The Second City New York

Announcement and Development (2022–2023)

The Second City announced plans for a New York City location in October 2022, representing the organisation's first expansion into New York. The company selected a nearly 12,000-square-foot space at 64 North 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Opening (November 2023)

The Second City New York opened its Training Center for classes on 13 November 2023 and launched its inaugural Mainstage revue on 16 November 2023. Alan Kliffer served as Artistic Director; Jen Ellison directed the opening revue, with Jeff Bouthiette as Musical Director. The inaugural cast comprised E.J. Cameron, Ashley Leisten, Ben Rameaka, Yazmin Ramos, Drew Reilly, and Jacklyn Uweh. The complex is organised as two cabaret-style theatres, seven Training Center classrooms, and a restaurant and bar.

Second City New York operates in the same satirical sketch-and-improv revue tradition as the Chicago flagship: a company develops scenes and characters through improvisation and audience feedback, then edits and refines those scenes into a written revue that runs for an extended season. The Williamsburg location is designed to bring the Second City institutional brand and training methodology to New York audiences and students, who had previously had no direct access to Second City training outside Chicago and Toronto.

The Second City New York represents the institution's first permanent presence in New York City, opening its Training Center on 13 November 2023 and its Mainstage revue on 16 November 2023 at 64 North 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The opening marks a significant geographic expansion for a company that had operated Chicago and Toronto flagship locations for decades, with New York functioning as the country's largest comedy market and home to the industry's television and film infrastructure.

The Brooklyn location joins a Second City institutional lineage whose alumni across the Chicago and Toronto operations include Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Mike Myers, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Martin Short, and Eugene Levy, among many others. By establishing a Mainstage and a Training Center simultaneously, the New York location replicates the Chicago model in which the conservatory pipeline feeds directly into the performing company, positioning the venue as both a talent development programme and a public-facing comedy theatre within the Brooklyn creative district. Early programming at the Mainstage has included the sketch revue Forgive Me Father For I Have Grinned and Manic! At The Disco, alongside Compass Party improv ensemble nights in the Blackbox Theater.