wilson and Nkasi Ogbonnah (2nd City). Previews begin Friday, December 3, opens December ix and runs for a limited time. $48-$53. Comedy Bar Danforth (2800 Danforth). comedybar.ca
Paloma Nuñez vividly recalls the first fourth dimension she stepped on a comedy stage subsequently more than than a yr of pandemic closures. Information technology was at an improv show called Prissy Time at Comedy Bar, and her fellow improvisers were ace comics Nicole Passmore, Mark Little, Dan Beirne and Lisa Merchant.
"I felt similar a piffling kid – it was then much fun!" says Nuñez. "I call up thinking, 'Wow, nosotros just made something up together.' I had forgotten what that felt like, and it was exhilarating."
Now she's on the verge of something fifty-fifty more than exhilarating: directing her outset Second Metropolis mainstage show, Welcome Back To The Future, i of two large revues inaugurating the one-act institution'due south new temporary dwelling at One-act Bar's sister building on the Danforth. (The other show is Second City'due south holiday-themed Tour Co show, The Fast & The Furiously Festive.)
Second Urban center'due south Welcome Back To The Time to come bandage rehearses 48 hours before the show'southward kickoff preview.
"It's fun to piece of work with this calibre of talent," says Nuñez, in ane of several brand new rehearsal rooms at Second City'south training centre, which has been active for the last couple of months while the theatre was being built (meet building photos below).
"I've worked with students before and lots of upwardly-and-coming talents. But being able to accept an thought of how a sketch should go, and and so watching such a great ensemble elevate it, is keen."
Every bit a mainstage alumna herself – she starred in 2nd City's 2017 revue Everything Is Great Again and was role of the massive hitting She The People – Nuñez knows about elevating terrific material. With her husky vox and large, expressive peepers – perfect for giving another character some serious side-middle – she'due south e'er come up across equally grounded, relatable and spontaneous. (She'due south as well a familiar face on film and Television set, appearing in Baroness Von Sketch Show, Spotlight and Mouthpiece. She's got a squeamish part as a pirate in next yr'south big Disney live-action film, Peter Pan & Wendy.)
View through the new box part expanse at Comedy Bar Danforth, 48 hours before it officially opens.
While a few Welcome Back To The Future sketches have been taken from Second City's last revue, the little-seen (because of lockdowns and audition capacities, non quality) CERB Your Enthusiasm, nigh scenes are new. And what was information technology like creating one-act when society seems more than divided than ever?
"My comedy philosophy is always to tell the truth," she says. "Information technology sounds cliché, but comedy is similar the saccharide to help the medicine – or message – go down. These last two years have been very center-opening about what our society is: what priorities people, politicians and corporations accept. And so it's important that we reverberate on that, think about it and look at who we are, but all through a comedic lens. We can't shy away from any of that."
Increased sensitivity around creating in a safe work environs is at present an of import office of the Second City process.
"No one will be put in a sketch if they experience uncomfortable nearly the material or the characterizations," says Nuñez. "Anybody received the scripts before we started, so people can accost any issues or concerns they might have. And then we can either recast something or selection a different sketch."
A neon chair lights up the temporary Second City preparation centre hallway.
While the final bear witness volition be finessed and tweaked during previews, some topics include race, the apocalypse and diverse kinds of relationships.
"There's a sketch about our relationships with computers, and how much more intimate it is now than information technology used to be because of Zoom," says Nuñez, laughing.
While all bandage, coiffure and audiences demand to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be in the building, that doesn't necessarily mean a sketch will make fun of anti-vaxxers.
"I want to make certain nosotros're not black and white most any event, including vaccines," she says. "There's a whole spectrum of people who aren't vaccinated, from those who have some hesitancy to, well, QAnon. We don't want to clump everyone in."
@glennsumi
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Source: https://nowtoronto.com/culture/comedy/second-city-has-new-home-new-show-and-new-first-time-director
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