{"id":8614,"date":"2015-02-26T14:46:10","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T20:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=8614"},"modified":"2015-02-26T14:46:10","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T20:46:10","slug":"second-citys-evil-stepchildren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/","title":{"rendered":"Second City’s Evil Stepchildren"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jessica T. Gable<\/p>\n

Michael Pieper approaches the craft of acting from very serious, ancient traditions. For him, the craft is rooted in Native American shamanism and his method of accessing a character is anchored by a very strong sense of spirituality. But he applies those traditions as a teacher at the premiere comedy institution in the Windy City- Chicago\u2019s own Second City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to shamanism when I was searching for my spirituality in my late 20\u2019s,\u201d Pieper, now 51, said. \u201cI was raised Catholic and it just wasn\u2019t clicking with me so I started to study other religions and I loved how shamanism connects you to the elements and the world around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pieper<\/a>
Michael Pieper teaches an Acting Level 2 class at Second City. (Jessica T. Gable\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pieper\u2019s entry into the world of acting came early. In school, he convinced his teachers to let him write plays instead of essays, and after that it was only a matter of time before he found his path to the theater. Today, he has acted in more than 40 shows and directed more than 90.<\/p>\n

Second City\u2019s Training Center, which serves approximately 2,500 students each week, created the Acting Program in 1999 after Pieper brought up the idea with Martin deMaat, then the school\u2019s artistic director. Building an acting program based on character study in a school founded decades ago on the principle of improvisation proved challenging. Second City\u2019s Training Center, after all, has turned out several generations of master improvisers– comedy writers, standup comics, and actors known for their comedic chops like Steve Martin, Tina Fey and Steve Carrell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the evil stepchild,\u201d Pieper recalled. \u201cMany improvisers don\u2019t realize the importance of acting training.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was comedy that drew Logan Hulick, a pupil of Pieper\u2019s, to Chicago. After a foray into Chicago\u2019s comedy scene, Hulick now teaches Acting Level 1 classes in the same program he went through only three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to take my comedy further,\u201d Hulick said, \u201cbeing more of an actor, so I wanted to get some more training in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program started with just three levels, but as the volume of interested students grew and his method solidified, Pieper added a fourth level. Now he offers four levels of acting training, with small classes meeting for eight-week sessions. Tuition is $329 per session.<\/p>\n

The program draws students from backgrounds as varied as any the city had to offer, including Allie Swanson, an interior decorator.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, at 50, she had decided to try out Pieper\u2019s classes to overcome shyness and a fear of public speaking. They soon led to a new career path as an actress and away from interior decorating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took Michael\u2019s class and then he just opened me up immensely,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cMichael has an innate ability to individually tap into a person and bring all of those emotions up that you can apply to a character, to a role. My experience is that it\u2019s a gift to be able to do that. Not a lot of people have that ability to get that out of a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Pieper\u2019s class, Swanson engaged in beat work- the process of designating separate emotions and motivations for individual lines or moments in a play. Pieper\u2019s method involves breaking down the human condition and the self into three separate entities: the basic, the conscious and the Higher Self.<\/p>\n

Games, tongue-twisters and partner massage make regular appearances in his class in order to diffuse tension in the body and the mind. He also focuses on Artistotle\u2019s six elements of a play– plot, character, diction\/dialogue, thought\/theme, music, spectacle– to guide the actor\u2019s beat work. Equally vital to Pieper\u2019s approach is helping the performers to access their own emotional memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing I love most about teaching acting,\u201d Pieper said, \u201cis not only do I get to see people grow as actors but I also get to see them grow personally. Sometimes, it is just as important if not more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Pieper was born in rural western Nebraska into a family of farmers, but knew immediately his interests lay elsewhere. \u201cI was always acting in some school play or in some sort of competition,\u201d Pieper said. \u201cIt was hard on my father that one of his sons did not want to follow in his footsteps.\u201d (Jessica T. Gable\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jessica T. Gable Michael Pieper approaches the craft of acting from very serious, ancient traditions. For him, the craft is rooted in Native American shamanism and his method of accessing a character is anchored by a very strong sense of spirituality. But he applies those traditions as a teacher at the premiere comedy institution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":8879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,1,243],"tags":[379,329,378,377],"class_list":["post-8614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-uncategorized","category-winter-2015","tag-acting","tag-medill","tag-michael-pieper","tag-second-city"],"yoast_head":"\nSecond City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jessica T. Gable Michael Pieper approaches the craft of acting from very serious, ancient traditions. For him, the craft is rooted in Native American shamanism and his method of accessing a character is anchored by a very strong sense of spirituality. But he applies those traditions as a teacher at the premiere comedy institution […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-26T20:46:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessicagable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessicagable\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/\",\"name\":\"Second City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-26T20:46:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/a28b9ffe4393aae5d9d99db271cf3e9f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":731,\"caption\":\"Pieper was born in rural western Nebraska into a family of farmers, but knew immediately his interests lay elsewhere. \u201cI was always acting in some school play or in some sort of competition,\u201d Pieper said. \u201cIt was hard on my father that one of his sons did not want to follow in his footsteps.\u201d (Jessica T. Gable\/Medill)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Second City’s Evil Stepchildren\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/a28b9ffe4393aae5d9d99db271cf3e9f\",\"name\":\"jessicagable\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f23c3b543906c74b50ea58a562980935d0053620677f069114247b46875c0d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f23c3b543906c74b50ea58a562980935d0053620677f069114247b46875c0d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jessicagable\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/jessicagable\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Second City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Second City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Jessica T. Gable Michael Pieper approaches the craft of acting from very serious, ancient traditions. For him, the craft is rooted in Native American shamanism and his method of accessing a character is anchored by a very strong sense of spirituality. But he applies those traditions as a teacher at the premiere comedy institution […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-02-26T20:46:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":731,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jessicagable","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jessicagable","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/","name":"Second City's Evil Stepchildren - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-26T20:46:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/a28b9ffe4393aae5d9d99db271cf3e9f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/PIEPER-2-cropped.jpg","width":1100,"height":731,"caption":"Pieper was born in rural western Nebraska into a family of farmers, but knew immediately his interests lay elsewhere. \u201cI was always acting in some school play or in some sort of competition,\u201d Pieper said. \u201cIt was hard on my father that one of his sons did not want to follow in his footsteps.\u201d (Jessica T. Gable\/Medill)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/second-citys-evil-stepchildren\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Second City’s Evil Stepchildren"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/a28b9ffe4393aae5d9d99db271cf3e9f","name":"jessicagable","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f23c3b543906c74b50ea58a562980935d0053620677f069114247b46875c0d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7f23c3b543906c74b50ea58a562980935d0053620677f069114247b46875c0d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jessicagable"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/jessicagable\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}