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THIS PAGE HAS BEEN UPDATED
| From Dining Table to Not-for-Profit Corporation ¡Salsation! was founded in 1998 when Latino actors from Chicago's improv comedy community wanted to work together to make folks laugh. The actors are natives of Chicago and Texas but their families are from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. Their credits include film, television, commercials, and on stage with The Second City National Touring Company, Second City Outreach Program, and several productions directed by the late improv legend Del Close at ImprovOlympic. In 1999, ¡Salsation! made its national debut at the Big Stinkin' International Improv Festival's Gala Night: Manglish Spanglish Comedia Madness, where they shared the bill with Rick Najera's Latinologues, starring Jacob Vargas. Two nights later, ¡Salsation! returned to Chicago to be the closing act of the inaugural Chicago Improv Festival's Improv til' Dawn marathon. ¡Salsation! and Latinologues reunited for two weekends of shows in Chicago later that year. In 2000, the Second City Training Center Outreach program invited ¡Salsation! to present a revue as one of the guest ensembles in the Improvising New Voices Program. That revue, Touched by an Anglo, played to sell-out houses and critical acclaim. Four extensions stretched the run from six weeks to a total of 28, making it one of the longest running shows ever at Donny's Skybox Studio. (It concurrently ran for 12 weeks at the Idiot Box Comedy Theater in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood). Positive reviews were followed in January 2001 by a Critic's Choice award from the Chicago Reader. Touched by an Anglo laughs at the absence of Latinos on mainstream television by imagining a Latino influence on shows such as "Touched by an Angel", "Judge Judy" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" It was showcased at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater in New York City, where the audience included cast members of Saturday Night Live and sketch players from Late Night with Conan O'Brian. ¡Salsation! was also invited to audition for the 2001 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival to be held in Aspen, Colorado. After sending cast members to Los Angeles in the spin-off group "Barrio Speedwagon," ¡Salsation! added new cast members and used Spicante Summer and Crouching Wetback Hidden Migra (part of the inaugural Sketchfest Chicago) en route to their next major revue - "Whole Lotta Shakira Goin' On. But September 2002 became one of the biggest months in ¡Salsation! history. The month began with their first greatest hits show (also first casino comedy club show) to help open the first Memphis Comedy Festival. And on September 30, ¡Salsation! was transformed from an informal collective of artists into a not-for-profit corporation, Salsation Theater Company, NFP, laying the ground work for a prosperous future. ¡Salsation! has performed for a variety of audiences including Loyola and Northern Illinois Universities, the Midwest chapters of the National Association of Latino Journalists and the National Association of Chicano and Chicana Studies, and an area event for The President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. They have also joined other comedy ensembles in donating their services to fundraisers for the Illinois Center For Violence Prevention and Gilda's Club. |
Some of the shows we've done 1998
1999
2000
2000-2001
2001
2002
Television and Radio
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