Dave Buckman

Dave Buckman is an Austin-based improviser, director, and educator who served as Artistic Director of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam from 1999 to 2002, co-owns ColdTowne Theater in Austin, and spent seven years performing at Second City, iO Theater, ComedySportz, and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. During his time at Boom Chicago he directed future Saturday Night Live cast members and film directors including Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Kay Cannon, Jordan Peele, Ike Barinholtz, and Brendan Hunt. He holds two B. Iden Payne Awards for Excellence in Improvisational Theater.

Career

Dave Buckman grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his junior year of high school he took an eight-week improv class at ComedySportz in Rosslyn, Virginia, his first formal exposure to the form. He subsequently attended American University in Washington, DC, where he founded an improv troupe on campus that continued performing after his graduation.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Buckman spent approximately seven years in Chicago working across the city's major improv institutions: The Second City, iO Theater, ComedySportz, and the Annoyance Theatre. This Chicago period established his foundation in both the short-form and long-form traditions before he transitioned into directing and producing roles.

From 1999 to approximately 2002, Buckman served as Artistic Director of Boom Chicago, the English-language comedy theater based in Amsterdam that functioned as a primary proving ground for American improvisers in Europe. During his tenure he worked with performers who would go on to major careers in American comedy and entertainment: Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Kay Cannon, Jordan Peele, Ike Barinholtz, and Brendan Hunt all performed at Boom Chicago during this period. Buckman's role encompassed casting, direction, and oversight of the company's ongoing production schedule.

Returning to North America, Buckman maintained an ongoing relationship with The Second City from 2002 through 2014. In 2005 he relocated to Austin, Texas, with his partner Rachel Madorsky. The two co-founded the improv ensemble The Frank Mills, which performed at ColdTowne Theater and earned a B. Iden Payne Award for Excellence in Improvisational Theater in 2006. Buckman received a second B. Iden Payne Award individually in 2008.

In 2015, Buckman and Madorsky bought into ColdTowne Theater as co-owners as the theater's founding partners transitioned out. ColdTowne, established in 2006, operates as Austin's primary independent improv theater and comedy training center, offering ongoing classes, performances, and a resident troupe program. Buckman has directed multiple ColdTowne Mainstage productions including Bigfoot the Musical, Austin Translation, and Shanty Town Lake, and continues to perform and teach at the theater. Tauri Laws-Phillips joined the ownership structure in 2020. Buckman also produces the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival in Austin.

Historical Context

Dave Buckman's career follows a trajectory common among American improvisers of his generation: formal training in a secondary market (Washington, DC), professional development in Chicago, a European producing stint at Boom Chicago, and eventual institution-building in a city without a prior dominant improv theater. His Boom Chicago tenure places him within the international diaspora of Chicago-trained practitioners who carried American long-form and short-form techniques to European audiences in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Boom Chicago's Amsterdam operation functioned throughout this period as both a working theater for English-speaking Amsterdam audiences and as a de facto training ground for American improvisers seeking professional experience between Chicago and New York. The company's alumni list during Buckman's years as Artistic Director is now among the most cited evidence of Boom Chicago's significance: Sudeikis, Peele, and Meyers all worked there during or near his tenure, and Buckman's direction contributed to the professional environment in which their early performance work developed.

The founding of ColdTowne Theater in Austin, with Buckman joining as co-owner in 2015, represents a later chapter in the geographic diffusion of Chicago-lineage improv instruction and performance. Austin's comedy infrastructure in the 2000s was dominated by live music and stand-up, and ColdTowne's sustained operation as a full-time improv theater and school has made it the primary institution through which the Chicago and New York training methodologies have become available to Central Texas performers and students.

Legacy

Dave Buckman's Boom Chicago tenure connects him to one of the most alumni-dense periods in that theater's history. The concentration of performers who developed major careers during or around his time as Artistic Director has made the Amsterdam company's late-1990s and early-2000s period a subject of recurring discussion in accounts of how American improvisers moved from training grounds to professional careers.

ColdTowne Theater, which Buckman co-owns with Madorsky and Laws-Phillips, has functioned since 2006 as the anchor institution of the Austin improv scene, producing performers, training new practitioners through its class program, and hosting the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, which brings outside companies and performers to Austin and positions the city's comedy community within a broader national network. His two B. Iden Payne Awards reflect formal recognition within the Austin theater community of his contributions as a performer and director. His career documents the sustained professional relevance of Chicago and Boom Chicago training across three decades of American comedy, from the 1990s Chicago ensemble scene through the Amsterdam international period and into the Austin regional theater context he helped establish.

Early Life and Training

Dave Buckman grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His introduction to improvisational performance came in his junior year of high school through an eight-week class at ComedySportz in Rosslyn, Virginia. He attended American University in Washington, DC, where he founded an improv troupe that remained active on campus after his graduation.