Toronto comedy audiences will get a chance to help shape The Second City's 91st Mainstage revue when a limited run begins Jan. 13 at its theatre at 110 Harbour St. Tickets start at $19.59.
According to an announcement published by Stage Door, the production brings together six performers making their Second City Toronto Mainstage debut: Gillian Bartolucci, Tim Blair, Monica Garrido Huerta, Antony Hall, Chelsea Larkin and Gavin Pounds.
The performances will give audiences a look at the revue's development. Audience responses and contributions will help the ensemble build scenes, songs and characters live onstage as it works towards the new show.
The announced Mainstage schedule is Tuesday through Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at The Second City box office, by calling 416-343-0011 or through secondcity.com.
The new ensemble
The incoming cast has experience across sketch comedy, improvisation, television and solo theatre. Bartolucci has written for CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes and performed in JFL42's New Faces: Characters showcase. Her solo show Something Small, Something Sweet received a Best in Venue award at the 2022 Hamilton Fringe Festival.
Blair is a founding member of TallBoyz II Men, the comedy troupe that worked with Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall to create the Canadian Screen Award-winning television series TallBoyz. He is also an alumnus of Second City's House Co.
Garrido Huerta is a Toronto-based bilingual artist from Monterrey, Nuevo León. Her credits include The Second City's Guide to Surviving the Holidays, Tarragon Theatre's El Terremoto and television appearances in Baroness Von Sketch Show and The Horror of Dolores Roach.
Hall, a Toronto-based Chinese-Canadian performer originally from Lethbridge, Alberta, graduated from The Second City Conservatory. He belongs to the sketch team $20Sandwich and has appeared in Run the Burbs and Law & Order: Toronto.
Larkin's credits include her Toronto Fringe solo show The Chels Stands Alone, the Just for Laughs New Faces: Characters showcase, Children Ruin Everything and Abroad. Pounds, originally from Barrie, has appeared in The Boys, The Umbrella Academy and the 2024 film The Apprentice, alongside his Toronto improv and sketch work.
Returning creative team
Kyle Dooley returns to direct his second Second City Mainstage production. An actor and writer who began with the sketch troupe Picnicface, Dooley also performed in four Toronto Mainstage revues.
Matt Keevins returns as stage manager and lighting designer, while composer and pianist Elise Wattman returns as music director. Writer and performer Jillian Welsh joins the creative team; her television credits include Run the Burbs, TallBoyz and Baroness Von Sketch Show.
