Second City opens theatre venue named for John Candy
Toronto’s Second City troupe officially raised the curtain Friday on a new performance space named after the late Canadian comedy great John Candy.
The John Candy Box Theatre opens Friday evening with a show featuring Second City alumni and faculty.
The cozy theatre space is part of Second City Toronto’s Training Centre, which offers courses to the general public on improvisation, acting and writing. It will host regular pay-what-you-can shows and serve as a performance venue for Second City students.
Toronto-born Candy died of a heart attack in 1994 at age 43, during filming of the movie Wagons East.
His career included starring on the comedy-variety show SCTV, as well as a long string of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s and early 90s, such as Splash; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Uncle Buck; Brewster’s Millions; Spaceballs; Who’s Harry Crumb?; Home Alone; JFK; Only the Lonely; and Cool Runnings.
During the 1990s, the lifelong football fan was also a minority owner of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts team, along with hockey great Wayne Gretzky and majority partner Bruce McNall, including during the team’s 1991 championship season. The team added Gretzky and Candy’s names to the Grey Cup in a special ceremony in 2007.
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