Something Wonderful Right Away: The Birth of Second CityAmerica's Greatest Comedy Theater

(Paperback, 2nd Edition, Second Edition)

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Discover the behind-the-scenes story of how The Second City theater created a generation of world classgreat actors, directors, and writers.

In the late Fifties and Sixties, iconoclastic young rebels in Chicago opened two tiny theatersThe Compass and The Second Citywhere they satirized politics, religion and sex. Developing scenes by improvising based on audience suggestions turned out to be a fine way to develop great actors, directors, and writers. Alumni went on to create such ground-breaking works as The Graduate, Groundhog Day, and Dont Look Up. Many of them also became stars on Saturday Night Live.Something Wonderful Right Away features the pioneers who founded the empire that transformed American comedy.

This new edition tells even more of the story. Included for the first time is an interview with Viola Spolin, the genius who invented theater games that were the foundation of improvisational theater. Also included are dozens of follow-up stories about Mike Nichols, Barbara Harris, Del Close, Joan Rivers, Alan Arkin, and Gilda Radner, plus You Only Shoot the Ones You Love, the story of how this books author, playwright Jeffrey Sweet, ended up being so involved in the community he covered that he was captured by it.

Reviews

"Intriguing! Shop-talkwith its mixture of practical philosophy, anecdotes and just plain gossipis always interesting. ButSomething Wonderful Right Awayhas all that and something else besides. A fascinating story of creativity and conflict."
Chicago Tribune

"If you are interested in the theater, films or television, or if you just like to laugh, don't miss it."
Newsday

An important book about the most important American theatrical endeavor since the Group Theater. Plus, its fun to read.
David Mamet

I could not put it down. It brought back all the sweet, tender, funny, horrendous, angry and exhilarating moments that I still have concerning Second City.
Joan Rivers

Author Bio

Jeffrey Sweet is a founding resident writer of Chicagos Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater, where many of his plays (including The Value of Names, Porch, Flyovers, The Action Against Sol Schumann and Court-Martial at Fort Devens) have premiered before playing on stages around the world. His book, The Dramatists Toolkit, is a widely-used text on playwriting, and The ONeill is a history of the Eugene ONeill Theater Center. Among the actors who have starred in his scripts are Ellen Burstyn, Alan Bates, Richard Kind, Nathan Lane, Jon Cryer, William Petersen, Amy Morton, Gary Cole, Jack Klugman, and Megan Mullally.