Off-Off Campus
Off-Off Campus is an improvisational and sketch comedy group at the University of Chicago,[1] and the oldest collegiate group of its kind in the United States.[2] It was founded in 1986 by The Second City co-founder Bernie Sahlins, who is also an alumnus of the University of Chicago.[3][4]
| Off-Off Campus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Improvisation Sketch Comedy |
| Date of premiere | 1986 |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Creative team | |
| Founder | Bernie Sahlins |
| Production Manager | Jo Blankson |
| Assistant Production Manager | Nick Demetroulakos |
| Official website | |
Off-Off Campus stems from a rich tradition of improv comedy at the University of Chicago. In the early 1950s, improv as it is known today was invented on the University of Chicago campus at the Woodlawn Tap. In 1959, the group, called the Compass Players, went on to form The Second City.[5]
In 1986, Bernie Sahlins returned to the U of C in order to re-establish improv and sketch comedy on the south side of Chicago.[1] The first generation of Off-Off Campus was trained by Sahlins, and the group continues to build on the foundation he created.[6][7]
In addition to Off-Off's rich tradition, its successful alumni distinguish the group further. Pulitzer prize winner David Auburn was a member of Off-Off's second generation.[8][9] Sarah Koenig, host and executive producer of the acclaimed podcast Serial, was a member of the same generation as Auburn.[10] In addition, Tony Award-winner Greg Kotis was one of Off-Off's original members.[3] Tami Sagher, a member of the seventh generation, is a writer for 30 Rock. Other Off-Off Campus alumni have written for MADTV and The Onion, created You Don't Know Jack, and performed on The Second City's mainstage.
Off-Off Campus operates in accordance with the University of Chicago's quarter system. Auditions are held during the first week of each fall quarter.[11] New members train significantly (roughly 20 hours a week)[12] during fall and winter quarters before becoming responsible for mainstage revues in the spring and the following fall. During training, new members also contribute afterglows and preglows around the mainstage revue. Winter quarter mainstage revues are inter-generational.
More, including contact information, can be found on the Off-Off Campus website.
Performances
Structure
Off-Off performs during the fall through spring quarters of each University of Chicago school year (the summer quarter is optional for students at the University), with performances held on Friday's of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth weeks. Weekly Performances typically consist of a shorter preglow (opening act), performed by either non-mainstage members of Off-Off Campus or various performance-based clubs at the University, and a longer main performance by the current mainstage generation.
Current Revue
Off-Off is currently in the midst of their Spring 2022 revue (titled Soup!), with Generation Thirty-Six taking the mainstage. Thirty-Six is performing long-form improv shows each Friday from April 22, 2022, to May 20, 2022.
Past Revues
Past Off-Off performances can be found on the Off-Off Campus YouTube Channel.
Tour
Off-Off has a tradition of going on tour to preform improv and sketches at different venues across the United States, most notably New York City. Off-Off's next tour is planned for early June, 2022, in New York City.
List of Generations and Members[13]
| Generation (Year Cast) | Members (Alphebetical) |
|---|---|
| The The First Generation (1986) | Doug Anderson
Hilary Barnes Peter Bernstein Matthew Denckla Jacqueline Edelberg Adam Finkel Bob Fisher Bert Fry Judith Gershon Larry Hess Richard Lerner Bradley Lippitz Juan Luco Robert Michael-Bain Thomas Mulhern Ellen Nerenberg Meredith Neuman Todd Packer Douglas Ryan Heather Sampson |
| The Second Generation (1987) | Dave Auburn
Mark Gerrard Jeff Hesser Jeremy Kareken Lara Marcuse Jo-Elle Munchak Arianna Packard Craig Shaynak Adam Smedstad |
| The Third Generation (1988) | Zannah Bradley
Arielle Eckstut Derek Hartman Emily Kadens Thomas Maeglin Steve Mitchell Mike Mulvihill |
| The Fourth Generation (1989) | Kathy Cooperman
Peter Flamm Henry Kandel Ben Lorch Edmund O'Brien Katie Pearl Scott Schudy Nadine Warner |
| The Fifth Generation (1990) | Dana Allande
Phil Aman Emily Baird Brent Brown An Dinh Anita Houck Alex Levine Alexis Mullin-Mulvihill Dennis O'Brien |
| The Sixth Generation (1991) | John Bourdeaux
Jesse Carnal Marisa Cohen Drew Herman Josh Levin Gilad Rosner Celina Schoken Hannah Simon Elena Tuskenis |
| The Seventh Generation (1992) | Dan Goldstein
Colin Johnson John McCorry Abigail Sher James Spencer |
| The Eighth Generation (1993) | Sandeep Bhatt
Eleanor Burke Chris Conry Jon Darbro Rachael Neile-McGrew Eric Pogrelis |
| The Ninth Generation (1994) | Joe Bell
Erica Charpentier Nick Green Katrina Harrison Will Jones Sam Schindler David Stern Sara Wolfson |
| The Tenth Generation (1995) | Catherine Cooper
Sean Foley Matthew Irvin Russell Smith |
| The Eleventh Generation (1996) | Beth Adams
Heather Goers Kevin Greenberg Jason McNutt Keith Murphy Julian Stetkevych Alex Stone Rachel Thompson Craig Wiley |
| The Twelfth Generation (1997) | Amelia Baxter
Megan Biddinger Audrey Hannah Sean Henry Steve Lund Dan Meltz Dawn Roscoe |
| The Thirteenth Generation (1998) | Maya Ganguly
Robert Kennedy Avram Klein Melanie MacBride Chani Rajan Joachem Riesthuis Justin Seidner |
| The Fourteenth Generation (1999) | Doug Guerra
Rebecca Jarvis Virginia Killian Azubah Lauenstein-Denjongpa Ann Marie Lonsdale Molly Proue Nick Zimmerman |
| The Fifteenth Generation (2000) | Greg Beam
Heather Gillers J.S. Irick John J. Lovejoy Scott Sherman Damien Stankiewicz Nathanael West-Rosenthal |
| The Sixteenth Generation (2001) | James Adelman
Jeremy Barr Amy Biegelsen Meredith Ibey Andy Marchesseault Jose Portuondo Ria Soler Courtney Wassell |
| The Seventeenth Generation (2002) | Ramiro Castro, Jr.
David Maher Rebecca Phillips Leila S. Sales Lucy Wall |
| The Eighteenth Generation (2003) | Harish Amirthalingam
Rachel Austin Cara Clifford Francisco Ignatius Colon Dana Kroop Simone Martin-Newberry Jesse Robbins Benjamin Tuber |
| The Nineteenth Generation (2004) | Katie Bockes
Drew Dir Sam Guinan-Nyhart Deena Heller Lizzie Martinez Ari Williams Alex Yablon Bobby Zacharias |
| The Twentieth Generation (2005) | Victoria Bartley
David Brent Melissa Graham Morgan Maher Lila Newman Sarah Rosenshine Mitch Salm Lucas Whitehead |
| The Twenty-First Generation (2006) | Bryan Duff
Becca Dorf Kelsey Glass-Johnston Chapin Gregor Aaron Horton Kit Novotny Viraj Talwar |
| The Twenty-Second Generation (2007) | Briana Finegan
Michael Guido Horatio Joyce Jessica Kadish Megan Kingsbury Ben Mizel Graham Rosby Allison Ringhand |
| The Twenty-Third Generation (2008) | Timur Akman-Duffy
Amy Brunner Kate Cornelius-Schecter Peter Damm Ed Hausman Melanie Kassel Jane Kehoe Alex Zorn |
| The Twenty-Fourth Generation (2009) | Paul Chang
Molly Miller Ariana Nedelman Harmon Siegel Alex Stein Evan Weiss |
| The Twenty-Fifth Generation (2010) | Jacob Becker
Sam Blobaüm Hilary Clifford Katie Hunter Hannah Leskosky Brent Rappaport Janet Xu |
| The Twenty-Sixth Generation (2011) | Davio Cianci
Patrick Ford Peter Herman Haley Johnson Natalya Samee Will Stack Eric Stone |
| The Twenty-Seventh Generation (2012) | Dan Ackerman
Karlee Esmailli Jenny Keroack Peter Moller Danny Patton Kevin D Shang |
| The Twenty-Eight Generation (2013) | Oliver Fornell
Collin Lapinsky Albert Nam Melissa Needlman Dee Nitz |
| The Twenty-Ninth Generation (2014) | Val Bodurtha
Ryan Boylan Pearson Goodman Rahil Khemani Graham Northrup Andrea Popova Milena Pross |
| The Thirtieth Generation (2015) | Chase Harrison
Marlo Knapp-Fadani Sampson Ohringer Hannah Skaran Jack Wanberg Regina Wen |
| The Thirty-First Generation (2016) | Ellen Askey
Greer Baxter Cameron Miller Yamini Nambimadom Chinwendu Nwakudu Andrew Olmstead Zavior Phillips Isabella Zanobini |
| The Thirty-Second Generation (2017) | Alisa Boland
Matthew Bonanno Ella Nagle Priya Gandhi Ethan MacCumber Gideon McCarty Erika Steiner |
| The Thirty-Third Generation (2018) | Jo Blankson
Joey Cipriano Bradley Goldsmith A.J. Kinstlick Anne Lim Sofia Nam Liva Pierce Alex Rosencrance |
| The Thirty-Fourth Generation (2019) | Joshua Beirich
Hannah Brody Nick Demetroulakos Rae Friedman Mabel Lewis Zip Payne Hank Sanders |
| The Thirty-Fifth Generation (2020) | Rohan Tripathi
Harper Learmonth Angelina Torre Gwendolyn Laub Jacob Schroeder Maatkara Wilson Alexander Stern |
| The Thirty-Sixth Generation (2021) | Urunna Anyanwu
Chris Burkhard Summer Cramer London Mahaley Josh Nkhata Kate Seiter Luke Walker Angele Yang |
References
- "Off-Off-Campus provides creative outlet, comic relief". The Chicago Chronicle. February 3, 1994. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- "Off-Off: legacy of laughs". The Chicago Maroon. May 8, 2003. Retrieved Sep 23, 2009.
- "Laugh Lessons: College-based troupes make improvisation academic". Time Out (Chicago). Aug 15, 2006. Retrieved Sep 23, 2009.
- "Off-Off Campus hosts a revolutionary 40th revue". The University of Chicago Magazine. April 2000. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- "Off-Off Campus celebrating first decade with two shows". The Chicago Chronicle. May 23, 1996. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- "Critic to campus jokesters: Stop this world, I want to get Off-Off". The Chicago Maroon. Nov 9, 2004. Retrieved Sep 23, 2009.
- "The next generation of Off-Off proves its worth with stellar sketch and improv". The Chicago Maroon. May 15, 2006. Retrieved Sep 23, 2009.
- "Some students walk into a bar..." The University of Chicago Magazine. October 2005. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- Gussow, Mel (May 29, 2000). "With Math, a Playwright Explores a Family in Stress". The New York Times. Retrieved Sep 24, 2009.
- "Uncommon Interview: Serial's Sarah Koenig (A.B. '90)". The Chicago Maroon. Mar 2, 2015. Retrieved Mar 5, 2015.
- Univ. of Chicago, University Theatre
- "Nostalgia, Sleepovers, and Al Gore: The next generation of Off-Off Campus takes the stage". Chicago Weekly. Apr 26, 2007. Retrieved Sep 23, 2009.
- "Off-Off Campus". Off-Off Campus. Retrieved 2022-04-19.