Hey, this is Curious City producer Stephen Jackson.

This week, a group of Second City alumni and current staff

wrote an open letter accusing the company of racism and discrimination.

They demanded an institutional overhaul, saying this kind of abuse could not continue.

The letter followed the resignation of the theater's CEO and co-owner Andrew Alexander, who said he'd,

quote, failed to create an anti-racist environment where an artists of color might thrive.

Second City then issued its own open letter, apologizing and pledging to make significant changes.

Also this week, staff and students at I.O., another Chicago Improv Institution,

circulated an online petition accusing the theater of racism and demanding systemic changes.

Over the years, Curious City has gotten several questions about Chicago's improv scene.

In the spirit of those questions, and in light of recent news, we thought it would be a good time to take a look at Chicago improv and comedy through the lens of race.

So we asked three performers about their experience in Chicago's comedy scene and talked with them about what that systemic racism looks like and feels like and what kind of change they want to see.

My name is Angela Oliver and I am an actor and an improviser and an improv teacher and performing artists, teaching artists of many interdisciplinary disciplines.

Ah!

No, I change some intensive courses.

I took some intensive courses at the second city after I graduated from college. I performed and played with

people and improv jams outside of the classes. I just found it to be so freeing and limitless.

I just wanted to explore it further and get better at it. But it didn't take long for me to feel that racial tension,

that tokenization, just being seen as my race and not me.

I had a white teacher that gave me a note.

He just kept saying, play closer to yourself.

Play closer to yourself.

...