Laughing It Up

March 14, 2013

With the world-famous Chicago improv and comedy scene serving as its backdrop, Columbia College will now offer a new B.A. Theatre degree with a specialization in Comedy Writing and Performance, to begin this fall. The degree program, based in the Columbia College Theatre Department, will join with Columbia’s Television and Arts, Entertainment and Media Management departments to provide the core curriculum.

Columbia College is continuing its relationship with The Second City by partnering with the legendary institution to recruit students to the new degree. Columbia College and The Second City have previously collaborated on the College’s five-year-old “study abroad” semester in Comedy Studies at The Second City, which invites students to immerse themselves in an intensive semester of on-site classes and workshops at The Second City’s Chicago location, receiving Columbia College Chicago credit hours. The new degree program will now include this learning and hands-on experience. Columbia College Chicago is the only college in the United States to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a concentration in Comedy Writing and Performance.

“There are more opportunities for careers in comedy than ever before,” said Anne Libera, director of Comedy Studies at The Second City and adjunct theatre faculty member/coordinator of the new degree program at Columbia College. “This comedy writing and performance degree will provide the intensive ‘cross training’ in writing, performing and producing as well as the networking opportunities that are necessary for success in this field.”

This rigorous program will not only help to develop students into professional comedians, both as writers and performers, but will also build skills necessary for careers outside of the entertainment industry, such as collaboration, creative risk-taking, and the understanding of personal voice and persona.