New Jersey Stage October 2014 | Page 29

ing practice to do deep lifting to stay in the moment. You have to say ‘yes, and’ and can’t say no to an idea. It’s really a laboratory for innovation and creativity. Unlike a lot of theatre companies, we train up our talent. We have our talent perform and then we let them go, we don’t try to hold on to them. That leaves room for the next generation of folks to come through. I think many businesses would look at it this way: if you’re training all of this talent and you’re spending all this money on them and they’re yours, wouldn’t you want to keep them? And while that’s a perfectly natural instinct, I think the fact that it wasn’t our setup here has allowed this work to be fresh for all of the new generations. It’s a magical system that was already here when I walked through these doors 26 years ago. And so for us, we’re sort of care-taking the next part of this arc of history at Second City. Our job is not to screw with the things that work, but to also recognize that it’s an artistic endeavor and you’ve got to take risks, you’ve got to fail, and you’ve got to try new things. And we’re doing that. We do that all of the time, but the core things and the stuff is what’s made us so successful. Tell me about your book, ‘Yes, Advertise here for $25 - $100 call 732-280-7625 pg 29