Many actors all over the world wish to catch a big break in their careers, whether it be an appearance in a commercial, a role in a movie, or a role in a professional production. Some actors wish to one day be a part of Saturday Night Live, performing on a weekly basis in front of millions. One Jesuit alumni, however, wanted to make a name for himself and pursue his passion—performing improvisation and comedy productions. This fortunate Jesuit graduate, John Sabine ’03, has now joined Second City, a nationally recognized comedy improvisational group.
John, now 28 years-old, was born July 29, 1984 to John and Therese Sabine. Raised in a Catholic family, he attended St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Dallas, and his acting career began in junior high. After participating in “an excellent Arts department at St. Pats,” Sabine continued his acting at Jesuit and Ursuline Academy. “I really did a lot of plays at Ursuline, but I liked what Jesuit Theatre had to offer.”
Sabine reminisced about his days at Jesuit when asked how his Jesuit education helped him later in life: “It really helped me a lot. This will sound corny, but Jesuit truly does prepare you for college. I knew I wanted to go to a good Jesuit college to study theatre. Jesuit helped a tremendous amount with all the prep work, and even the theatre department helped me with preparing monologues and my auditions. Father [Gene] Sessa (the former theatre director) actually knew the priest in charge of theatre at Santa Clara [University], so that helped a tremendous amount. Now that I think about it, I feel like I should write a thank-you letter to Jesuit!”
When asked what he learned most from his Jesuit experience, Sabine replied, “I think Jesuit really does teach boys how to become men. Doing the work here really prepared me. Jesuit taught me how to become a professional person. I think I appreciated it as a student, but after coming back after so many years, it’s like I realized, ‘Oh, this is special.’ And it really is. There’s a lot of love here that other schools don’t have. Even being in here right now, I can see the old paintings from years ago, and I can look out these windows and see Jesuit students that I feel like I know because this school is still a family to me.”
After graduating from Jesuit in 2003, John enrolled in Santa Clara University, a Jesuit school in California, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and Dance, but Sabine quickly added that he “did absolutely no dancing.” At Santa Clara, Sabine performed in shows, participated in technical theatre, and stayed involved in every production.
After earning his degree, Sabine moved to Chicago to start his new life. Once settled in his apartment, he landed his first job with Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant where he worked as a waiter, noting that he was “a terrible waiter at that.” After his short career in the restaurant business, Sabine joined a technology sales company named CDW working as an Account Manager. While working at his new job, he attended improvisation and Second City classes to keep up his theatrical skills. At these classes, John said he earned “things that I had never seen or experienced before. I didn’t even know there were techniques to go about improv [and] had no idea how to improvise.” Two years later, Sabine moved on to a new job at Groupon: Chicago, a discounted certificate company.
While at Groupon, John worked during the day and then performed at night with local theatres. One improvisation groups he joined was named “iO”, otherwise known as “Improv Olympics”. “Everyone that has performed with Saturday Night Live and Second City has gone through iO at some point,” explained Sabine. “iO works like this: after you complete the training center they may place you on a team. I’ve been on a team for awhile now. The shows we put on are free, but they’re really cool because they’re in a real theatre in Chicago.”
After working countless hours and performing whenever possible, John managed to land his first major gig with Second City in 2011, performing on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship named the Epic. When asked about his experience on the Epic, Sabine grinned. “The experience was great. It was almost like camp. It honestly was weird—you sleep in a very small cabin on a huge ship, and you wake up on a new beach each morning. It really was like camp, or even a freshman year in college, but you can’t go to camp your whole life, so I was happy to get back on land. It was great, though.” He jokingly added, “I’d recommend it to anyone—once.”
After his time on the Epic, Sabine returned to Chicago where he continued to work for Groupon and perform with local theatre organizations. After many months and shows, John was given the opportunity to audition for a Second City production in his hometown. After going through the auditions process, John was selected with four other Second City members to perform in Dallas.
Second City’s Dallas production, Second City Does Dallas, runs through Saturday, October 6th (Click here for ticket information). John and his fellow actors/actresses perform every day except Monday.
When asked about the production, Sabine explained that “the show is an ensemble. It’s great because the roles are balanced and there’s not one single lead. Everyone gets to participate a lot, which is great. I absolutely love the ensemble.” The production is about 80% scripted. Each show is about the same, but 20% of the production is left open for improvisation. “We even have inside jokes throughout the show,” explained Sabine. On the week-day performances, the Second City cast goes back on stage after the performance where they perform improvisation for 30 minutes. “The 30 minutes of improv is my favorite part of the night. I enjoy the entire show, but I absolutely love the improv.”
Sabine described his pre-show routine. Before each show, he uses a vocal warm-up to prepare himself. “I speak very quickly, so our music director helps me [warm-up].” He also walks the stage to get a feel of his stage-space and to feel more comfortable before stepping on for the production. Once actors are ready to perform, they are usually told the cliché, “Break a leg,” but Sabine explained that Second City says, “I’ve got your back.” In other words, an actor/actress will be there to help a fellow actor/actress throughout the entire show. Sabine added, “We get so serious about it that if we forget to pat [cast members] on the back and say it, we feel the urge to run across stage and do it just to make sure we’re ready! If we fall, we fall together. If we succeed, we succeed together.”
When asked what he enjoys most about his shows, John humbly replied, “I would have to say the cast. I love the people that I perform with. They are peers that I respect, whether I’ve known them for three years or if I’ve looked up to them for many years. The cast is very, very kind.”
Now that his role with Second City’s Dallas production has been secured, “John Sabine” has become a famous name around Dallas, as well as at Jesuit. John had no clue how famous he and his name have become since the beginning of his show. He responded, “I think it’s amazing that anyone would remember my name! I really don’t even know how to respond to that, I mean I had no clue. That’s extremely sweet. I’m very, very grateful; I love this school.”
After the Dallas production ends, John says that he plans to go back to Chicago to perform around the city. However, he explained that in order to perform with Second City again, he must audition for each production they put on, mentioning that “[he] would love to stay with Second City.”
When asked what advice he would give to high school actors and actresses, John said that students “should really try to see a lot of theatre. The more you see, the more you’ll learn about theatre and the techniques that are used. It’s like basketball—you won’t find someone who plays on a high school basketball team that doesn’t watch NBA or college games.” John also made an important point to “Do work you enjoy doing.”
John Sabine resembles a true Jesuit graduate. A hard-working, intelligent man, he has pursued his dreams since day one. While forming solid relationships with his peers, John continues to be “open to growth” as he explores different theatres. Congratulations to John on such a marvelous achievement.
