Her son, Paul Sills, died of pneumonia today at age 80, having continued his mother’s work and shaped theatre as we know it today.

Paul Sills, the “Orson Welles of Improv”

Maybe you’ve heard of some of the places Paul Sills’ influence was felt. Second City? The Kids in the Hall? OK, how about Saturday Night Live? 30 Rock? Broadway’s Ragtime? Or how about one of his students, a fellow by the name of David Mamet who achieved a thing or two on Broadway and in Hollywood? Maybe you’ve been to a Comedy Sportz workshop or performance in your town?

Really, looking at the list of people and places influenced by and trained through Sills’ techniques is like looking at the entire shape of our cultural milieu. And yet, hardly anyone has heard of him. Jeffrey Sweet, theater historian, says “Paul was never given his due. Nobody did more for the American theater.”

So, in the interest of giving him his due…

Paul Sills & Story Theatre

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Stew Gets an Obie for Passing Strange

I wrote recently how musician and auteur Stew had garnered no fewer than seven Tony nominations – but there’s more out there than Tony. The Village Voice also gives out its own theatre award, the “Obie”, and Passing Strange has secured Best New Theatre Piece. I’m a little amused, though, because part of the prize is $1,000 – to be split between Stew, co-author Heidi Rodewald and director Annie Dorsen – which I think is just about enough to go out to dinner there in New York…

Katie Holmes Secures Her Role in “Fathers and Sons”

OK, it’s been called “Broadway’s worst kept secret,” but Playbill confirms that Katie Holmes is going to be starring in the Arthur Miller play (for which he also garnered a Tony Award). What I find a little dismaying is that the headlines are all talking about Ms. Holmes – and it’s her debut. She may not be good. There’s no shame in not being good at stage acting.

But shouldn’t the real news be the rest of the cast? John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson, costumes and sets by Tom Pye, and directed by Simon McBurney – between them all they could furnish an entire house with Tony’s and Obie’s. I think it’s a real tribute to their dedication to the theatre that instead of going for the easy mega hit they’re devoting their time to a straight play and keeping the genre alive.

Mamma Mia Passes My Fair Lady

No, this is not about the upcoming film adaptation of Mamma Mia! (though seeing Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan will be quite a treat). No, this is a different kind of record, and just kind of a fun one: the Broadway stage production of Mamma Mia! recently supplanted My Fair Lady as the 17th longest-running musical of all time. We talk a lot about stage-to-screen and vice versa, but this is sort of vinyl-to-stage-to-screen, since the entire musical is based off of ABBA songs.

If you do go see the movie (and why wouldn’t you?) don’t hesitate to see the touring musical as well. The costumes are sacrificed in the film version, and it’s a pity…the neon outfits really make it the Speed Racer of musicals.

Ok, fine, here’s the preview to the movie, too.

images courtesy of Newscom

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Entitled  My Mother, the Gharwali, Her Maalak, His Wife, the play has the avowed message that “We too are human beings like you, and this is a profession like any other.” The play opens March 18, to portray the people who interact with the sex workers in everyday life.

“We are also humans” 

“We sell our bodies to earn money,” says Sangeeta, a sex worker and actress in the play, “but we don’t murder anybody. We appeal to society to let us live.”

Director Sushma Deshpande adds “There is nothing in the play that is far removed from reality. Everything shown here happens in real life. The play will help people understand the lives of sex workers.”

This is quite a stretch for a culture that lambasted Richard Gere for inappropriate affection towards one of the Bollywood stars. Still,  there’s a similar tradition in our country – best exemplified by activist/artist/sex worker Melissa Gira.

For that matter, we did just give an Oscar to Diablo Cody, who worked as a stripper before turning her hand to writing. So perhaps our culture is moving out of its collective puerile attitudes towards sex and sex work?

Well…I wouldn’t go that far. But I wish these brave Indian actresses luck, and hope they will accomplish their goal without paying too high a price.

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"Corteo is one of the most technical touring shows that we have. We have had some major technical work and always need to make sure the fluidity is working. We added a lot of the show and have done a considerable amount of tweaking to get to where we are today. It’s got to grow with performance, yet I never want to lose sight of that incredible humanity in the show."

You can see a clip of the performance here.

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