Richmond Shepard (24 April 1929 – 2 July 2019) was an American writer, director, producer and

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

with a 50-year history in entertainment. He was one of the oldest living working mimes in show business. He built, owned and operated his own theaters in Los Angeles on Theatre Row where he produced over 30 shows. He moved to New York and worked as a theatre and film critic for WNEW, conceived and directed the off-Broadway show Noo Yawk TawkLortel Archives-The Internet Off-Broadway Database
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The Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...

for three years. He traveled across the world performing with mime troupes and performs

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, 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 purest form, the dialogue, a ...

in various clubs around NYC. Richmond Shepard's last role was when he played the "Sandman" in Fuzz on the Lens Productions fantasy comedy ''Abnormal Attraction'' starring Malcolm McDowell, Bruce Davison, Leslie Easterbrook, and

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor. His numerous ro ...

which was released on 26 February 2019.

Personal life

Shepard was born in New York City. He was married to a woman named Hadria Shepard. They had four daughters: Armina, Rosetta (now Brianna), Luana and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

singer

Vonda Shepard Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, music director and actress. She appeared as a regular in the television show '' Ally McBeal'', as a resident performer in the bar where the show's characters drank, danced and c ...

. He gained custody of the children when the couple separated in 1974. He also had 4 grandchildren: Gavin, Hannah, Dexter and Jack.

The Richmond Shepard Theater

Shepard previously owned The Writer Act Repertoire, an

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

located at the original venue of The Vineyard Theater, 309 East 26th Street, New York City, in the

Kips Bay Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Aven ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Notable performances include the

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...

of Last Chance Romance by American playwright

Sam Bobrick Sam Bobrick (July 24, 1932 – October 11, 2019) was an American author, playwright, television writer, and lyricist. Early life Bobrick was born to a Jewish family in Chicago on July 24, 1932. His father was a storekeeper and his mother worke ...

(June 2011) and a developmental staging of the comedy, ''Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon'' (March 2012). The theater has been renamed the Write Act Repertory Theatre, owned by Write Act Repertory.

References

External links

*
Richmond Shepard’s off Broadway creditsRichmond Shepard’s official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Richmond American mimes American theatre directors 1929 births 2019 deaths Writers from New York City

Personal life

The Richmond Shepard Theater

References

Further reading

External links