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David Shepherd (producer)
David Gwynne Shepherd (October 10, 1924 – December 17, 2018) was an American producer, director, and actor noted for his innovative work in improvisational theatre. He founded and/or co-founded Playwrights Theatre Club, The Compass Players, Canadian Improv Games, and the ImprovOlympic. Early life and education Born in 1924 in New York City to an old money family, Shepherd grew up with left-leaning sensibilities. He was the son of Louise Tracy (Butler) and William Edgar Shepherd, an architect. His paternal grandmother was the sister of socialite Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt. He studied English at Harvard and received an M.A. in the History of Theater at Columbia. Disenchanted with what he perceived as a European dominated theater on the East Coast, Shepherd gravitated to the Midwest. Career Producer and Improv innovator Playwrights Theatre Club In 1953 Shepherd was one of the co-founders along with Paul Sills and Eugene Troobnick of the Playwrights Theatre Club in Chicago. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre In Chicago
Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago had long been a popular destination for touring productions, as well as original productions that transfer to Broadway and other cities. According to ''Variety'' editor Gordon Cox, beside New York City, Chicago has one of the most lively theater scenes in the United States. As many as 100 shows could be seen any given night from 200 companies as of 2018, some with national reputations and many in creative "storefront" theaters, demonstrating a vibrant theater scene "from the ground up". According to ''American Theatre'' magazine, Chicago's theater is "justly legendary". History The young settlement of Chicago in 1834 saw its first commercial production by a fire eater and ventriloquist, Mr. Brown. In 1837, the first resident theater comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Sahlins
Bernard Sahlins (; August 20, 1922 – June 16, 2013) was an American writer, director and comedian best known as a founder of The Second City improvisational comedy troupe with Paul Sills and Howard Alk in 1959.Sahlins, Bernard (2001)Days and Nights at the Second City.via SCTV Guide Sahlins also opened the Second City Theatre in Toronto in 1973. Biography Born in Chicago, Sahlins graduated from University of Chicago in 1943. His brother is anthropologist Marshall Sahlins. When Sahlins received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ... in 2006, theatre department professor Sheldon Patinkin wrote: In 1986, Sahlins co-founded both The University of Chicago's Off-Off Campus and The International Theatre Festival ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Players Workshop
Created in 1971 by Josephine Forsberg, The Players Workshop was Chicago's only official school of improvisation for over a decade. Although it was never officially a part of The Second City cabaret theater, The Players Workshop was often referred to as Players Workshop Of The Second City, due to the school's close affiliation with the famous sketch comedy stage. From 1971 through the mid-1990s, performers flocked to The Players Workshop to study improv with Josephine Forsberg, Linnea Forsberg, Martin de Maat, or one of the school's many other instructors, in the hopes of eventually getting onto The Second City mainstage. Players Workshop was also one of Chicago's largest family entertainment production companies, producing original plays and musicals for The Children's Theater of The Second City for over 30 years. Its production of the one-act musical '' Knat Scatt Private Eye'' later went on to be expanded into a full Broadway-style two-act musical which was mounted at The Thea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin (November 7, 1906 — November 22, 1994) was an American theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life. These acting exercises she later called Theater Games and formed the first body of work that enabled other directors and actors to create improvisational theater. Her book ''Improvisation for the Theater'', which published these techniques, includes her philosophy and her teaching and coaching methods, and is considered the "bible of improvisational theater". Spolin's contributions were seminal to the improvisational theater movement in the U.S. She is considered to be the mother of Improvisational theater. Her work has influenced American theater, television and film by providing new tools and techniques that are now used by actors, directors and wri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theater Games
The theatre games tradition is a method of training actors that was developed in the 20th century by practitioners such as Joan Littlewood, Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, Clive Barker, Keith Johnstone, Jerzy Grotowski and Augusto Boal. Theatre games are also commonly used as warm-up exercises for actors before a rehearsal or performance, in the development of improvisational theatre, and as a lateral means to rehearse dramatic material. They are also used in drama therapy to overcome anxiety by simulating scenarios that would be fear-inducing in real life. See also * Group-dynamic game * Theatre of the Oppressed The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theorist ... Theatre Acting techniques Improvisational theatre {{theatre-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shelley Berman
Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer. In his comedic career, he was awarded three gold records and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy recording in 1959. He played Larry David's father on ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', a role for which he received a 2008 Emmy Award nomination. Berman taught humor writing at the University of Southern California for more than 20 years. Early life and education Berman was born in Chicago, the son of Irene (née Marks) and Nathan Berman. He was Jewish. He had a younger brother, Ronald. He served in the Navy during World War II. He then enrolled in Chicago's Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) as a drama student. There he met fellow student Sarah Herman; they married in 1947. His acting career began with an acting company in Woodstock, Illinois. Leaving Woodstock in 1949, the couple made their way to N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Densmoor Harris (July 25, 1935 – August 21, 2018) was an American actress. She appeared in such movies as '' A Thousand Clowns'', ''Plaza Suite'', ''Nashville'', ''Family Plot'', '' Freaky Friday'', '' Peggy Sue Got Married'', and '' Grosse Pointe Blank''. Harris won a Tony Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also received four Golden Globe Award nominations. Early life Harris was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Natalie (née Densmoor), a pianist, and Oscar Graham Harris, an arborist who later became a businessman. In her youth, Harris attended Senn High School and then Wilbur Wright College. She began her stage career as a teenager at the Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Her fellow players included Edward Asner, Elaine May and Mike Nichols. She was also a member of the Compass Players, the first ongoing improvisational theatre troupe in the United States, directed by Paul Sills, to whom she was married at that time.Hart, Hugh"The Return Of Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. Arkin started his career on the Broadway stage acting in '' Enter Laughing'' in 1963 for which he received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, and the comedic play '' Luv'' (1964). He is also was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for '' The Sunshine Boys'' in 1973. He gained stardom acting in ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' (1966), '' Wait Until Dark'' (1967), '' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1968), '' Popi'' (1969), ''Catch-22'' (1970), '' The In-Laws'' (1979), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1992), '' Grosse Point Blank'' (1997), '' Thirteen Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Alda
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war comedy-drama television series '' M*A*S*H'' (1972–1983). He also wrote and directed numerous episodes of the series. Alda is also known for recurring roles on television series, such as '' The West Wing'' and '' Ray Donovan'', and received critical acclaim for his appearances in films such as '' Same Time, Next Year'' (1978) alongside Ellen Burstyn and for his directorial debut film '' The Four Seasons'' (1981). Other film appearances include '' Crimes and Misdemeanors'' (1989), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), the Cold War drama '' Bridge of Spies'' (2015), and '' Marriage Story'' (2019). In 2004, Alda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in '' The Aviator''. Alda has also received three Tony Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Stiller
Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015. Stiller saw a late-career resurgence starting in 1993, playing George Costanza's father Frank on the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', a part which earned him an Emmy nomination. The year ''Seinfeld'' went off the air, Stiller began his role as the eccentric Arthur Spooner on the CBS comedy series '' The King of Queens'', another role that garnered widespread acclaim. Stiller appeared together with his son Ben Stiller in films such as '' Zoolander'', '' Heavyweights'', '' Hot Pursuit'', '' The Heartbreak Kid'', and '' Zoolander 2''. He also performed voice-over work for films and television, including '' The Lion King 1½'' and '' Planes: Fire and Rescue''. In his later career, Stiller became known for portraying grumpy and eccentric characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols, before transitioning as a groundbreaking film director starting in the 1970s onward. In 1955, May moved to Chicago and became a founding member of the Compass Players, an improvisational theater group. She began working alongside Nichols and in 1957, they both quit the group to form their own stage act, Nichols and May. In New York they performed nightly in clubs in Greenwich Village alongside Joan Rivers and Woody Allen as well as on the Broadway stage. They also made regular appearances in television and radio broadcasts. They released multiple comedy albums and received four Grammy Award nominations winning Best Comedy Album for '' An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May'' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
