Stage 773's to host
The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival
The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival
Published by Sareth Ney on Sept. 15, 2016 at 4:48 p.m.
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CHICAGO – The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival will be taking place at Stage 773, from Jan. 5 through 15. Each sketch performance will be taking place in each of the following theaters: The Cab, The Box, The Pro and The Thrust.
Brian Posen, teacher and director, idea for The Comedy Sketch Comedy Festival began in 2001. In Jan. of 2002, 35 local sketch comedy groups were invited and participated to participate. For seven weeks, they performed and over 2,000 onlookers were in attendance at the Theatre Building.
In 2002, the Theatre Building was the venue which hosted The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. It grew to become the largest festival for sketch comedy. National troupes were welcomed to take part.
“Our goal is to help build a creative relationship between sketch groups,” Posen stated. “There are just too many groups [in Chicago]. Second City and other schools are generating so many people who are so well-trained. And then they graduate and go off and form all of these different groups. The festival provides a venue for the troupes to enjoy and learn from each other’s work, while entertaining audiences in the process.”
By 2004, three theaters and 120 showcases were involved with The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. 5,500 onlookers looked on. Over 70 groups from all over the U.S. and over 600 artists were involved. Sketchubator and Octasketch were two events added to the bill. For Octasketch, four directors were assigned five writers and performers from the 180 groups. Together, they had eight hours to create a 30 minute sketch and they had to perform it the night of.
Over 160 applied to be part of The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, in 2005. Canadian acts were also part of the festivities. Topics covered include: political, clowning, absurdism, race and women issues. By 2006, MasterSketch was added. A workshop of the same name followed, in 2007. Panelists consisted of: Harold Ramis, Kelly Leonard, Mick Napier, Ron West, TJ Jagedowski and Mary Scruggs. Workshops were taught by: Pat O’Brien, Colleen Murray, Mark Sutton and Matt Elwell.
Since then, over 180 groups from around the world have participated in The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. 200 shows take place over eight days, every hour and on the hour. There are 20 shows per night and over 11,000 spectators have attended. It is family friendly, as well. Applications are being accepted until Oct. 15, by clicking here.
Brian Posen, teacher and director, idea for The Comedy Sketch Comedy Festival began in 2001. In Jan. of 2002, 35 local sketch comedy groups were invited and participated to participate. For seven weeks, they performed and over 2,000 onlookers were in attendance at the Theatre Building.
In 2002, the Theatre Building was the venue which hosted The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. It grew to become the largest festival for sketch comedy. National troupes were welcomed to take part.
“Our goal is to help build a creative relationship between sketch groups,” Posen stated. “There are just too many groups [in Chicago]. Second City and other schools are generating so many people who are so well-trained. And then they graduate and go off and form all of these different groups. The festival provides a venue for the troupes to enjoy and learn from each other’s work, while entertaining audiences in the process.”
By 2004, three theaters and 120 showcases were involved with The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. 5,500 onlookers looked on. Over 70 groups from all over the U.S. and over 600 artists were involved. Sketchubator and Octasketch were two events added to the bill. For Octasketch, four directors were assigned five writers and performers from the 180 groups. Together, they had eight hours to create a 30 minute sketch and they had to perform it the night of.
Over 160 applied to be part of The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, in 2005. Canadian acts were also part of the festivities. Topics covered include: political, clowning, absurdism, race and women issues. By 2006, MasterSketch was added. A workshop of the same name followed, in 2007. Panelists consisted of: Harold Ramis, Kelly Leonard, Mick Napier, Ron West, TJ Jagedowski and Mary Scruggs. Workshops were taught by: Pat O’Brien, Colleen Murray, Mark Sutton and Matt Elwell.
Since then, over 180 groups from around the world have participated in The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. 200 shows take place over eight days, every hour and on the hour. There are 20 shows per night and over 11,000 spectators have attended. It is family friendly, as well. Applications are being accepted until Oct. 15, by clicking here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sareth Ney is the journalist for A Quarter and Dream Pictures. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications and Center for New Media from Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is a former apprentice to master of horror, Clive Barker. He is a Wu-Tang Clan inspired superhero, Wu-Man Chu. He is an award-winning short filmmaker; his goal is to write 150 articles in select time zones, inducts every article into his hall of fame, is a stand-up comedian, motivational speaker, founder and co-host of Pueblo's Independent Multimedia Podcast and is the festival director at Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival.