Gary Austin
| Gary Austin | |
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Austin at San Francisco State University, 1963
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| Born | Gary Moore October 18, 1941 Duncan, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | April 1, 2017 (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Theater director, teacher, actor, writer, musician |
| Alma mater | San Francisco State University |
| Years active | 1962–2017 |
| Spouse | Wenndy MacKenzie (m. 1990) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | |
| www |
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Gary Austin (born Gary Moore; October 18, 1941 – April 1, 2017) was an American improvisational theatre teacher, writer, and director. He wrote two solo shows, "Church" and "Oil," and performed them coast to coast. His most recent show was "Gary Austin in Word and Song". He recorded an album of his songs with Wenndy MacKenzie and Matt Cartsonis.
Austin grew up in the Nazarene Church and in Halliburton oil camps in Oklahoma, Texas and California. He graduated from Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe Springs, California, in 1960 and earned his BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University in 1964.
After college, Austin moved to Los Angeles where he became a stage manager for the L.A. branch of San Francisco's famed improvisational comedy group, The Committee. It was here Austin worked as an improviser with Second City's Del Close and began to develop characters. When the Los Angeles company closed in 1969, Austin moved to San Francisco where he became a performing member of The Committee.
After his departure from The Committee, Austin moved back to Los Angeles and worked at the newly-opened Comedy Store where he improvised with The Comedy Store Players, worked as emcee, and did stand-up.
In 1972, Gary gathered together a group of actors and started the Gary Austin Workshops. After a year he decided it was time for the actors to perform publicly and he began directing shows in Los Angeles. As word got around about the workshop, the improvisers began to perform at various venues around Hollywood.
In January 1974, Austin created the non-profit improvisational theatre company, The Groundlings, composed of members of his workshops. The company moved into the Oxford Theatre in East Hollywood. Austin continued as Artistic Director.
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