Photo By Second City

Dana Quercioli (second from right) is part of the Second City comedy troupe that hits the Carnegie Visual Arts and Performing Center on Saturday.

Founded in 1959 in Chicago, a second troupe began performing in Toronto in 1973. Part of that company helped start the legendary SCTV program that first aired in 1976. Additional Second City clubs have since opened in Los Angeles, Detroit and Las Vegas. There are also three touring companies that help develop up-and-coming talent for the fixed locations.

"We're the best one," jokes Dana Quercioli, who will appear at The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center on Saturday to perform "Truth, Justice or The American Way." The Ohio native has been with Second City for the past five years.

"There was actually a (Second City) training center in Cleveland in 2002," she explains. "I did the training center, and when the theater (in Cleveland) opened I was lucky enough to be in the grand opening cast."

That theater has since closed, but Quercioli moved before the demise and was hired by Second City in Chicago.

Though the touring shows are usually a collection of "the hits," or bits originally created and performed by famous alums, the cast does occasionally have some creative input.

"The good thing about it is that they're trying to cultivate writers and performers, so we get to write," she says. "If we're lucky we get to write a lot and (have things) make it into the show, but it is still the best of Second City that people are paying to see, so we can get a few things in, but for the most part it (is) the archives because that's what people want to see, because it's such a rich history."

Quercioli has taken a more active interest in writing, and tries her hand at a variety of styles.

"I will write anything," she says. "Improv is a good indicator of how I write. It's whatever strikes me as funny at the time. I could sit down and write a song that I think is really funny, or I could sit down and write a two-person relationship scene that's a slice of life, and it's funny because people can relate to it.

"That's the great thing about Second City. You get to be a jack-of-all-trades as far as your writing and performing. Five years ago I never thought I'd be anything close to political a writer, and I do write political things. It helps you grow as a performer and a writer."

When a performer is ready, they get called up to the main theater. But could Quercioli find herself traded to Las Vegas or Toronto?

"I could be," she says. "I think baseball is the best analogy. You could be in the touring company for six months; you could be (in it) for six years. When they need you, when there's a certain spot that they'd like you to fill (you get called up).

"A lot of people don't make it. A lot of people retire. So I've been working for about a year and a half (in the touring company), and a lot of it depends on your company and how sick of it you get. I couldn't be more thrilled with my touring company right now because were really close-knit and fun group."