CHICAGO — Second City, the Chicago-based comedy theater whose name is a rejoinder to East Coast snobbery in the arts and entertainment business, is heading to New York City.
The 63-year-old sketch comedy operation, headquartered throughout its history in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, said Thursday that it plans to open a new entertainment complex in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The theater said that the 11,900-square-foot space will feature a newly built mainstage theater, seven classrooms for its training operation, and a restaurant and bar.
Second City also noted that this is its first physical location in New York City.
Which is true, but Second City — now owned by Strauss Zelnick’s ZMC, a New York-based private equity firm following the 2020 exit of longtime owner Andrew Alexander — is no stranger to satellite operations.
It opened a theater in Toronto in 1973 which has been in operation since that date. In the 1990s, it had a Detroit outpost. It had a Las Vegas branch. And several decades ago, it experimented with a theater in Los Angeles. Second City also has produced shows for the Norwegian Cruise Lines. And, for many decades, it has operated touring companies performing all over North America.
Previous owners, however, were reluctant to take on New York, in part because of the fear that it would undermine the company’s outsider gestalt, not to mention the high costs of real estate and the level of competition in the entertainment industry.
By selecting Brooklyn, which many people argue is somewhat similar to Chicago, Second City perhaps has avoided taking on the pressure and the expense of Midtown.
That said, the move is radical because it likely will put pressure on Chicago to remain the theater’s flagship operation, especially given the proximity of the new Brooklyn company to decision-makers and career changers in the entertainment industry.
In the past, the centrality of the Wells Street mainstage never has been in doubt; with a theater established in New York, Second City’s newly hired CEO Ed Wells likely will have to navigate the possibility of performers wanting to showcase themselves there. Much of the company’s board and ownership is based now in New York City, though Wells is based in Chicago.
In a Sept. 13 interview with the Tribune, Wells, previously the executive vice president and global head of media and education for the Sesame Workshop, said that the new owners planned to expand to another city, although at the time he declined to say where.
In general, Second City, a mainstay of the Chicago theater community for decades and long a propellant for Midwestern writers and performers to national fame, appears to be focusing on growing its national brand. There is competition; the former Second City president Steve Johnston now works for FreeStyle Love Supreme Academy, an improv-based operation that grew out of the Broadway show of that name and was founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Wayne Brady and others. Meanwhile in Chicago, the longtime competitor i.O. is making plans to reopen, under the artistic guidance of Mick Napier, Jennifer Estlin and others with prior experience working at Second City in Chicago.
Second City said its New York City location is set to open in the summer of 2023.
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