Paul Sills
Paul Sills | |
---|---|
Born | Paul Silverberg November 18, 1927 |
Died | June 2, 2008 Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin, U.S. | (aged 80)
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Occupation(s) | Director, teacher |
Known for | Founding Director of The Second City; creator of Story Theater |
Board member of | The Second City, Founded or co-founded: Playwrights Theater Club, Compass Players, The Second City, Game Theater, Story Theater, Sills & Co., Paul Sills' Wisconsin Theater Game Center, The Parents School |
Spouse(s) | Dorothea May Strauss Horton (1929 – 1998; divorced), Barbara Harris (1955 – 1958; divorced), Carol Bleackley Sills (1960 – 2008; his death) |
Children | David Sills, Rachel Sills, Polly Sills, Aretha Sills, Neva Sills |
Parent(s) | Viola Spolin and Wilmer Silverberg |
Awards | Theater Hall of Fame |
Website | paulsills.com |
Paul Sills (born Paul Silverberg; November 18, 1927 – June 2, 2008) was an American director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.
Life and career
Sills was born Paul Silverberg in Chicago, Illinois, to a family who believed in the teachings of modern-day Judaism. His mother was teacher and writer Viola Spolin, who authored the first book on improvisation techniques, Improvisation for the Theater.[1] Spolin in turn was the student of play therapy theorist Neva Boyd.[2]
In 1948, Sills enrolled in the University of Chicago, where he established himself as a director, co-founding Playwright's Theater Club. There, with fellow actors Edward Asner, Byrne Piven and Zohra Lampert,[3] they blended Spolin's improvisational techniques with established theater training.
In 1955, Sills and
Career
Sills left Second City in 1965 to form the Game Theater, where he coached improvisational techniques of his mother, Viola Spolin, in performance, and audience participation was encouraged. His mother and other community friends were partners. The Parents School was co-founded there, with wife Carol Bleackley Sills
Sills's first two wives were Dorothea Horton and Barbara Harris.[citation needed]
In 2011, he was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.[10]
Death
Paul Sills died on June 2, 2008, at the age of 80, at his home in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin, of complications from pneumonia.[11]
References
- ISBN 0-8101-4008-X.
- ^ Drama as therapy: theatre as living By Phil Jones
- ^ Coleman, Janet, The Compass. Knopf 1990, pg 16: "Until Paul Sills 'thrust' her onstage...Zohra Lampert ('52) thought, 'I might want to become...a librarian. Not an actor.'"
- ISBN 9780226113456– via Google Books.
- ^ Coleman, Janet, The Compass, Knopf 1990, pg 255
- user-generated source]
- ^ "1967 - The Second City". secondcity.com.
- ^ "Paul Sills' Story Theatre". www.ibdb.com.
- ISBN 1557833982.
- ^ "Playbill.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-17.