Second City is growing to make room for students
Theatre on Blue Jays Way expands by 8,000 square feet, with studios and new stage
Second City is growing again, expanding its main theatre building by 8,000 square feet to house an everrising number of improv and sketch comedy students.
A decade ago, about 2,000 students would sign up annually at the Toronto location of the world’s most famous improv and sketch comedy theatre company.
Now, Second City gets more than 6,000 students over six terms in a calendar year, with some getting wait-listed.
The Canadian-owned company has been expanding across the chain, which includes resident stages in Chicago and Toronto, and training centres in Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles, said Klaus Schuller, producer and executive director of the local training centre.
“Over the last several (years) in particular, there’s been a largely increased interest in improv-based training, not just for people who have been looking to get into comedy but for people who use it socially, or to improve their communication or presentation skills,” he said.
The design and construction of the expansion, currently underway on the third floor of 99 Blue Jays Way, is being managed by Williams Craig Design. Second City was so pleased with the Toronto interior design firm’s proposal, it also hired Williams Craig to oversee a “gargantuan” 25,000-square-foot expansion at Second City Chicago, Schuller said.
Toronto’s expansion will include eight multimedia studios, a lounge area and a 65-seat John Candy Box Theatre, currently found at the company’s Peter St. location. That location last expanded only five years ago, with Second City buying space from a business across the hall, but the company once again found itself in need of more room.
“The biggest change is that now our primary centre for training is going to be integrated into the same building as our theatre. Until now, we’ve been separated by a couple of blocks,” Schuller said.
“Having the ability for the happy accident of our students being able to mingle with the professionals and having the staffs of the various parts of our organization in the same building is going to be great for us as a company.”
Second City is also trying to incorporate the notion of a third space — a place other than home and work where a person feels that same sense of belonging — to the expansion.
“(Second City) already is (a third space) to a degree,” Schuller said. “It’s amazing how committed the students are and how much time they want to spend there, but having a space that has dedicated lounge and work areas for students, giving them the ability to hang out and watch their peers perform, is a big part of the design.”
Erin Conway, general manager of the training centre, said the company is hoping to launch an on-demand, searchable database of Second City’s archival material in tandem with the grand opening of the new space, which is expected in mid-April.
“Students will be able to access it. Some just watch to get a better understanding of what we do and for some it’s homework, because they’re working on also putting together a Second-City-style review,” she said.
Even more history will find its way into the expansion: Conway said a piece of the Old Fire Hall stage from Second City’s first Toronto location will be installed in the new John Candy Box Theatre.
It should thrill students who look up to the theatre’s namesake, the star of SCTV and films like Uncle Buck and Trains, Planes & Automobiles who died of a heart attack 21 years ago this week, executive director Schuller said.
“They can literally walk the same boards that John Candy walked.”