Paul Sills (bornPaul Silverberg; November 18, 1927 – June 2, 2008) was an American director andimprovisation teacher, and the original director ofChicago'sThe Second City.

Sills was born Paul Silverberg in Chicago, Illinois, to a family who believed in the teachings of modern-day Judaism. His mother was teacher and writerViola Spolin, who authored the first book on improvisation techniques,Improvisation for the Theater.^[1] Spolin in turn was the student of play therapy theoristNeva Boyd.^[2]

In 1948, Sills enrolled in theUniversity of Chicago, where he established himself as a director, co-founding Playwright's Theater Club. There, with fellow actorsEdward Asner,Byrne Piven andZohra Lampert,^[3] they blended Spolin's improvisational techniques with established theater training.

In 1955, Sills andDavid Shepherd founded theCompass Players, the firstimprovisational theater in the United States, where he directedShelley Berman,Mike Nichols andElaine May.^[4] In 1959, Sills, along with partnersHoward Alk andBernie Sahlins, opened a theatre calledThe Second City where revues developed improvisationally were presented under Sills's direction.^[5] With early cast membersAlan Arkin,Barbara Harris,Severn Darden, Mina Kolb andPaul Sand, success led to New York (a brief run on Broadway and a long one off-Broadway), London and world recognition.^{[citation needed]}

Sills left Second City in 1965 to form the Game Theater, where he coached improvisational techniques of his mother, Viola Spolin, in performance, and audience participation was encouraged. His mother and other community friends were partners.The Parents School was co-founded there, with wife Carol Bleackley Sills^[6] and others, with a children's curriculum based on group art forms and play. It operated for almost two decades. At the Game Theater, he also discovered a new form he calledStory Theater, which debuted at 1848 N. Wells Street, during the summer of 1968. That building was the original location of the Second City, which had already moved to its new and current location at 1616 N. Wells St. After Sills finished doing Story Theater there, it was torn down.^[7]Story Theatre went on to play at theYale Repertory Theatre, inLos Angeles and on Broadway,^[8] remaining the form Sills explored for the rest of his life. His book,Paul Sills' Story Theater: Four Shows.^[9]

Sills's first two wives were Dorothea Horton andBarbara Harris.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, he was posthumously inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.^[10]

Paul Sills died on June 2, 2008, at the age of 80, at his home inBaileys Harbor, Wisconsin, of complications frompneumonia.^[11]

• Paul Sills' Wisconsin Theater Game Center
• https://www.v
• iolaspolin.org

• 1927 births
• 2008 deaths
• American theatre directors
• American drama teachers
• Deaths from pneumonia in Wisconsin
• Male actors from Chicago
• People from Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin
• University of Chicago alumni
• The Second City

• Accuracy disputes from March 2022
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses
• Pages using infobox person with multiple parents
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2010
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017