David Gwynne Shepherd (10 October 1924 – 17 December 2018) was an American producer,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

noted for his innovative work in

improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

. He founded and/or co-founded the Playwrights Theatre Club, The Compass Players, the Canadian Improv Games, and the

ImprovOlympic iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as ImprovOlympic) is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago. The theater teaches and hosts performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The ...

Early life and education

Born in 1924 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to an

old money Old money is a social class of the rich who have been able to maintain their wealth over multiple generations, in contrast with new money whose wealth has been acquired within its own generation. The term often refers to perceived members of th ...

family, Shepherd grew up with

left-leaning Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commonl ...

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 Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt (; November 11, 1845 – April 24, 1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and reigned as the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for over 60 years. Early life and relatives Alice Claypoole Gwynne was born on Nove ...

. He studied English at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

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

Playwrights Theatre Club

In 1953, Shepherd co-founded the company along with

Paul Sills Paul Sills (born Paul Silverberg; November 18, 1927 – June 2, 2008) was an American director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City. Life and career Sills was born Paul Silverberg in Chicago, Illinois ...

and Eugene Troobnick, of the Playwrights Theatre Club in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The theatre was noted for its original treatment of classic plays as well as original works. Other members and participants included

Elaine May Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and director. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols before transitioning her career, regularly b ...

Sheldon Patinkin Sheldon Arthur Patinkin (August 27, 1935 – September 21, 2014) was a chair of the Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago, artistic director of the Getz Theater of Columbia College, Artistic Consultant of The Second City and of Steppen ...

Rolf Forsberg Rolf Forsberg (July 12, 1925 – February 16, 2017) was an American playwright, film and theater director. Biography Forsberg is known for directing films such as '' The Late Great Planet Earth'' and '' Parable'', a film produced for the '' 1 ...

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director and comedian. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of ...

, Joyce Piven,

Josephine Forsberg Josephine Forsberg (January 28, 1921 – October 3, 2011) was an American comedian, teacher and author. Biography Josephine Forsberg, ex-wife of film director Rolf Forsberg, was hired by Paul Sills and Viola Spolin to join the original Second Ci ...

Ed Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant on the sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977) and drama '' Lou Grant'' (1977–1982), making him one of the few ...

, and Barbara Harris. The Playwright's Theatre Club led to the creation of the Compass Players and later the Second City.

Compass Players

In 1955, Shepherd and

founded The Compass Players, the forerunner of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

. Compass launched the careers of

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American comedian and actor. 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 20 ...

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pier ...

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (March 26, 1934 – June 29, 2023) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony A ...

, Barbara Harris, and

Shelley Berman Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer. He was awarded three gold records for his comedy albums and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy recor ...

(to name a few) and started a revolution in entertainment.This formative time in the history of American improvisational theater is the subject matter of a 2011 documentary "Compass Cabaret '55; see http://siskafilms.com/ and http://www.outofboundscomedy.com/compass-cabaret-55-film/. In Mark Siska's documentary ''Compass Cabaret ’55'', about the birth of modern improvisation, Shepherd stated his reasons for founding the Compass Players: “Theater in New York was very effete and based on three-act plays and based on verbiage and there was not much action. I wanted to create a theater that would drag people off the street and seat them not in rows but at tables and give them something to drink, which was unheard of in mericantheater.” The Compass eventually opened in St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington.

Community Makers

In 1971, Shepherd established the Community Makers in New York City. Assisted by Howard Jerome Gomberg, the organization was created to correct ailing communities by using improvisation as a people’s theatre, and was housed at the Space for Innovative Development, 344 W. 36th Street, New York.

''Responsive Scene'' radio show

In 1972, Shepherd produced the ''Responsive Scene'' radio show which aired on WRVR-FM, a public radio station owned and operated by the

Riverside Church Riverside Church is an interdenominational church in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan, Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The church is associated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the Un ...

in New York City. ''Responsive Scene'' was an hour-long improvised show with professional actors performing from call-in suggestions from their audience of over 40,000 listeners.

The Improvisation Olympics

In 1972 at the Space for Innovative Development, Shepherd and Howard Jerome Gomberg created the Improvisation Olympics, a competitive theatrical sporting event. The event placed competing teams of improvisers on stage in front of a live audience, with performances taped for future replays. The format was refined by Toronto's Homemade Theatre Company in 1974. In 1981, Shepherd returned to Chicago, producing the Improvisation Olympics and the Jonah Complex with Charna Halpern, who later went on to form i.O. with Del Close.

Life-Play

Shepherd resided near Amherst, Massachusetts. There, he developed a new improvisational format known as Life-Play, which consists of improvised games that can be played over the phone. According to Shepherd, If you called him on a specific number, he would provide a short training session and then introduce you to the phone team, often national participants.

Legacy

Shepherd received lifetime achievement awards from the Chicago Improv Festival, Second City, and the Canadian Improv Games. In 2010, the documentary ''David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre'' was completed. It is an oral history detailing Shepherd's career and contributions to improvisational theatre. It was directed by Mike Fly and written by Michael Golding. The documentary includes interviews with past and present associates such as Bernie Sahlins, Suzanne Shepherd, and Janet Coleman. In 2014, ''Compass Cabaret 55'', a documentary about the birth of modern theatrical improvisation directed by Mark Siska, also details the career of Shepherd and his contributions to improvisational movement. Besides Shepherd, the interviewees include Bernie Sahlins, Janet Coleman, Jeffrey Sweet, and Compass veterans such as

, Suzanne Shepherd, and

. The Canadian Improv Games (CIG) is an education-based format of

for

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

high schools. To participate in the games, high school students form teams of up to 8 players and are required to pay a registration fee (if their school is not able to cover the cost). The teams compete in regional tournaments, organized and coordinated by regional Canadian Improv Games volunteers. Players perform improvised scenes, fueled by suggestions provided by the audience. Each scene is judged based on a fixed rubric. The winning team from each region proceeds to the National Festival and Tournament held in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. The

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...

is a major sponsor of the Canadian Improv Games. The National Arts Centre is the site of the National Festival and Ottawa Tournament. The Games were created by Jamie "Willie" Wyllie and Howard Jerome Gomberg, based on Shepherd's and Gomberg's Improvisation Olympics.

Death

Shepherd died on 17 December 2018, at the age of 94.

References

Bibliography

External links

Encyclopedia of Chicago History entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, David 1924 births 2018 deaths Male actors from New York City Writers from New York City American theatre managers and producers Harvard University alumni Columbia University alumni