By David Shepherd, Carman Dewees and Chris Britt

The story of Life-Play begins back in the 1950’s—when David Shepherd wanted to make theater popular for Americans, rather than replicate European theater on Broadway stages. So, he and Paul Sills created the first improv cabaret: Chicago COMPASS. Later, he helped create an improv performance sport called ImprovOlympix and adapted it for use in 300 Canadian high-schools, as the Canadian Improv Games.

In search of another format for non-professional improvisers, Shepherd set his sights on movies. In his ‘70’s David met Nancy Fletcher and created MOVIExperience. Meanwhile, Nancy built a non-profit to turn teen girls into movie makers—“Act Now” in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. Their process appears in a book—“That Movie in your Head,” which is used by Nancy’s coaches.

The story of Life-Play gets going when David, now in his eighties, put his emotions into song while taking a shower. At that moment, he realized we need a new improv format that’s from the heart. Meanwhile, in June of 2008, Carman Dewees, age 28, started an internship at WFCR, the public radio station in Amherst, Massachusetts. Once in Amherst, Carman’s childhood friend, 24-year old Chris Britt, suggested he phone the ‘Father of Improv,’ David Shepherd, who also lived in Pioneer Valley. Carman and David quickly become friends. Carman shared his radio work with David and David demonstrated new games he had been working on.

Chris and Carman had long been good friends, having known each other since they were kids. Both performed magic as teenagers and collaborated frequently creating full stage shows. With Carman’s encouragement, Chris called David to discuss his idea of recording improv games for a CD of “guided play”— the same format in which guided spiritual meditations are set. The idea of an audio meditation CD quickly transformed into one of interactive games that could be played over the phone.

They settled on a format called Life-Play—not small talk but phone conversations guided by games. In a game from Larry Quigley, called the “Week that Was,” each person mentions the most important thing that happened to him/her last week, then explores all the emotions around it. At a cool off after the session, players review what they did and did not like. One player summarizes the comments and e-mails them to the group as feedback.

The tone of a Life-Play session may get introspective . David once said, “I bet some people would say what we’re doing is crazy, but I feel there’s meaning here.” Chris laughed in agreement, since he now felt close to David, even though they had yet to meet in person! Carman, Chris and David began playing with other friends and members of their families in Easthampton, Boston, L.A. and Toronto. New games were added and old games refined. During free moments, at the public radio station, Carman began playing and recording Life-Play sessions.

David found himself surprised by the confidence by which he played and made suggestions to other players. We felt many sessions were like a journey. Friends warned us that money would get involved, but what we were doing appeared priceless to us. We seemed to be inventing a process that would prove to be organic.

Carman, Chris and David worked on ways to communicate their burgeoning format to others. Chris sketched an introduction for newcomers. Carman began organizing notes and tracking game revisions. Meanwhile, David was outlining his notions of good play.

How is our image and goal for Life-Play shifting? Some say, “Use your game as a way to break the ice.” Or, “Use it as a path to emotional health.” Others say, “Use it to bring distant people into close friendship.”

To which we say, “We don’t know exactly where these games are taking us. We only know they’re moving towards a larger group of evolving games and Life-Players. We won’t tell the games what to do; we’re waiting to hear from them what their power can be.”

Chris left for San Francisco in January 2009, where he still plays regularly. What’s 3,000 miles, when you’re only a phone call away?