Tom Lynch

Back in 1999, in The Second City e.t.c.'s revue "The Revelation Will Not Be Televised," relative newcomer Sue Gillan stole the show. She sang and danced her way through the show's funniest sketch--a musical number that examined the highs and lows of being mentally handicapped. "Kelly Leonard, our producer, did not want that song in the show," she recalls, sitting in the busy Sunday afternoon Starbucks that shares the same building with The Second City on North and Wells. "Our director was able to convince him to keep it in. I don't know what kind of ridiculous justification he used, but it worked. Kelly never said to me, `Oh my god, this has got to go.' You see him cringe at something particularly harsh or stupid, but if it's hilarious, what am I supposed to do, cut it? No way."

Fresh off her e.t.c. directorial debut, "Show Title Deemed Indecent by FCC," Gillan doesn't feel that the recent FCC crackdowns on vulgarity and "indecency" will affect stage comedy in the long run. "I think that's one thing Second City has been great about for as long as its been open," says the 35-year-old Evanston native. "It's not here to follow, it's here to lead. None of my bosses would ever try to restrict what the actors are writing. They might try to get ideas in, but it's up to the director and the cast to decide, which is pretty god damn rare in this business. I don't know of another theater where you really have that freedom of expression."

Gillan began taking improv classes at The Second City at 25, and got her first gig with its National Touring Company in 1997. Her first revue was e.t.c.'s "Revelation," followed by a mainstage part in "Slaughterhouse Five Cattle Zero." Then it was off to sunny California. After a year, she was back in Chicago. "I went to LA because I was done here at Second Ciy, and it seemed like the next right thing to do. I knew I had to find out if that would be the fit for me, and I found out it wasn't. I think that out there there are a lot of people who are choosing to struggle, and I like my life too much to really struggle. I'm more driven to wake up in the morning with my toes wigglin' than I am to be a movie star."

She started directing as a favor to a friend. "When I was on stage at Second City, Peter Grosz (who stars in "Show Titled") asked me to direct his one-man show, and it just occurred to me that it was a place where I felt more useful," she says. "There's something about working with actors that I really like, and you can't do when you're a fellow actor. You can't say, `You know what I think you oughta do here,' because that would make you wildly unpopular." Though she sees the correlation between being on stage and being behind it, Gillan insists the two jobs are completely different. "I think for right now, I can't imagine doing anything more fun, but when I was performing up there I couldn't imagine doing anything that's more fun, either. I still love performing-- this is just sort of what's right for me now. I won't be performing there [at Second City] again. I feel strongly that once you're done, you're done. And I'm done."

"Show Titled Deemed Indecent by FCC" is a sly look at America's government, its rules and regulations, and its citizens. Funny indeed, but underneath the surface, an underlying sense of melancholy seems to breathe. A highlight of the show is dialogue that takes place between three women working in a tollbooth. The punchline? "When you think it can't get any worse, just ask yourself one question: `Am I currently lit on fire?'"

"Because I was their director, my sensibility was going to pour onto the material," Gillan says. "I'm much more dark than I am light. We were working in response to the last few shows at Second City, which were very high-energy, straightforward, `this is what it is' type shows. So you watch our show and you laugh at these jokes, but afterwards you're going `Man, that was really kinda sad.' But I think that's funny, and that's why we laugh. So we could live with some of the sad."

Gillan is currently working on numerous projects, including a script for a pilot she plans on shooting in the summer. "My friend who I'm writing with calls it `ugly funny,' like `agony funny.' That's my favorite kind of funny." The work is all the same to her, though. "As a writer and a director, you share your own experiences," she says, "and it's clear when something is based in truth."

(2004-04-27)

Also by Tom Lynch

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(2004-03-03)

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