The Compass Players (or Compass Theater) was an

improvisational Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

active from 1955 to 1958 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 ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. Founded by David Shepherd and

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 ...

, 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

, 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 The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

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 mericantheater.” Previously, Shepherd and Sills founded Playwrights Theatre Club, along with Eugene Troobnick, and employed improvisational theater forms, named Theater Games, originally created and developed by Sills' mother, Viola Spolin. These same games were employed to develop material for the Compass Players.

Evolution of Improvisation

Initially, scenes were presented only once, but some of the players grew interested in polishing material into finished pieces. For example,

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 ...

and Elaine May created many of their signature scenes in this manner. Shelley Berman also found that he could create solo routines by showing one half of telephone conversations.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/.

Crystal Palace

The Compass Players also opened its doors at the Crystal Palace in St. Louis, where Theodore J. Flicker, Nichols and May, along with Del Close, codified a further set of principles to guide improvisational players.

Legacy

Sills would co-found

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 ...

and Shepherd would return to New York City to create and produce a variety of improv forms including his Improvisation Olympics (ImprovOlympic). Nichols and May went on to New York, performing material largely derived from their Compass days. Close was featured in Flickers' Broadway musical comedy The Nervous Set, and afterwards developed his long-form improvisation the Harold.

Notable alumni

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 ...

Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American-Canadian 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 ...

*Rose Arrick * Ed Asner * Sandy Baron * Shelley Berman *

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 a ...

*Joy Carlin * Del Close *Bob Coughlan *

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 appe ...

Bob Dishy Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film, and television. Biography Early life and education Dishy grew up in the Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His father, a salesman, was born in Beirut and his mother in Jerus ...

*Andrew Duncan * Theodore J. Flicker *Barbara Gordon *Mark Gordon * Valerie Harper * Barbara Harris * Linda Lavin * Ron Leibman * Elaine May *

Anne Meara Anne Meara (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American comedian and actress. Along with her husband Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of the prominent 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. Their son is actor, director, and producer Ben S ...

* Byrne Piven * Joyce Hiller Piven * David Shepherd * Yuki Shimoda *

* Paul Sand * Jerry Stiller
(Please note: the following sources were used to cite and authenticate the above list of Compass Players)
#Mark Siska's documentary ''Compass Cabaret ’55'' #Janet Coleman's book ''The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre that Revolutionized American Comedy'' #Jeffery Sweet's book ''Something Wonderful Right Away: An Oral History of the Second City and The Compass Players'

History

Shepherd and Sills

Evolution of Improvisation

Crystal Palace

Legacy

Notable alumni

See also

References

Further reading