Welcome, Second City!

Venue discussions have been afoot all year – we just recently asked a select group of venues to officially commit to Festival 2010. Our friends at Second City Los Angeles Studio Theatre are the first to sign up, making them the first official Hollywood Fringe Venue. We are proud indeed to have this legendary company and wonderful Hollywood blvd. venue with us for our first year.

And in case you didn’t know, they do indeed offer classes there. Learn more on their website.

Here’s some more information on the company, the training center, and the theatre:
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The modern purveyors of sketch and improvisational comedy, including SNL, SCTV and MADTV all owe a debt to The Second City. After 45 years of being one of Chicago’s most enduring comedy institutions their members have grown up to be some of the top names in American Comedy: John Belushi, Bill Murray, Betty Thomas, Alan Arkin, Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Bonnie Hunt, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert just to name a few.

And if the training ground of Second City is in the “Ivy League of Comedy,” it’s graduates invariably leave Chicago, Toronto or Detroit and come to Hollywood, where they don’t just sit around, they get together and ply their art form. Alumni members of the Second City such as Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer Simpson), Larry Joe Campbell (Andy on “According to Jim”), and Keegan Michael Key (actor, Mad TV) often show up on our little stage to keep expanding the state of the art of improvisation with new forms and new ideas.

The Second City Los Angeles Studio Theatre provides an environment where both students and professionals can learn, explore, expand and showcase their talents applying the distinctive Second City style. Performances at the Studio Theater range from Second City alumni productions to Training Center Graduates Greenhouse shows to our training center performances. We also offer space for outside renters.