Theatre arts graduate relishes return to the McDaniel stage in mentor’s original pantomime.

Theatre professor Ira Domser’s original British pantomime, “Young Robin Hood,” provided the pitch-perfect venue for the talents Chris DeRose has been fine tuning for the past two years at the hub of comedy, Second City Chicago. And DeRose dove right into the role of Sackbutt in the panto’s slapstick-comedy sketch.  

“I love Alumni Hall – it’s a great place to perform,” DeRose says, adding that he never missed a day without at least stopping by the heart of McDaniel theatre during his undergraduate years.

After graduation, DeRose headed for Chicago to pursue his dream of studying his art at Second City, incubator of such comedy greats as Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, John Belushi, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, Amy Poehler, Amy Sedaris and Martin Short.