Apocalypso: Revelations in Theater

by Jack Shepherd

There is nothing new under the sun. To some degree or other, improvisation has always been an element of theater. Improvisation within an agreed framework reached remarkable heights in the Commedia dell Arte of the 16th century. Audience participation is not new. How, then, were we being particularly creative?The newness lies latent in each performance. The idea for the story, and the script – these are only the beginning. Each player brings to the moment his own humanity, as well as his talent and sensibility. The encounter of the actors with each other is the first stage in the alchemy of Apocalypso.Each audience member, a unique gift of time and tears, brings his own humanity and the emotional mood of that precise moment. Encounter within the audience provides the next stage. Then, in the sharing and excitement of the theme, between these two alchemic compounds, communion is generated which is more than the sum of its parts, and never the same, from one performance to another.Afterwards each person, player and audience alike, takes away something unique, and indescribable, an experience gone deep, like a seed which will germinate in its own good time. We reckon ourselves well applauded when people report a sleepless night after the show.

30 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 7, 2016

About the author

Jack Shepherd (1937 -- )was born in Chatham, New Jersey, and enjoyed a global career as a journalist, writer and university professor. He worked principally as a Senior Editor at LOOK Magazine and as a writer in Newsweek's foreign department. He has also written for other US publications including Atlantic, Harper's, New York, Saturday Review, Outside, New York, and The Sunday New York Times Magazine. As a journalist Shepherd covered stories primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia) and the Middle East (Israel, Palestine). Shepherd is also the author of ten books, three of which made The New York Times best-seller list: Quotations from LBJ (with Christopher S. Wren); The Runner's Handbook (with Bob Glover); and The Adams Chronicles. Shepherd earned his Ph.D. at age 50 (Boston University) and then taught at Boston University, the University of Cambridge (UK) for six years, and, since 1988, at Dartmouth College. He retired in 2007 and has returned to writing full time. His tenth book, Hunger: The Biology and Politics of Starvation (with John Butterly), was published in October 2010. His eleventh will be published in 2013. [amazon.com]

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1971 pamphlet for Pendle Hill is a reflection on a selection of the ~30 theater productions he wrote and directed for the Quaker conference center. All had small casts and nearly all included improvisation and audience participation.

While interesting, the snippets were too short for me to feel much connection. This is his second pamphlet, which also was simply his personal reflections on his work. I suspect these two essays were more appreciated by those who knew him or those who attended some of the productions. But it was interesting, nonetheless, for insights into his creative process.