Under the Gun Theater
Under the Gun Theater
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| Address | 956 W. Newport Avenue Chicago, Illinois United States |
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| Owner |
Executive Director Angie McMahon Artistic Director Kevin Mullaney |
| Current use |
Improvisational Comedy Sketch Comedy Comedic Plays |
| Opened | 2014 |
| Website | |
| www |
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Under the Gun Theater is a professional theater company located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Angie McMahon and Kevin Mullaney, Under the Gun is a sketch and improvisational comedy theater which opened in Chicago's Lake View community in 2014. The theater was also known for its interactive show Comedy Against Humanity, which ended due to legal concerns, based on the game Cards Against Humanity.
Under the Gun Theater had its origins in 2013. Kevin Mullaney, former artistic director at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, and Angie McMahon, founding director of Chemically Imbalanced Comedy and a faculty member of The Second City, developed a partnership through a series Skype experiments they used to help set goals. As their friendship progressed, they decided to form a theater company. Initiating as an itinerant company, they created shows and produced them at various Chicago venues such as the Apollo Theater and The Second City.
Eventually McMahon and Mullaney settled on a building to create their own space. In an interview with DNAinfo Chicago, Mullaney shared that the goal of their theater was to create a comedy theater and not just an improv theater. He stated, “We're also going to do sketch and plays and musicals, storytelling, whatever we can think of. The common thread is comedy."
Chicago Reader critic, Justin Hayford, commented: "Under the Gun’s 27-show schedule is no big deal (Annoyance and iO top that handily, but then, they’ve got multiple stages). What’s beginning to set this relatively new company apart is its crafty populism. These comics have a knack for identifying common yet resonant cultural experiences—family reunions, horror movies, drinking games, porn—ripe for improvisation." Cusp Magazine noted "[the theater] hosts an ensemble of actors with expressive, out of the ordinary ideas, bringing a unique improv style to Chicago called 'party prov.' "
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