On the eve of the beginning of this year’s Chicago Improv Festival, some sad news in the comedy community: Paul Sills passed away yesterday.
Sills was a key figure in the Compass Players, the University of Chicago-based group whose theater experiments in the fifties would set the foundation for modern improvisation. He also worked at Second City for years (he was a co-founder), directing when Del Close wasn’t fit, often stepping in mid-production. He was the more reliable mind to Del’s twisted brilliance.
I never personally met Sills, though I’m starting to regret it. Unlike, say, traditional theater, improvisation in its current iteration is a relatively new invention, meaning many of its key trailblazers are still alive and well. Sills’ loss is a blow, but he, like Del, was adamant about improvisation as an art form—a tradition more alive today than ever.
Paul Sills was an amazing person. He worked tirelessly teaching the work of his mother Viola Spolin. He never had the fame and glory he deserved and he will sadly be missed in our community. My heart goes out to every member of his family and all the people he touched.
Steve Heisler has it so wrong. Paul Sills never “stepped in” for Del Close. I suggest to Steve that he read many of the fine books written about the history of Second City including Jeff Sweets’ “Something Wonderful right Now”. Paul Sills memory deserves more than to be remembered as a “co-founder”. Ask Mke Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini, Ted Flicker, Alan Meyerson who “founded” Second City”, then get back to me.
Paul Sills was a talented, honest, and passionate artist who made a profound difference in my life. I send my deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Peter: I’m unclear about your objections. The above notes both Sills’ work in the precursors to Second City and the word “co-founder” implies someone who was there from the beginning. How does this misstate Sills’s influence?
Hey Peter-
Thanks for the comment. Well, obviously Paul Sills was an important man—He got improv on Broadway, for crissake! I guess I meant to just put this post up as a way to get people thinking, in the hopes that they would share their own memories of Sills. Glad you feel strongly enough to respond.
Also, perhaps Kim “Howard” Johnson’s very interesting book The Funniest One in the Room, which I recently finished, has it wrong when it said that Sills was asked to step in for Del to direct. That’s not meant to diminish Sills in any way—rather, it was the sad reality.
Like I said before, it’s especially sad that the improv pioneers we in the community hold dear are slowly passing away, particularly because the community itself, comparatively speaking, is so new.
Jonathan PItts, executive director of the Chicago Improv Festival, shared a few stories tonight at the fest’s opening show. I’d love to hear more, if anyone’s got any.
Wtihout taking a thing away from Del, who was a friend and from whom I learned, Del boarded a boat that Sills launched and captained. When Sills got tired of Second City and moved on to other aspects of improvisational theatre, Del was one of the ones (not forgetting Sheldon Patinkin and Alan Myerson) who picked up the baton. I second Peter Bonerz’s kind recommendation that you read SOMETHING WONDERFUL RIGHT AWAY. Both Paul and Del are in there, speaking for themselves.
Paul was a great director and wonderful teacher, providing both the actors and the audience with experiences that carried all into the theatrical mystery. Notwithstanding his own pioneering work, his brilliant creativity, and his many successes, he never failed to credit his mother, Viola, and her mentor, Neva Boyd, with providing the blueprint for the world of improvisational theater to follow. Under his leadership his loving family has been deeply committed to maintaining the integrity of the true improvisational experience. Unlike many, he eschewed the quick joke, the obvious set up, the on stage script writing, and the cult of personality. It’s a great loss.