The late Paul Sills, whose mother was Viola Spolin, originated The Second City and Story Theater. He was co-founder of Compass, The Game Theater, Sills & Co., and the New Actors Workshop, a graduate level acting program in Manhattan begun in 1987 with colleagues Mike Nichols and George Morrison. Paul Sills’ Story Theater: Four Shows, published by Applause Books, includes “Theater games for Story Theater” by Viola Spolin.
Carol Bleackley Sills, director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works, has been Viola Spolin’s editor since 1983. She studied with Spolin and collaborated with husband Paul Sills to create many theaters, including The Game Theater, Story Theater, The Body Politic, Century Hall, The Learning Theater and Sills & Co. She presents workshops annually at the Wisconsin Theater Game Center and recently directed The Tao of Chuang Chou at New Actors Workshop in New York. She is also a painter and educator.
Aretha Sills is the granddaughter of Viola Spolin. She studied with Paul Sills, her father, for many years and has taught Spolin’s improvisational theater games since 1996. Aretha is a writer and lives in Los Angeles.
|
Our workshops are dedicated to the practice of Viola Spolin’s work as found in her writings published by Northwestern University Press:
All titles may be found in our Bookstore. |
|
| To learn more about Viola Spolin, please visit the Intuitive Learning Systems web site dedicated to her. | |
Articles and Interviews:
Interview: Paul Sills Reflects on Story Theatre
by Laurie Ann Gruhn, The Drama Teacher Teacher
Second City and Story Theater Founder Paul Sills
by William N. Stavru, The Bardian, November 1996
Spolin and Sills Laid Down the Rules. The Generations Who Came After Played by Them. That’s How Chicago Invented Itself.
by Todd London, American Theatre, July/August 1990