Letting Students Rule the World

Toronto's famed comedy theatre The Second City educates with humour and entertainment

If you first think of The Second City, Toronto's legendary comedy club, you will likely conjure up an image of actors and comedians performing on stage night after night and dreaming about the day they are finally discovered. The theatre, which is located on 56 Blue Jays Way, has for years been a mecca for comedic talents that went on to achieve international fame: Martin Short, Mike Myers, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O'Hara, and the list goes on. In fact, since 1973, the Toronto landmark has been the starting point for many of North America's noted comedic actors, writers, and directors. They've all passed through here to hone their craft at sketch comedy and improvisational skills.
What you might not know is that in the last few years The Second City has become a renowned training facility for students and teachers. Seven days a week, the famed comedic institution provides specialized communication workshops for students and teachers at schools across Ontario, or within its very walls. It's all part of The Second City's Students Rule! education program, a cooperative initiative with Pepsi that has become a remarkable success story.
"I formed a partnership with the owners of Second City in May of 1999," explains general manager and partner Jody Bishop. "I started researching what it would take to work with students and teachers in Ontario," he says about the beginnings of the Students Rule! educational program.
Bishop was motivated by the success he had in 1989 when he started a program called The Making of the Phantom of the Opera. "That was North America's first ever integrated entertainment program for students," he notes. "It was professional theatre that was actually brought into a classroom."
The idea was further bolstered by a familiar connection. "My two kids had been studying improv training at The Second City, independent of their dad, which is interesting," Bishop jokes. "And so I went down and saw the work they were doing and really and truly felt this would be an amazing resource for kids."
The educational student and teacher program is actually based on improvisational training that The Second City has been providing to professionals and employees for decades. "The Second City, unbeknownst to many people is a major company for corporate communication skill training," Bishop explains. "Radio people from Q107 often send DJs because improv is really a key skill... to stay in the moment, to stay fresh. What happens is that in our life...we are constantly being pushed into thinking ahead and strategic planning and analyzing and our pure, almost intuitive side doesn't come out as much; it gets blocked. So what we teach is to release that..." Bishop adds, "You try anything you feel like. We just work with you."
And there doesn't seem to be a better place to learn. After all, The Second City's alumni are proof that the comedic institution knows a thing or two about nurturing talent. "They say that one out of every three awards in North America is indirectly or directly related to a Second City alumni. There's literally hundreds of top directors and producers that come through the training of The Second City, which involves writing sketch comedy, reading an audience, reading a cultural moment..." Bishop states. "I've basically parcelled up all those communication skills and brought them into schools."
And the program had far-reaching support from the very beginning. "I hired a marvelous advisory committee of some of Canada's leading educators to help guide me through bridging the skills set at The Second City into resources for teachers to deliver to students," Bishop says.
The program has grown to the point that there is now a bevy of curriculum programs available for everyone from elementary to university students, which is geared toward helping them both in the classroom and outside of it.
The mandate of the program can perhaps be best appreciated by watching the Students Rule! show. "It's a show we do that tours all over. The majority of the bookings are on the road, but every Wednesday we host it at The Second City," says Bishop.
This particular show, which was launched in September, is a testament to the fact that if you want innovation, you need look no further than The Second City. The first part of the show features a brilliant cast of actors who move seamlessly through several sketches while showcasing their improvisational techniques. The segments, which run from eight to 15 minutes long, include plenty of humour and music while they touch upon some thought-provoking subject matter.
But it's the second part of the show that really brings the house down. "The interesting thing is that the kids make up the second act," Bishop notes. Indeed, students from the audience volunteer to be part of the last segments wherein they act alongside of The Second City cast in improv situations. On this particular Wednesday morning show, a hilarious actors-students skit combined heavy metal music with a swimming pool, a bad case of hives, and a can of mountain dew. It's the kind of thing you have to see to believe.
And the kids clearly love it. One look across the enthusiastic audience made up of delighted students and their teachers shows that the message is getting through. The sea of students who come from various schools throughout the province clamour to get on stage with the actors to strut their stuff. And in doing so, they are using improvisational techniques to develop better communication, team, and leadership skills. And it's all accomplished through fun and laughter.
And yes, there is homework, but not the kind that will likely make the average kid sigh. Always intent on using entertainment as a means to educate and learn, the program's take-home material acts as a fun follow-up to the skills the students have already been taught.
But it doesn't end there. After the show the groups of students attend workshops in which they learn and practice more techniques.
"Eye contact alone is one of the hardest things I find to train kids on," says Bishop. He gives an example of one of the techniques that the students might learn in a workshop. He asks two volunteers to follow a simple rule: whenever he talks without making eye contact, they are to raise their arms; when he does make eye contact, they are to lower them. After several moments in which arms are raised and lowered, raised and lowered, Bishop's point has been well proven: eye contact is essential in communication. "Notice how many people don't look at your face when you are speaking to them," Bishop says. This is one of the problems that the workshops try to repair. After all, proper communication skills are an integral part of not just the classroom setting but real life. "Workshops are intense but fun," adds Bishop, "because it all seems like a game."
The four actors in the show, and those who teach the workshops are superb at what they do and it clearly shows in their rapport with the students. "They absolutely love it," Bishop says. "What they love the most is the workshops because they get such an intense reaction from the kids that stimulates [them]."
The Second City's innovative and unconventional methods are also an asset to teachers. The institution offers courses and skills that augment the teachers' basic teaching techniques. The Second City also offers half-day workshops for administrators and office staff. "We've got some very innovative teaching techniques on communication skills," Bishop explains. "That's actually one of the fastest growing businesses that we have."
Throughout it all, Bishop is grateful to Pepsi for offering the financial support needed to keep the Students Rule! program alive and running.
"Pepsi and Second City are a perfect fit," says Richard Burjaw, director of carbonated soft drinks for Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. "Both are all about spontaneous enjoyment and humour." He adds, "Pepsi is proud that our involvement makes this unique interactive learning program accessible to so many young people."
"The big advantage we have is that Pepsi got us a van for schools that can't afford to bring their kids down on the bus - we go to them," Bishop states. "Pepsi has been a strategic partner. This company is highly sensitive to the level of commercialization and so they really have a good feel for supporting what we're doing."

The Second City is located at 56 Blue Jays Way. For more information on the Students Rule! educational program, contact Jody Bishop at 416-410-5959, or jbishop@secondcity.com. or visit www.secondcity.com.

Publication Date: 2002-04-07
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1181