| The late Paul Sills, son of the late Viola Spolin, was active in improvisational theatre all his life. He originated The Second City
and Story Theater, 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, was recently published by Applause Books, New York. It includes Theater games
for Story Theater by Viola Spolin. |
|
|
|
To learn more about Viola
Spolin, and hear a streaming audio profile about her, visit the
Intuitive Learning
Systems web site dedicated to her. |
|
| Sparky Johnson
has an extensive background in theatre, film, radio and television as an actor, comedian, playwright and director;
having worked with the National Film Board of Canada and most Canadian Television networks. He was a founding member
of Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre and was a performer for three years with The Second City. For the past twenty-one
years, Sparky has been a full-time drama professor in the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta. |
|
|
Max Schafer and Bob Moyer
Bob Moyer has played
theater games with Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, Max Schafer, and people of all ages for the past 40 years. He has
directed story theater productions at the John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution,
and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and was director of the High School Drama Program at the North Carolina School
of the Arts for sixteen years.
|
| Max Schafer,
whose college degree is in theater games and education, studied for years with both Viola Spolin and Paul Sills.
He currently leads Spolin workshops for teachers around the country and in Brazil. In 2003 and 2004 he was a featured
presenter at the National Educational Theatre Association's conventions. His authorship of educational software
programs includes Viola Spolin's Theater Games for the Classroom CD, Northwestern University Press. He teaches in Los Angeles at Fenton Avenue
School, a California distinguished charter school, and is the father of two bright children. |
Interview: Paul Sills Reflects
on Story Theatre
By Laurie Ann Gruhn
Second City and Story Theater
Founder
by William N. Stavru
From: The Bardian, The Bard College Alumni/ae
Publication, 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 |