The Great Performances Theater Series is raising the curtain ontheir season in the Union Theater with a show that is anything butmonotonous.
Chicago City Limits, a comedy team that has been performing forover 22 years, is coming to the Union Theater on Friday, Oct. 1 at8 p.m. to perform their show, “American Idles.”.
The show is expected to bring in large crowds, said RhondaDunaway, the assistant director for programs at theUnion. 
“It’s a really well-known improv group,”Dunaway said. “We’ve sold over 800 tickets so far, andwe expect a big turnout.”
“Rent” and “Fosse” have sold moretickets than Chicago City Limits, Dunaway said.  But, theUnion has had success with improv comedy before.
“We try to do a big variety of shows,” Dunawaysaid.  “We’ve had improv groups before, and we didproduce a student improv show called ‘Making It Up As We GoAlong.'”
Megan Harris, a biochemistry freshman, is enthusiastic about theentire theater series. 
“I was planning on going to see [Chicago City Limits], butI had to make sure I got tickets to see ‘Rent’first,” Harris said.
In addition to their performance on Friday night, Chicago CityLimits will also be hosting two workshops on Saturday, Dunawaysaid.
On Saturday morning, the cast will host a workshop to teach andrefine improv comedy to both the Lively Arts Committee members andalumni of “Making It Up As We Go Along.”
“The ‘Making It Up As We Go Along’ performersworked so hard for no money for three semesters,” Dunawaysaid. “We just felt like this workshop was a good way torepay them.”
The Chicago City Limits cast also does workshops on creativityand team-building and has hosted workshops for major corporationssuch as General Foods, American Express and Merck, Dunawaysaid.
On Saturday afternoon, the cast will host another of theseworkshops for the officers and chairs of the Union Program Council,as well as for the associate chairs that head the differentcommittees.
About 50 students are going to get to experience the”bonus” of these workshops in addition to theperformances Friday night, Dunaway said.
The Great Performances Theater Series tries to offer somethingbesides just a performance, such as question and answer sessions orworkshops with the cast, Dunaway said.
“Every time we bring a show we try to have an addedcomponent in addition to the performance,” Dunaway said.
Even though Chicago City Limits has not sold out, it is notnecessarily an indication that the rest of the shows are not goingto, Dunaway said. 
“Rent” and “Fosse” have already bothsold more tickets than “American Idles.”
“We’re really excited about the season,”Dunaway said.  “We think that it’s one of the bestwe’ve ever had.”