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As the lights dimmed and the crowd quickly sat comfortably in their chairs, John Oertling, chair of the theatre arts department, welcomed the audience to Second City’s “The Pratfall of Civilization” in the Doudna Theatre.

Taking his tie off, Oertling insisted for the crowd to take their ties off also, to relax and enjoy the show.

President Bill Perry also welcomed the crowd and shared a story from when he first saw Second City in Champaign. He insisted the crowd was in store for many laughs.

Lizzy Powers, a senior theatre major, had anticipated Second City’s performance for a while.

“I’ve looked forward to this all week because I am from Chicago and I know a lot about them,” Powers said.

Second City is a comedy and improv group from Chicago and has been making people laugh since 1959.

They came to Eastern on request from the theatre arts department and gave students, faculty and alumni laughs for approximately two and a half hours.

Alyson Mott, a freshman special education major, enjoyed the opportunity to witness a great show.

“I have heard of them coming and I did improv in high school,” Mott said. “It’s funny and random because you don’t have to stick to a script.”

Dana Quercioli, a member of Second City, said during an improv performance, you want to use the minimal props available to set your own scene and make up your own script.

The performance was part of many events that took place this weekend for the rededication to the Doudna Fine Arts Center and the theater.

The group had the crowd laughing from the beginning to the end of the show.

Using four chairs, a football and a garbage bag as their only props, the group discussed political issues, first date situations, marriage complications, office employers and other comical messages. To keep the audience interested, they asked for involvement.

During the first skit, they asked the crowd for a location and an activity two people can do in front of their mom. The crowd responded with a 7-Eleven convenience store as the location and soccer as the activity. Within seconds the group put together a skit that included them clapping and saying “freeze” to start a new skit. This made the crowd clap and laugh even louder.

Megan Hovde Wilkins, another member of Second City, came on stage alone dressed as a boy and threw a football to a male in the audience and talked to him as if he was her father.

“Dad, ever since you and mom split up, I have a lot of questions,” Wilkins said during the skit.

And the man responded back to her saying “Fire away.” She threw the ball back and forth as she asked him several questions about the split up and about wanting to kiss a girl. This had the audience very involved and laughing.

Catherine Burcham, a freshman communications major, really enjoyed herself along with her boyfriend.

“I really like it because this is what I wanted to do since I was little,” she said. “I like the audience interaction because it is true improv.”

During the Christmas gift exchange between husband and wife scene, Tim Robinson and Quercioli made the audience laugh the most.

Quercioli acted out and gave him a coffee warmer and when it was his turn to exchange gifts he turned on Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” and started to strip on stage. At this moment the crowd went crazy and hysterically laughed.

The group performed about 12 improv scenes and the audience seemed to enjoy them.

The group thought Eastern’s crowd was great and appreciated the involvement.

“It was fun and we had a great audience,” Mary Sohn, a member of Second City, said.

Wilkins commented on the stage and theater in Doudna.

“The acoustics and sound was great,” Wilkins said. “It is important for a group like us to have that.”

Quercioli said because the audience was so involved and great, the group decided to give an encore that lasted about 20 minutes long, giving the audience more laughs and a peek at their performance for later in the year.

Baltz said working with the students on Friday during the workshop was fun.

“It was fun to get the chance to see different college student theater or improv groups to get a good sense of what this area of the country can do,” Baltz said.

Daniel Cloward, a freshman theater and communications major, enjoyed the show.

Cloward is part of Eastern’s improv group Hello Dali and enjoyed working with the group during a workshop they gave earlier on Saturday.

“They taught us a lot of stuff I looked forward to,” Cloward said.

Brittni Garcia can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].