Rashawn Nadine Scott ('11) has been a member of Chicago's illustrious Second City improv performers since 2014 when the Tacoma native won one of Second City's inaugural Bob Curry fellowships.
More recently, as part of the troupe's 104th revue, "Fool Me Twice, Déjà Vu," Scott was named a Hot New Face of Chicago Theater by the Chicago Tribune, whose chief theatre critic called her "one of the most interesting performers ever to emerge... at Second City."
High praise, considering that Second City helped launch the careers of the likes of Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key and Amy Poehler, to name only a few.
Scott majored in Theatre Arts at Western, leaving in 2011 and heading to Chicago soon after. We caught up with her in between rehearsals for her new Second City show, its yet-untitled 105th revue.
You got your improv start through Western's Dead Parrot Society, didn't you?
Yes! I was really excited to be invited into that ensemble. My senior year we went to the national College Improv Tournament in Chicago and won! That was the first time I got to visit Chicago and I got a taste for it. I knew it was the place for improv; that spring-boarded me to come out here.
You were also very active in other groups, singing with The Primetime Band, and participating in student and regional theatrical productions. Which were your favorite roles?
Well, at Western, Peppermint Patty of "Snoopy" will always have a place in my heart—that whole Summerstock was really fun. But my favorite was Ruth in "The Pirates of Penzance" — it was a steampunk operetta and I had long dreads and a corset and all these weapons. Outside of Western, doing "Avenue Q" in 2012 with Seattle's Balagan Theatre was fun. I've always dreamed of being on "Sesame Street" and that's the closest I've gotten so far.
What do you like about the work you're doing now? What are some of the challenges?
I like the volume at which we do things: Eight shows a week for eight months at a time—that's the closest to a Broadway schedule I've ever gotten. There was one cast member for "Fool Me Twice..." who kept track of how many shows we had done and I think it was upwards of 280! And that doesn't count rehearsals. It's almost daunting: You think, "I've been saying these same words, this many times?!" But there's a connection with the audience that I felt; I knew how I wanted to manage myself on stage, how to come back from failures. You really have to have thick skin if you're going to do this kind of work, especially now, because this audience is so different from me—it's Midwest, predominantly white, middle class patrons who come in there. They see me, a black woman who doesn't look like them, doesn't sound like them and isn't going to bend to appease them. Being able to make an audience laugh while also getting to moments of pure honesty—sucking the air out of the room, but in a good way—it allows people to hear me, to trust that I am not attacking them, that I'm just speaking my truth and then getting them right back on my side with a joke. That turn is a technical skill I'm thankful for: All that training in those classes at Western—I'm just using all these skills and stringing them all together in the right way to make sure that I am entertaining but also educating in the same breath.
Did Western make you funny? How did your time there inspire you to be the performer that you are today?
I've always been funny: I was funny before I arrived at Western—let's get that on the official record. But my classes at Western made me open up emotionally and face things that I knew were important to dive into. (Theatre Professor) Jim Lortz was one of the best teachers I had; he saw something in me that not a lot of other people saw. At Western, there were times where I'd be put in a box—there weren't many scenes that we did or parts that were given out or classes that reflected me. I was in an African-American studies class that was taught by a white man and I could feel every other student looking at me waiting for my response instead of letting me be a student like they were. Jim turned that around by giving me the power and control to make the decision to play parts that I didn't—quote unquote— necessarily fit into. And (Theatre Professor) Rich Brown encouraged you to dig down and access your muscle memory: He knew that you could get to these emotional places if you dug deep enough. Treat your body like a temple, he said. It's as much an instrument as your voice and your mind. He taught me discipline.
Finally, who are your comedic inspirations?
Edgar Blackmon, Tawny Newsome, Christina Anthony, Claudia Wallace (four Second City alumni), Dave Chapelle, Richard Pryor, Tracee Ellis Ross, Maya Rudolph—very funny people who allow themselves to look silly and serious at the same time.
Rashawn Nadine Scott ('11) has been a member of Chicago's illustrious Second City improv performers since 2014 when the Tacoma native won one of Second City's inaugural Bob Curry fellowships.
More recently, as part of the troupe's 104th revue, "Fool Me Twice, Déjà Vu," Scott was named a Hot New Face of Chicago Theater by the Chicago Tribune, whose chief theatre critic called her "one of the most interesting performers ever to emerge... at Second City."
High praise, considering that Second City helped launch the careers of the likes of Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key and Amy Poehler, to name only a few.
Scott majored in Theatre Arts at Western, leaving in 2011 and heading to Chicago soon after. We caught up with her in between rehearsals for her new Second City show, its yet-untitled 105th revue.
You got your improv start through Western's Dead Parrot Society, didn't you?
Yes! I was really excited to be invited into that ensemble. My senior year we went to the national College Improv Tournament in Chicago and won! That was the first time I got to visit Chicago and I got a taste for it. I knew it was the place for improv; that spring-boarded me to come out here.
You were also very active in other groups, singing with The Primetime Band, and participating in student and regional theatrical productions. Which were your favorite roles?
Well, at Western, Peppermint Patty of "Snoopy" will always have a place in my heart—that whole Summerstock was really fun. But my favorite was Ruth in "The Pirates of Penzance" — it was a steampunk operetta and I had long dreads and a corset and all these weapons. Outside of Western, doing "Avenue Q" in 2012 with Seattle's Balagan Theatre was fun. I've always dreamed of being on "Sesame Street" and that's the closest I've gotten so far.
What do you like about the work you're doing now? What are some of the challenges?
I like the volume at which we do things: Eight shows a week for eight months at a time—that's the closest to a Broadway schedule I've ever gotten. There was one cast member for "Fool Me Twice..." who kept track of how many shows we had done and I think it was upwards of 280! And that doesn't count rehearsals. It's almost daunting: You think, "I've been saying these same words, this many times?!" But there's a connection with the audience that I felt; I knew how I wanted to manage myself on stage, how to come back from failures. You really have to have thick skin if you're going to do this kind of work, especially now, because this audience is so different from me—it's Midwest, predominantly white, middle class patrons who come in there. They see me, a black woman who doesn't look like them, doesn't sound like them and isn't going to bend to appease them. Being able to make an audience laugh while also getting to moments of pure honesty—sucking the air out of the room, but in a good way—it allows people to hear me, to trust that I am not attacking them, that I'm just speaking my truth and then getting them right back on my side with a joke. That turn is a technical skill I'm thankful for: All that training in those classes at Western—I'm just using all these skills and stringing them all together in the right way to make sure that I am entertaining but also educating in the same breath.
Did Western make you funny? How did your time there inspire you to be the performer that you are today?
I've always been funny: I was funny before I arrived at Western—let's get that on the official record. But my classes at Western made me open up emotionally and face things that I knew were important to dive into. (Theatre Professor) Jim Lortz was one of the best teachers I had; he saw something in me that not a lot of other people saw. At Western, there were times where I'd be put in a box—there weren't many scenes that we did or parts that were given out or classes that reflected me. I was in an African-American studies class that was taught by a white man and I could feel every other student looking at me waiting for my response instead of letting me be a student like they were. Jim turned that around by giving me the power and control to make the decision to play parts that I didn't—quote unquote— necessarily fit into. And (Theatre Professor) Rich Brown encouraged you to dig down and access your muscle memory: He knew that you could get to these emotional places if you dug deep enough. Treat your body like a temple, he said. It's as much an instrument as your voice and your mind. He taught me discipline.
Finally, who are your comedic inspirations?
Edgar Blackmon, Tawny Newsome, Christina Anthony, Claudia Wallace (four Second City alumni), Dave Chapelle, Richard Pryor, Tracee Ellis Ross, Maya Rudolph—very funny people who allow themselves to look silly and serious at the same time.
