Chicago actor Will Schutz passed away Monday after an extended bout with pancreatic cancer, days shy of his 48th birthday, according to an annoucement from his friend and Crew of Patches artistic director Jan Blixt. Schutz, a stalwart presence on the storefront theater scene, was not a member of Actors’ Equity and battled his illness without the benefit of health insurance. He was hospitalized and diagnosed in late December; recurring hospital stints forced him to drop out of City Lit’s adaptation of Lillian Hellmann’s Scoundrel Time. As word spread among the theater community in early January, friends and colleagues began organizing benefit nights at bars, and theater companies including Signal Ensemble and Mary-Arrchie designated the proceeds from certain performances to help cover Schutz’s medical bills; plans were publicized via a Facebook group called “Because Will Schutz is Beloved.”

Schutz, who arrived on the Chicago scene two decades ago, had a particular gift for oddball comic bluster—one of his signature roles was a mad scientist in Defiant Theatre’s Action Movie series—but he could also convey serious menace. (He received an Orgie Award in March for his role as the lead thug in last summer’s Signal revival of The Birthday Party.)

I was fortunate enough to share a stage with Will in 2004, in Defiant’s The Pyrates, and consider myself blessed to have seen up-close his comic brilliance and to have experienced his generous, welcoming spirit. Catey Sullivan’s January article on examiner.com is an apt tribute to the man’s stature in the community. Will never made any claims to being a star. He just was.

A memorial service is being planned for early June; I’ll post more information here when I have it.