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Compass Players
The Compass Players (or Compass Theater) was an improvisational theatre revue active from 1955 to 1958 in Chicago and St. Louis. Founded by David Shepherd and Paul Sills, it is considered to be the first improvisational theater in the United States. History Shepherd and Sills The Compass Players, founded by David Shepherd and Paul Sills, was the first Improvisational Theatre in America. It began July 8, 1955 as a storefront theater at 1152 E. 55th near the University of Chicago campus. They presented improvised plays. Shepherd, in Mark Siska's documentary ''Compass Cabaret ’55'', about the birth of modern improvisation, 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,” he said. “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 merican ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Improvisation
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties, across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation. Improvisation also exists outside the arts. Improvisation in engineering is to solve a problem with the tools and materials immediately at hand. Improvised weapons are often used by guerrillas, insurgents and criminals. Engineering Improvisation in engineering is to solve a problem with the tools and materials immediately at hand. Examples of such improvisation was the re-engineering of carbon dioxide scrubbers with the materials on hand during the Apollo 13 space mission, or the use of a knife in place of a screwdriver to turn a screw. Engineering improvisations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore J
Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatchewan People * Theodore (given name), includes the etymology of the given name and a list of people * Theodore (surname), a list of people Fictional characters * Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, on the television series ''Prison Break'' * Theodore Huxtable, on the television series ''The Cosby Show'' Other uses * Theodore (horse), a British Thoroughbred racehorse * Theodore Racing, a Formula One racing team See also * Principality of Theodoro, a principality in the south-west Crimea from the 13th to 15th centuries * Thoros (other), Armenian for Theodore * James Bass Mullinger, a 19th-century author who used "Theodorus" as a pen name {{Disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Leibman
Ron Leibman (; October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019) was an American actor. He won both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1993 for his performance as Roy Cohn in ''Angels in America''. Leibman also won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1979 for his role as Martin 'Kaz' Kazinsky in his short-lived crime drama series '' Kaz''. Leibman also acted in films such as ''Where's Poppa?'' (1970), '' The Hot Rock'' (1972), ''Norma Rae'' (1979), and '' Zorro, The Gay Blade'' (1982). Later in his career, he became widely known for providing the voice of Ron Cadillac in ''Archer'' (2013–2021) and for playing Dr. Leonard Green, Rachel's rich, short-tempered father, on the sitcom ''Friends'' (1996–2004). Early life Leibman was born in Manhattan to Grace (née Marks), who was of Russian-Jewish descent, and Murray Leibman, a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked in the garment business. Leibman graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom '' Alice'' and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway. After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s. She began appearing on Broadway in the 1960s, earning notice in '' It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman'' in 1966 and receiving her first Tony Award nomination for ''Last of the Red Hot Lovers'' in 1970. She moved to Hollywood in 1973 and began to work on television, making recurring appearances on the sitcom ''Barney Miller'' before landing the title role on the hit comedy '' Alice'', which ran from 1976 to 1985. She appeared in many telefilms and later she appeared in other TV works. She has also played roles in several feature films. In 1987, she returned to Broadway, starring in ''Broadway Bound'' (winning a Tony Award), ''Gypsy'' (1990), ''The Sisters Rosensweig'' (1993), ''The Diary of Anne Fr ... [...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 Barbara" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerie Harper
Valerie Kathryn Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019) was an American actress. She began her career as a dancer on Broadway, making her debut as a replacement in the musical ''Li'l Abner''. She is best remembered for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977) and its spinoff '' Rhoda'' (1974–1978). For her work on ''Mary Tyler Moore'', she thrice received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and later received the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for ''Rhoda''. From 1986 to 1987, she appeared as Valerie Hogan on the sitcom ''Valerie'', which she subsequently left for salary reasons. Her character was killed off, and the show was retitled ''Valerie's Family'' and eventually ''The Hogan Family''. Actress Sandy Duncan was cast in a new role that served as a replacement for Harper's character. Her film appearances include roles in ''Freebie and the Bean'' (1974) and '' Chap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dishy
Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film, and television. Biography He is best remembered today for playing Sergeant John J. Wilson, Columbo's polite, respectful assistant in two episodes of '' Columbo'' ("Now You See Him" and "The Greenhouse Jungle") and as “Mister Terrific” in one episode of '' The Golden Girls''. He also appeared in several episodes of '' Law & Order''. His film appearances included ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' (1970), '' I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?'' (1975), ''The Big Bus'' (1976), ''The Last Married Couple in America'' (1980), '' First Family'' (1980), '' Author! Author!'' (1982), ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' (1986), ''Critical Condition'' (1987), '' Stay Tuned'' (1992), ''Used People'' (1992), ''Don Juan DeMarco'' (1994), ''Jungle 2 Jungle'' (1997) and '' Along Came Polly'' (2004). He was a regular on ''That Was The Week That Was,'' a weekly satirical series that aired on NBC-TV in 1964–65. He made his stage debut as a replacement for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severn Darden
Severn Teakle Darden Jr. (November 9, 1929 – May 27, 1995) was an American comedian and actor, and a founding member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players. He is known from his film appearances for playing the human leader Kolp in the fourth and fifth ''Planet of the Apes'' films. His live comedy improv skit under the character of "Walther von der Vogelweide" was influential with two generations of comic performers. Background Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he attended the University of Chicago, where he was a "campus legend" according to poet Paul Carroll. Darden’s offbeat and intellectual sense of humor was a major element in the style of The Second City at that time, and is evident throughout his work. Carroll described him as a combination of surrealistic New Orleans and tough, caustic "Chicago Style" comedy. An example of his offbeat humor is the way he squeezed the phrase "Know thyself" into the seven-charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Bowen
Roger Wendell Bowen (May 25, 1932 – February 16, 1996) was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film ''M*A*S*H''. Bowen considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an actor. He wrote eleven novels (including ''Just Like a Movie'') as well as sketches for Broadway and television. He was also one of the co-founders of Chicago's comedy and acting troupe The Second City. Life and career A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Bowen majored in English at Brown University, then attended graduate school at the University of Chicago. While writing theater reviews for ''The Chicago Maroon'', he was asked to pen material for an improvisational troupe that included Alan Arkin and Mike Nichols. The troupe, Compass Players, evolved into The Second City. Bowen spent most of the 1960s playing "preppie" types on a number of TV & radio commercials. His first film role was 1968's ''Petulia'', but his big movie break came i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandy Baron
Sandy Baron (born Sanford Irving Beresofsky; May 5, 1936 – January 21, 2001) was an American actor and comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television. Early life Sanford Beresofsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood, the son of Helen Farberman, a waitress, and Max Beresofsky, a house painter, both Yiddish-speaking Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was born in Slonim, Belarus. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in East New York; and while he was a student at Brooklyn College, to which he received a scholarship, he changed his name to "Sandy Baron"—taking his inspiration from the nearby Barron's Bookstore. He began his career working in the Catskill Mountains resorts with their "Borscht Belt" brand of Jewish humor, on which Baron made his mark. He then moved on to the Compass Players Improv Comedy group in the late 1950s. Career Baron made his Broadway debut in ''Tchin-Tchin'' in 1962. He also appeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Asner
Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and its spin-off series ''Lou Grant'', making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama. Asner is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series on ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series on spin-off ''Lou Grant''. His other Emmys were for performances in two television miniseries: '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' (1976), for which he won the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a television series award, and ''Roots'' (1977), for which he won the Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, Alexander served as the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Alexander won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway production of ''The Great White Hope''. Other Broadway credits include '' 6 Rms Riv Vu'' (1972), ''The Night of the Iguana'' (1988), ''The Sisters Rosensweig'' (1993) and ''Honour'' (1998). She has received a total of eight Tony Award nominations and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. Her film breakthrough came with the romantic drama ''The Great White Hope'' (1970), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her subsequent Oscar nominations were for her roles in ''All the President's Men'' (1976), ''Kramer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
