Playwrights Theatre Club
1953-1955 · Chicago, IL
Also known as Playwrights Theater Club
Paul Sills and David Shepherd's University of Chicago-adjacent company that codified Viola Spolin's Theater Games as a working method — the direct ancestor of Compass and Second City.
Known for
- Opened June 23, 1953 by Paul Sills, David Shepherd and Eugene Troobnick with a production of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
- Cast members regularly played Theater Games developed by Sills's mother Viola Spolin — the first company to use them as an ensemble training tool.
- Early cast included Ed Asner and Sheldon Patinkin.
- Renamed / evolved into the Compass Players in 1955 as the company shifted fully to improvisational work.
Connected to
Schools & Theaters
Concepts
theater games
Sources
Referenced by
Schools & Theaters