Starship Edsel is now playing in the de Maat Studio Theater at The Second City!

Click here for tickets!

Starship Edsel is a Star Trek-inspired improvised farce set aboard the Federation Starship Edsel, the only vessel of its class and widely considered a spectacular failure in ship design. Plagued by mechanical problems and staffed by Starfleet's most problematic personnel, the Edsel was given a mission that it couldn’t possibly mess up: giving VIP’s tours of an “authentic Federation starship” around the vacation planet of Atlantis.

When the Romulan Empire blockaded the Atlantis system, the Edsel, now in the center of a galactic emergency, unexpectedly activated mysterious experimental technology that hurled the ship thousands of light-years away to the unknown Omega Quadrant. With the crew lost and struggling to survive, they eventually found their way back to Federation space—but not without consequences.

Using an alien device, the Edsel not only traversed the vast distance home but also went backwards in time to the year 2256. Their arrival inadvertently disrupted a delicate diplomatic standoff between the Federation and a faction of the Klingon Empire, ultimately triggering an interstellar war. As a result, Starfleet Command has ordered the Edsel to "go away" and seek out new worlds far from the current tensions, with the understanding that their ultimate fate will be determined once the Klingon situation is resolved.

Even the most unlikely crew in the least reliable ship can be a force for good in the galaxy. We hope.

Director and Executive Producer: Anthony LeBlanc

Created and Written by Brandon Brylawski

Managing Producer: Dylan Schaefer

with additional writing by Stephen Fauss, Emilie Hapgood, Carlos Rivera, Keely Smith, and Kathryn Thomas

Starring:
Edward Neequaye as Captain Jean-Pierre Baptiste

Ian Deanes as Commander Cassius Reyes

Eliana Deckner-Glick as Lieutenant Dixie Pike

Wanjiku Kairu as Lt. Commander Reittana Troi

Matthew Kawa as Lieutenant T'Pang Gah

Emilie Hapgood as Emergency Medical Hologram Doctor Sigma-18

Mike Mazzella as Lieutenant James Buchanan von Starfleet

Carlos Rivera as Counselor J'Errrs'q

Janice Rumschlag as Lieutenant Idalia Opal XXVIII

Bernadette Santos Schwegel as Ensign Cornelia "Corn" Hardstone

Dylan Schaefer as Commander Russell T. Stillwell

Keely Smith as Lieutenant Vialee Parr

The Jeffrey Combs Ensemble: Lilly Bolduc, Christl Climans, Stephen Fauss, Tyler Mascarello, Croix Perkins, and Liam Ryan

Computer and Stage Management Officer: Cooper Lyke

Technical consulting by Dan Granata

Starship Edsel runs one hour and will play at 6:00pm every Sundays in October, and Sundays at 7:30pm in November in the de Maat Studio Theater at the Second City Chicago.

Contact the host of Starship Edsel: An Improvised Star Trek Satire