Page "Improvisational theatre" Paragraph 55

David Shepherd, with Paul Sills, founded The Compass Players in Chicago.

Shepherd was intent on developing a true " people's Theatre ", and hoped to bring political drama to the stockyards.

The Compass went on to play in numerous forms and companies, in a number of cities including NY and Hyannis, after the founding of The Second City.

A number of Compass members were also founding members of The Second City.

In the 1970s, Shepherd began experimenting with group-created videos.

He is the author of " That Movie In Your Head ", about these efforts. In the 1970s, David Shepherd and Howard Jerome created the Improvisational Olympics, a format for competition based improv.

The Improv Olympics were first demonstrated at Toronto's Homemade Theatre in 1976 and have been continued on as the Canadian Improv Games.

In the United States, the Improv Olympics were later produced by Charna Halpern under the name " ImprovOlympic " and now as " IO "; IO operates training centers and theaters in Chicago and Los Angeles.

t IO, Halpern combined Shepherd's " Time Dash " game with Del Close's " Harold " game ; the revised format for the Harold became the fundamental structure for the development of modern " long-form " improvisation.