The Compass Players (or Compass Theater) was a 1950s cabaret revue show started by alumni, dropouts and hangers-on from the University of Chicago.. The troupe was active from 1955-1958 in Chicago and St. Louis. Several of the members went on to form The Second City Theater in 1959.
Founded by David Shepherd, the original idea was to produce a new play derived through improvisation from outlines (in the tradition of the Italian commedia dell'arte)...
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The Compass Players (or Compass Theater) was a 1950s cabaret revue show started by alumni, dropouts and hangers-on from the University of Chicago.. The troupe was active from 1955-1958 in Chicago and St. Louis. Several of the members went on to form The Second City Theater in 1959.
Founded by David Shepherd, the original idea was to produce a new play derived through improvisation from outlines (in the tradition of the Italian commedia dell'arte) or scenarios written by members of the ensemble. Shepherd turned to director Paul Sills to head this venture based on his experience working with Sills on an earlier Chicago theatre effort, the Playwrights' Theatre Company. He noticed that Sills in rehearsal employed theatre games, structures designed to create spontaneous theatrical play between actors that had been developed and named by Sills' mother, Viola Spolin. (Spolin would later author the bible of theatre games, Improvisation for the Theatre, published by Northwestern Press.)
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