Second City Gets Ready To Raise Curtain After Repairing Fire Damage

(CBS) -- A fire shut it down, but not for long. Second City is opening ahead of schedule and CBS 2's Audrina Bigos takes a look at the progress.

Less than 48 hours until show time it's all hands on deck and in true comedic fashion, humor is helping them over this hump.

If you're here, you're working. The clock is ticking so it's can't stop, won't stop, even as our cameras roll.

While some whistle while they work, comedians laugh. Second City is taking on a new motto with less than three weeks to pull off a major task.

"It was mission accomplishment," said Second City's Tyler Alexander. "Not to pull a quote from George Bush in a traditionally liberal theater company, but that's what we had to do."

The Mainstage Theater is the main focus ahead of Thursday's night's private performance for more than 200 Chicago firefighters and their families.

"We're going to be putting tables and chairs in tonight and tomorrow," Alexander said.

Luckily, the stage and set were basically untouched in last month's fire. Carpet, lights and wiring are still being replaced

"We decided to just rip out everything," Alexander said.

Upstairs offices were damaged the worst, but that's not stopping the show.

"Yesterday, this wasn't here," Alexander said. "The dry wall wasn't even installed."

And while there's still the smell of smoke at Second City, it's a reminder of how far they've come in just three weeks.

To say 'thank you' to firefighters, Second City is collecting donations at all shows. That money will go to families of firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty.