The Art of Falling
Go: Oct. 15-19 at Harris Theater at Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph Drive
Tickets: $39-$99. 312-850-9744; hubbardstreetdance.com/fall
Physical comedy has been a trusty weapon in The Second City arsenal for decades, but even the limber comedians at the storied Chicago institution have found new muscles to stretch since teaming up with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in February. And we’re not talking pantomimed pie-in-the-face kind of shtick.
“It makes me way more willing to take risks with my body,” Second City veteran Tim Mason said. “Up to this point, it was very much that when I improvised, I was a talking head. But [the Hubbard Street dancers are] so physical that I just find myself being more physically expressive.”
That shift in mindset will come in handy for Mason and his fellow funnymen and women when they trade in their bare-bones black chairs and intimate improv stages for elaborate sets at Millennium Park’s Harris Theater with the West Loop-based dance company starting Wednesday.
Unlike previous collaborations—last year’s “The Second City Guide to the Opera,” for example, was a comedic take on the subject of opera itself—Hubbard Street and Second City’s first joint venture, called “The Art of Falling,” isn’t meant to be a funny commentary on dance, but a wholly new creation that fuses comedy and dance into a single form.
“When we first saw a Hubbard Street performance, we saw ‘One Thousand Pieces’ [by resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo],” said Mason, who is also the show’s head writer. “It was so beautiful and so moving that I told Billy [Bungeroth], the director, ‘The last thing I want to do is make fun of that.’ And so that’s where kind of the starting off point of creating something a little different [came from].”
What they’ve made, an elaborate performance anchored by six actors from The Second City and 30 Hubbard Street dancers, has used the largest creative team in the dance company’s almost 40-year history. In addition to five in-house choreographers, producers, scenic designers, costume and prop designers and lighting designers were brought on board during the process, Hubbard Street artistic director Glenn Edgerton said.
“Most of our work is abstract, but here you’re getting into more storytelling,” Edgerton said. The show taps archival material from both companies and follows a handful of storylines on the titular topic of letting go, Edgerton said—a fitting analogy to the collaboration itself. “You’re allowing yourself to take a risk to the point of falling or failing,” he said. “We don’t know where it’s going and we’re just jumping full-force into this with wide eyes and excitement.”
For the performers, the coming together of mediums was more seamless than expected, though both companies faced a learning curve. Hubbard Street artists found the comedians’ style of following each others’ lead through quick-thinking and dialogue helped them with their own give-and-take, Edgerton said. The Second City’s team threw their own assumptions about dancers’ restraint and structure out the window as they watched their co-stars riff off the music and each other.
“They’re able to tell stories in a different way than we could with our words,” said Second City ensemble member Rashawn Scott, who had no dance training before joining the cast. “It’s a challenge as an actor to get to an emotional place to make people laugh and make them feel something at the same time.”
Other actors have surprised even themselves. Playing a dancer in one storyline, Second City cast member Travis Turner quickly has risen to the occasion, according to Mason. “At the other extreme, I’m still trying to stand up in this one dance,” Mason said with a laugh. And what if, come showtime, he’s still struggling? Cerrudo, the choreographer, has given Mason something of a pass: “Alejandro, the other day, was like, ‘I think it’s funny when you don’t get up at the right time. Try it. But if you don’t get it, that’s OK. If you look different, that’s good,’ ” he said.
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It’s that in-the-moment energy that The Second City is known for, and the knack for improvisation, as it turns out, was what the two companies shared. It’s also what they hope will make the ambitious production work. “The comedy part of it has found its way in ways that maybe aren’t typically Second City, and in the dance I think some of it’s not typical Hubbard Street,” Mason said. “They both obviously are coming from that place, but I think this hybrid is something completely different and new for both institutions.”
On dancing—and laughing
In September, the creative team from the Second City and Hubbard Street had a round-table discussion about “The Art of Falling.” Here are some notable excerpts:
“Everyone’s asking me to define this collaboration. What it’s not going to be is funny-silly, running-around-the-stage kind of stuff. It’ll have some touching moments, some profound moments and some truth, which underlies all humor.” —Glenn Edgerton, Hubbard Street artistic director
“One thing I noticed, though, is that for us [at Hubbard Street], improvisation is where we start in a creative process, in the studio. It’s the jumping-off point, whereas, at The Second City, there’s so much work that happens before they even get into the studio.” —Kristen Brogdon, Hubbard Street general manager
“When we went to work at Hubbard Street, I expected at first to walk into something that felt like a ballet class, that always matched the music beat-for-beat … It was so much looser and more felt that I anticipated, and our world is very loose and felt, too.” —Julie Nichols, The Second City musical director