Darcel Rockett
Here’s a look at some of the diversity and equity objectives Second City announced over the summer and how the Chicago-based comedy company says it is executing these plans.
A new human resources infrastructure
The commitment: Contract with an independent human resources firm owned by a Black, Indigenous or person of color (BIPOC) to assist with employee relations matters and investigations.
Some Second City alumni who talked to the Tribune said when they performed at the Chicago headquarters, it wasn’t clear what they should do if they had a problem. “There was no HR department, let’s start there. So having support or comfort around what could be problematic moments that definitely happened for other actors was not there. For me, personally, I am thankful and grateful enough to have not dealt with anything explicit enough in that space,” said Masood Muhammad Haque, a 2019 Bob Curry fellow.
A white performer who said he was subjected to racial slurs as a cast member in the Second City e.t.c. revue “A Red Line Runs Through It” accused Second City of discrimination and retaliation in 2017. He said the company “had no policy directing employees to make a complaint of discrimination to a particular person” so he “made a formal complaint” in May 2016 to the show’s producer, who “promised that she would deal with the situation, but failed to do so,” according to the federal lawsuit. A Second City attorney denied those HR allegations among the lawsuit’s other allegations before the case was dismissed in March 2018.
Second City said it has had “formal HR support” since 2014. There was no specific impetus to having a person dedicated to HR, interim executive producer Anthony LeBlanc said, but the decision was made because the company was “expanding quite quickly.”
Second City has been searching for a permanent HR vice president. Interim chief HR officer Maya Bordeaux said Second City’s last HR leader resigned, but the former employee could not be reached for comment to confirm.
The theater company announced in July it selected Vantage Solutions LLC as its HR consulting firm to investigate claims, institute a code of conduct, design an HR structure and devise a multiyear plan. Bordeaux, a former Tribune Publishing senior vice president, said her firm, Lead with Love Consulting LLC, has been investigating employee complaints. She said she also created a two-year HR strategy.
A new standing diversity, equity and inclusion council
The commitment: Announce a standing DEI council this fall that will convene in January 2021 and focus on creating an environment where employees can thrive.
Second City said it selected 22 people from about 50 applicants to serve on three interim DEI committees devoted to reviewing archive scripts, evaluating artwork and photography in its buildings and serving on the interview panel for executive producer job finalists. Nearly all of the interim committee members are said to be a member of a “diverse group.”
“We had things right away we wanted to work on, so we kind of reached out to the different employees and folks that were a part of Second City,” LeBlanc said. “When it comes to the long-standing council, that will involve more community reach-out and having people that would be involved community wide, outside of just Second City itself.” Each member of the standing DEI council will be asked to serve for a year.
Removal of barriers to ‘access’ all parts of Second City
The commitment: Identify and remove barriers to access and open the doors to BIPOC in every area of the company.
Some alumni who talked to the Tribune said one of the barriers to getting people in the doors at Second City is money. Eight-week Chicago training center classes for adults started at $310 in 2018.
“Who has $500 lying around to make pretend play time with people? It’s obviously not disenfranchised people of color — that money goes to paying the bills, paying for food,” said 2019 Bob Curry fellow Andre Sampson. “Learning improv and learning comedy is really a luxury. So that’s why you’re never really going to see an influx of minorities that are doing it.”
Once they advance at Second City, it may be difficult for some people to stick around because of pay. Second City operates under a special agreement with the Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers, that’s due to expire in April 2021. Minimum salary for actors on the e.t.c. Stage is $712 for six shows a week, while mainstage actors receive $949 for eight shows a week, according to figures provided by Actors’ Equity. Mainstage and e.t.c performers receive an additional $3,000 “creative compensation” for writing a show.
Meanwhile, members of the night staff, which includes bartenders, servers, hosts and dishwashers, asked for a $15 hourly wage as they unsuccessfully attempted to unionize in 2017. A GoFundMe for Second City’s night staff raised more than $27,000 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic when the company’s facilities closed.
Saliha Muttalib said she got into Second City by answering a Craigslist ad for a server position a decade ago and described working on the night staff as a “toxic, unhealthy environment” where management seemed to discipline employees of color more than white workers. She also said her “job was predicated” on upselling patrons.
“It just felt like there was a lot of greed that proliferated from the top to the bottom. And I think that’s really hard to root out in a company, because it seems like how they base things,” said Muttalib, who was also a 2014 Bob Curry fellow. (The fellowship program provides tuition-free Second City training for Black, Indigenous and people of color and others.)
Bordeaux said Second City has conducted annual pay equity assessments and has committed to do so in the future — but there are no plans to modify the pay structure.
A ‘thorough’ look at archive material
The commitment: Review archive material and flag questionable content. Media with flagged content can be considered for general usage only if it is edited to remove flagged content, and that edit is approved by the project’s managers.
Material used in shows performed on resident stages was archived and could be accessed later for performances and student training, LeBlanc said.
Max Thomas, a 2018 Bob Curry fellow, said he encountered archive material he found to be racist, homophobic, sexist and xenophobic. “I just believe they should just start from square one,” said Thomas, a South Side native who recalled starting at Second City in 2009 as a member of a teen ensemble.
An archive review is underway, LeBlanc said, adding that the idea of students not using archival work would be equivalent to “never watch(ing) a single movie that’s ever been done before 2018.”
“That’s impossible to do because you need that context to learn,” he said before referencing a comedy writing class he taught that examined a past Second City show. “Let’s talk through: What are the good things you see in this show? And then also, let’s talk about some of the problematic things when it comes to how the show was designed, and it being done in 1996, and what is the historical aspect of what that is?”
Focus on audience diversity
The commitment: Produce art by and for BIPOC artists and diversify audiences in Second City theaters.
Second City shows typically attract white audiences to its Old Town stages, which needs to change, according to some alumni who talked to the Tribune.
“If you ask any artistic director for any stage here in Chicago, they’re going to say, Well, we welcome a more diverse audience. The diverse audience just doesn’t come,” 2017 Bob Curry fellow Brian Keys said. “I think that it’s more so about what is the culture internally inside the building to ensure that you’re also getting the audiences that you want? I think that it does start from the performances that are represented on that stage.”
Kimberly Michelle Vaughn said she and others were constantly reprimanded because they would hold audiences accountable for saying transphobic, homophobic, sexist and racist remarks to them while they were onstage.
“You promote yourself as an equity theater. However, you have people yelling on these stages while you’re performing a scene, and you want me to just act like … just condone that? It was very bizarre and any time that I would speak up, I became the problem,” said Vaughn, a 2014 Bob Curry fellow and alumna of the 107th mainstage revue.
As Second City expands its online offerings, there’s an opportunity to reach an even larger audience since geography isn’t an obstacle to participation. “We look at what even the online shows are starting to do, the things we’re starting to build going forward of really involving the artists and putting the artists first as the people who are really driving the overall creativity,” LeBlanc said.
Company wide anti-racist education and training
The commitment: Training center comedy camp staff will undergo anti-racist education and training starting in June with the Kaleidoscope Group, and all directors, producers, stage managers and music directors will receive ongoing anti-racist education and training.
Second City said it began training staff, talent and leadership in July. Virtual sessions with interim chief diversity officer Christal Morris addressed topics such as mutual respect, unconscious bias and “re-imagining” Second City, the company said.
The first session for the full executive team, shareholders and leadership is slated for the first week of December, according to Second City. Kaleidoscope Group did not provide training to camp staff (in a change from its June announcement).
