Tuesday, June 03, 2008

So Long, Old Friend

The Great Man, Paul Sills, has left the room. Friend. Director. Stern task-master. Lover of life. Father. Husband. Improvisational theater, as we know it, would simply not exist without him. Co-founder of Second City. Godfather of countless theater experiences. Worked with Nichols & May. Worked with Woody Allen. Knew how to fire up a woodstove in a Wisconsin winter farmhouse. Liked a nice glass of beer. Liked a good book. Taught me something about acting. Taught me something about life.

Paul Sills has left the room. Paul Sills will never leave the room.

- Ralph Murre

Please read all three pages at http://mobile.chicagotribune.com/news.jsp?key=162173

4 comments:

Ralph Murre said...

Incidentally, the photo of Paul Sills, which I digitally altered, is from an original by Nancy Vaughn.

Sharon Auberle said...

fantastic photo and beautiful memorial...
thanks

Ralph Murre said...

thank you, sharon

Ralph Murre said...

By the way, friends have asked about my acting career, because they seemed to think that my saying that Paul Sills had tought me something about acting was a pretense alluding to some non-existent stage experience. I simply meant, quite literally, that he had tought me something about it, in a few Theater Games workshops. Sadly, I never utilized those gifts from the master.