The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the University of Chicago, Off-Off Campus Records 1986-2008
© 2011 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | University of Chicago. Off-Off Campus. Records |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1986-2008 |
| Size: | 5.5 linear feet (8 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Off-Off Campus is a student improvisation theater group founded at the University of Chicago in 1986. The Records include administrative files, advertising and written short scenes. |
This collection is open for research with the exception of Box 5, which is restricted until 2045.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. Off-Off Campus. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Off- Off Campus is the second oldest continuously running student improvisation theater troupe in the country, with the first generation of actors dating back to 1986. Improvisational and sketch comedy first started at the University of Chicago in the 1950’s as a group of students formed the Compass players on campus, which in 1959 became The Second City. In 1986, U of C Alum and Second City co-founder Bernie Sahlins (A.B. ’43) returned the University campus in order to begin a south side group to rival his north side creation. Sahlins trained the first generation of Off-Off Campus in the art of sketch and improve comedy, using the same technique he had developed and taught 27 year prior within his classroom. The group has continued to use this same regiment of training since.
The troupe is set to the rhythm of the University of Chicago quarter system, casting a new “generation” each fall, who regularly produce a theater revue in the autumn, winter, and spring. The group also brought comedy to the orientation week (O-Week) of the University of Chicago and many other Midwest schools as they used sketch comedy as a means of transmitting messages and mirth to incoming freshman. For a period of time, the group also participated in the international Fringe Theater festival.
Some of the groups alumni have gone on to further success in theater and comedy including David Auburn, winner of the Pulitzer prize for his show (and now film) Proof, Greg Kotis, best known for penning the Tony award winning musical Urinetown, and Tami Sagher, writer on the television series “30 Rock.” Early comedic sketches written by David Auburn and Tami Sagher can be found within the collection.
The collection contains assorted administrative records from the campus group including correspondence regarding its founding, general correspondence, budgets, and scenes related to their Orientation tours and Edinburgh fringe festival ephemera related to their productions. The collection also contains a vast collection of their written scenes dating from the first generation of the troupe (1986) until today. Some of these represent the early comedic works of writers David Auburn and Tami Sagher.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
http://off-off.uchicago.edu
Series I: General Administrative |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Off-Off Campus Constitution, undated |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Running Order and Schedules, 1987 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | Audition, The second generation 1986-1987 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Auditions, The eighth generation, 1993 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Off-Off Campus clippings 1986-1994 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Casting, budgets, correspondence, 1985-1990 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Posters, scenes, clippings, correspondence, 1988-1995 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Posters, Mailing Lists, Correspondence, 1993-1994 |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Cast List, 2008 |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Program Pictures, 1994-2005 |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Program Pictures Spring 1997-1997 |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Program Pictures 2005-2006 |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Pre-Fall Shows, Programs, 1992-1993 |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | 'Peel Carefully, Display Proudly' Program, Spring 1992 |
| Box 1 Folder 15 | 'Euripides, You Pay for them' Program, Autumn 1993 |
| Box 1 Folder 16 | 'Slinky: The Unwinding' Program, 1994 |
| Box 1 Folder 17 | 'The comedy Group Formerly Known as: Off-Off Campus' Program, Autumn 1994 |
| Box 1 Folder 18 | 'All Thumbz, no Fonz' Program, Spring 1995 |
| Box 1 Folder 19 | Tickets, 1995 |
| Box 1 Folder 20 | 'UnderDogma' Program, Spring, 1997 |
| Box 1 Folder 21 | 'Improv-o-rama' Program, Summer 1998 |
| Box 1 Folder 22 | 'Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Deal' Program, Autumn 1998 |
| Box 1 Folder 23 | 'Truth Decay' Program, winter 2000 |
| Box 1 Folder 24 | 'The Amazing Lipnicki Revolution' Program, Winter 2000 |
| Box 1 Folder 25 | 'Plays of Future Past' Program, Winter 2001 |
| Box 1 Folder 26 | 'If these Balls Could Talk' Program, Autumn 2001 |
| Box 1 Folder 27 | 'Riddle of the Sphinx' Program, Spring 2002 |
| Box 1 Folder 28 | 'Recess(ion)' Program, Autumn 2008 |
| Box 1 Folder 29 | Advertising, 2005-2006 |
| Box 1 Folder 30 | A river runs through Id Program, DVD 2002 |
Series II: Short Scenes |
| Box 1 Folder 31 | Scenes 1988-1995 |
| Box 1 Folder 32 | Plays for Off-Off campus First and Second Generations, 1987-1993 |
| Box 1 Folder 33 | Short Scenes by Third and Fourth Generation (1), 1989-1991 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Short Scenes by Third and Fourth Generations (2), 1989-1991 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Short Scenes by Third and Fourth Generations (3), 1989-1991 |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Short Scenes by Third and Fourth Generations (4), 1987-1994 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Short Scenes by Third and Fourth Generations (5), 1987-1994 |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Short Scenes by Fifth and Sixth Generations (1), 1993 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Short Scenes by Fifth and Sixth Generations (2), 1993 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | Short Scenes by Fifth and Sixth Generations (3), 1993 |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | Short Scenes by Seventh and Eighth Generations (1), 1990-1994 |
| Box 2 Folder 9 | Short Scenes by Seventh and Eighth Generations (2), 1993-1994 |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | Short Scenes by Seventh and Eighth Generations (3), 1994 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | Short Scenes by the Twelfth Generation, 1998-1999 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Short Scenes by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Generations (1), 1999-2001 |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Short Scenes by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Generations (2), 2000-2001 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | Short Scenes by the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Generations, 2003 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Short Scenes by the Nineteenth and Twentieth Generations, 2005-2006 |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Short Scenes by the Twenty Second Generation, 2008 |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Short Scenes, undated |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | Short Scene: Reunion, undated |
Series III: Orientation Week, Laughing For Understanding, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | O-Week Scenes and Scene Lists, 1986-1993 |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | Orientation Week Scenes and Information (1),1991-1993 |
| Box 3 Folder 12 | Orientation Week Scenes and Information (2), Flyers, 1991-1993 |
| Box 3 Folder 13 | Orientation Information, 1995 |
| Box 3 Folder 14 | Off-Off Campus Tour, 1994-1995 |
| Box 3 Folder 15 | Laughing for Understanding Performance Agreement (1), 1995 |
| Box 3 Folder 16 | Laughing for Understanding Performance Agreements (2), 1995 |
| Box 3 Folder 17 | Laughing for Understanding Scenes (1), 1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1989-1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1989-1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1991 |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1991-1993 |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival (1), 1993 |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2), 1993 |
| Box 4 Folder 7 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival (3), 1993 |
| Box 4 Folder 8 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival (1), 1994-1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 9 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2), 1994-1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 10 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1995 |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Checks, 1993-1995 [R-50] |
Series IV: Oversize Advertising Posters |
| Box 6 Folder 1 | 'Gill Kill ProuDale, ' Poster (1), 2001 |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | 'Gill Kill ProuDale Poster (2), 2001 |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | 'The Spooky Good Improv Hour' Poster, undated |
| Box 7 Folder 1 | 'Honey I Faxed the Kids' Posters, Fall 1989 |
| Box 7 Folder 2 | 'Discomforts at Yalta' Poster, spring 1991 |
| Box 7 Folder 3 | 'Answers to Odd Numbered Problems' Poster, Winter 1992 |
| Box 7 Folder 4 | 'Peel Carefully, Display Proudly' Poster, spring 1992 |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | 'Euripides, You pay for them' Poster, Fall 1993 |
| Box 7 Folder 6 | 'Looks Like Wicker, Feels Like Heaven' Poster, Spring 1994 |
| Box 7 Folder 7 | 'Winfield, Alabama' Poster, Winter 1994 |
| Box 7 Folder 8 | 'You say Potato, I say New Jersey' Poster, Spring 1995 |
| Box 7 Folder 9 | 'Step 5: Destroy' Poster, Winter 1996 |
| Box 7 Folder 10 | 'UnderDogma' Posters, 1997 |
| Box 7 Folder 11 | 'Glacier!' Poster, Winter 1998 |
| Box 7 Folder 12 | 'Spaghetti Western Canon' Poster, Spring 1998 |
| Box 7 Folder 13 | 'Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Deal' Poster, Fall 1998 |
| Box 8 Folder 1 | 'You're a Dead Man, Charlie Brown' Poster, Winter 1999 |
| Box 8 Folder 2 | 'The Afterlife for Dummies' Poster, Spring 2000 |
| Box 8 Folder 3 | 'Plays of Future Past' Poster, 2001 |
| Box 8 Folder 4 | 'A River Runs Through Id' Poster, Fall 2002 |
| Box 8 Folder 5 | 'Pastor Muppets' Poster, Winter 2003 |
| Box 8 Folder 6 | 'Pillow Fight Club' Poster, Spring 2003 |
| Box 8 Folder 7 | 'Pants Pants Revolution!' Poster, Spring 2005 |
| Box 8 Folder 8 | 'The House that Crack Built' Poster, fall 2004 |
| Box 8 Folder 9 | 'Mild, Mild West' Poster, Winter 2005 |
| Box 8 Folder 10 | 'Welcome to the Pleasure Dome' Poster, Fall 2005 |
| Box 8 Folder 11 | 'Where the Wild Things At' Poster, 2006 |
| Box 8 Folder 12 | 'Umbrella for Beginners' Poster, Spring 2006 |
| Box 8 Folder 13 | 'The Giving up Tree' Poster, 2006-2007 |