Wednesday night the Athenaeum Theatre hosted the Blue Wave Rave, a free improv show featuring cast members from iO, the Second City, and the Annoyance Theatre and put together by Indivisible Chicago, a coalition of 12 chapters around the city that was created after the 2016 election.
So when Mark Burns of Second City Works, an offshoot of Second City that focuses on events, content, and professional development, reached out to him to direct and play piano for Swing Left, he jumped at the chance. “Literally the least you can do is vote. The second-least thing you can do is encourage voting. Time is limited, but if I can inspire others, it feels great. Putting together a show seemed like something I could do, and when Marj reached out to me, I reached out to Mark, because it had gone so well before.” Shanoff and Burns coproduced Wednesday’s event, and Shanoff played piano.
Halperin sees the natural connections between politics and art in a bigger sense too. “When monumental things happen in this country, we look to artists to help us understand them and interpret them and accept them. That’s what theater does. Improv does it in some particularly creative ways here in Chicago, and I just think it’s a perfect fit for those of us struggling to understand our world.”
Halperin has already begun to see the effects of this year’s work. “We have hundreds of volunteers working every weekend for these progressive candidates who, many of which, have never canvassed or volunteered before.” Halperin also talked about “remobilizing” people who haven’t canvassed in a while.
