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| Paul Sills | |
|---|---|
| Name | Paul Sills |
| Birth date | 1927-01-02 |
| Birth place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Death date | 2008-06-02 |
| Death place | Glencoe, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Theatre director, improvisation teacher, producer |
| Years active | 1948–2008 |
Paul Sills
Paul Sills was an American theatre director, improvisation teacher, and producer best known for pioneering modern improvisational comedy and for founding influential ensembles in Chicago, Illinois and on the American stage. He was instrumental in developing techniques that influenced The Second City, Viola Spolin's work, and later generations of performers who worked in Los Angeles, California, New York City, and internationally. Sills's innovations bridged early 20th-century performance traditions with postwar experimental theatre and television.
Paul Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois to a family deeply connected to performance and education. His mother, Viola Spolin, was a seminal figure in theatre education associated with institutions like the Hull House and methods later disseminated through publications linked to the New Theatre Conference. The household intersected with cultural figures from the Chicago School (architecture) milieu and artists who frequented venues in neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Chicago and Near North Side, Chicago. Family ties connected Sills indirectly to networks including practitioners from Broadway and regional companies that toured to cities like Cleveland, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sills's formative years included participation in community and school productions influenced by the pedagogical work of Viola Spolin and by repertory traditions seen in companies such as the Group Theatre (New York) and the Federal Theatre Project. He encountered texts and practices from dramatists and institutions like Anton Chekhov, Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, and the workshops of the Actors Studio. Early collaborations placed him in contact with ensembles that later intersected with troupes in San Francisco, California and with directors associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company touring models. These experiences informed his integration of improvisation with narrative forms seen in productions that paralleled efforts by artists linked to Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival.
In the 1950s and 1960s Sills helped to shape what became The Second City in Chicago, drawing on exercises from Viola Spolin's manuals that echoed exercises used at the Guthrie Theater and influenced by methods from Jerzy Grotowski and Paul Newman's approaches to ensemble work. He recruited and worked with performers who later became prominent in Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live cast members, and screen comedy, including names associated with Alan Arkin, Mike Nichols, and ensembles that intersected with David Mamet and Terry Kinney. Sills's approach emphasized spontaneous group creation, borrowing from traditions seen in Commedia dell'arte ensembles, revivalist storytelling akin to Orson Welles's repertory practices, and elements recognizable in Beat Generation performance circles. His apprentices and collaborators went on to careers in Hollywood, on Broadway, and with companies connected to the Royal Court Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Sills originated and directed the celebrated Story Theatre, a production style that adapted folk tales and myths in a manner resonant with adaptations by companies like the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Living Theatre. Story Theatre premiered pieces drawing on sources comparable to collections used by editors of Grimm's Fairy Tales and storytellers affiliated with institutions such as the Library of Congress folklife programs. He staged works in venues that included off-Broadway houses, regional theatres in cities such as Minneapolis, Boston, and Los Angeles, and collaborated with artists who had worked with Joseph Chaikin, Ellen Stewart, and Paul Green. Other stage projects connected Sills to directors and playwrights whose careers overlapped with Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, and experimental producers including Richard Foreman.
Although primarily a theatre practitioner, Sills's influence extended into television and film through collaborations and through alumni who transitioned to screen careers at studios such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and networks including NBC and CBS. His methods informed sketch and variety programming related to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and to comedy series that launched performers into series like SCTV and The Carol Burnett Show. Sills himself worked on adaptations and productions that intersected with directors and producers from Hollywood and with television executives involved with the Peabody Awards-era programming. Actors trained in his methods appeared in films directed by figures such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Robert Altman.
Sills taught improvisation and directed ensembles that influenced conservatory programs at institutions like the Juilliard School, Northwestern University, and the Yale School of Drama. His pedagogy informed curricula used in training at the American Conservatory Theater and workshops hosted by companies such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Second City Training Center. The lineage of his methods is traceable through generations of performers who worked with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and educators connected to the National Endowment for the Arts. Sills's contributions are cited alongside influential movements from Off-Broadway revivalism, improvisation trends in Los Angeles County Museum of Art programs, and pedagogues connected to the New School for Social Research.
Sills lived much of his life in the Chicago metropolitan area and later resided in Glencoe, Illinois, where he died in 2008. His personal and professional circles included connections with figures from American theatre history such as Viola Spolin, collaborators who moved between Broadway and Hollywood, and students who advanced to roles at institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is remembered in obituaries and retrospectives in major outlets and by festivals that celebrate improvisational theatre traditions derived from his work.
Category:American theatre directors Category:1927 births Category:2008 deaths