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Article: Viola Spolin, 88, a Pioneer In Improvisational Theater
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- November 26, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Viola Spolin, whose innovative dramatic training groups date to
the Depression and gave impetus to two generations of improvisational
performers, is dead.
The creator of Theater Games and author of the celebrated
Improvisation for the Theater was 88 when she died Tuesday in Los
Angeles, a spokesman for the family said Friday.
First published in 1963, the first of her several books became a
bible of the improvisational theater movement - a movement she
shepherded to success in the 1950s, beginning with the Compass
Theater in Chicago, where students included Elaine May, Mike Nichols
and later Alan Arkin, Peter Boyle and Valerie Harper.
Considered the grand dame of improvisation, she ...