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Volunteer to edit personal theatre journals
Filed under GSLIS Jobs and Opportunities
Posted by GSLIS, August 27, 2007
View all posts for August 2007
INTERN NEEDED to EDIT and ASSEMBLE JOURNALS of THEATRE PIONEER David Shepherd, inventor of Chicago COMPASS, the first improv theatre, Improv Olympix, a performance sport, and today’s MOVIExperience has filled some 25 journals since 1948 about his career and personal life. He estimates that inside the loose notes there exist, if identified and upgraded, some 50-100 pages of interest to family, friends, the public and the Library of the University of Chicago.
In the Valley Shepherd heads up Group Creativity, a group of trainers and consultants who design and test formats enabling the non- professional to improvise drama, theatre sports, poetry, theme parties and short movies.
His office is half way between Amherst and Belchertown at 1029 Federal Street, but most of the editing work can be done at an intern’s dorm or home.
Some of the journals relating to Shepherd’s World War II experiences, his travels to India and life in Greenwich Village, have already been excised, edited and typed. His experiences at Chicago COMPASS, the L.A. Olympix, East Hampton video production and MOVIExperience in the Valley have yet to be addressed.
Some of the pages describe Shepherd directing improvisers who made his COMPASS format an instant success—Barbara Harris, Severn Darden, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Alda, Alan Arkin and Shelley Berman. Other pages describe directors Paul Sills or Howard Jerome.
Pages can be enlivened with photos shot during Shepherd’s 82 years. Other pages come enriched with simple drawings. Still other pages are written by his first or second wife, or by his present life-partner, Nancy Fletcher.
One approach explored by Shepherd is to chop the material into themes that recur throughout his life, such as dreams goals depression travels family work, etc.
The whole project is, Shepherd believes, a worth-while task for any student of the memoir form. There is enough solid reminiscence to allow creative options about how core material is handled. An intern who undertakes the job will have plenty of opportunities to magnify or downplay material and to change the sequence of events. The goal is not accuracy so much as the continued interest of the reader.
Call 413 256 3493 or send a resume to groupcreativity@charter.net.