Upright Citizens Brigade, the improv mainstay that launched countless comedy careers, has permanently closed its New York City locations due to financial issues. 'People are grieving,' a former UCBer says.
The news comes a month after layoffs were announced at the group's New York and Los Angeles facilities in response to the coronavirus. A small number of staff were kept at training centers on both coasts.
"The biggest issue with UCB was the lack of communication of the company and the owners to their employees," said Paris Adkins, a New York performer who was laid off from her administrative job with the company last month.. Adkins said the pandemic"is just the extenuating circumstance that put things over the edge.""Look, we heard the community when they said, 'We're scared, too, and we want better communication,'"Amy Poehler toldafter the announcement.
"It felt like they had turned their backs on this massive community they had built up around them," he said."So now there's a weird taste in a lot of peoples' mouths because of that." Much of the company's operations run on part-time staff, according to Adkins. She estimated that UCB cut a total of 45 New York-based employees across the city since last month.Despite the community's frustrations, when the indefinite shutdown of the New York outposts turned definite, the tributes rolled in online.
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