Laugh Lines

inda Gelman gave up
choreography for com-
edy, and a Jewish
Community Center
audience will experi-
ence the results of that
change.
Based in Michigan
for three years about 20 years
ago, she brought her rhythmic
steps to crowds through the Gel-
man-Palidossky Dance Theatre,
a company that toured the Mid-
west and East Coast.
Based in New York for the past
15 years, she brings her style of
humor to crowds through Chica-
go City Limits, a company that
has a touring troupe under her
direction.
The career transition came af-
ter she and her husband, Paul
Zuckerman, left Michigan for Illi-
nois, where they ca-
sually decided it
would be fun to sign
up for an informal
comedy workshop at
Second City, the pre-
mier improvisation
troupe.
The two, who al-
ways had considered
themselves funny,
wanted a break from
their then-primary ca-
reer interests —
dance education and
advertising.
Before very long,
however, comedy be-
came their priority,
and they helped form
the original ensemble
of Chicago City Lim-
its, which since has
SUZANNE CHESSLER
grown to 30 members
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
working out of a New
York theater under
the overall direction of Mr. Zuck-
erman.
The Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center audience will
find out what the ensemble is all
about when members perform as
part of the Encore series at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 14.
"What sets Chicago City Lim-
its off from other improv comedy
groups is that we focus on
scene-making as opposed to
jokes," said Ms. Gelman, whose
Ann Arbor dance company was
in full swing while her husband
was earning his doctoral degree
in psycholbgy at the University
of Michigan.
"Scenes ' incorporate a rela-

li

Chicago City
Limits' roots
in Michigan
will be
prominent
this Saturday.

tionship and some kind
of story structure, and
they are different for
every, performance. Au-
diences personalize
shows by the kinds of
suggestions they make
after being involved by
members of the troupe.
"We've done a lot of
shows for Jewish audi-
ences, who will call out
Jewish-based sugges-
tions. The audience it-
self will make it a
Jewish show."
The group appearing
at the JCC will include
five actors, a musician
and a stage manager, all
concentrating on impro-
vising according to basic
formats.
"One of the things we
do is 'A Caller's Op-
tion,' " Ms. Gelman ex-
plained. "A caller (the
actor) comes out and
asks for the title of a real
song and a theater style.
Someone from the audi-
ence might call out
`Night and Day' and
`Tennessee Williams.'
"The troupe does the
song in the style of a
Tennessee Williams
play and then develops
a scene.
"After the scene has
been established, the
caller will tell the troupe
to freeze and ask the au-
dience for another style
of theater or another
playwright. Then the
group unfreezes and
continues the scene in a Above:
new style, perhaps Chicago City Limits
Shakespearean.
"The difficulty comes Right:
from making the tran- Linda Gelman
sitions smooth through
four, five, six or more Far Right:
styles of theater. It's a Paul Zuckerman
lot of fun to watch."
Other parts of the
show include a musical
magazine that satirizes
and "Comedy Central" among
current events and a variation of others.
charades planned to "Torture the
Although Ms. Gelman and Mr.
Actor."
Zuckerman will not be in Michi-
Since Chicago City Limits was gan for the JCC performance,
founded in 1977 as an offshoot of they feel comfortable that the
Second City, there have been stage work is in line with their
5,000 performances with televi- personal humor preferences. As
sion appearances on "The Today directors of the troupe, they train
Show," "The Joan Rivers Show" prospective and new members.

"We have workshops for be-
ginners and workshops for pro-
fessional actors and improvisers,"
Ms. Gelman said. "The people
now in our troupe have all come
through our workshop program."
During the classes, comics and
would-be comics learn scene-

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