FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2006
Media Contacts: Micki Leventhal, 312.344.7383, mleventhal@colum.edu or Priscilla Hunter, 312-344-7805, phunter@colum.edu
NOTE: Digital photo of Bernhard Sahlins is available.
CHICAGO, IL - Bernard Sahlins may not be a household name, but some of the institutions he created certainly are. Sahlins is the founder of the world-renowned The Second City, birthplace of improv comedy and launching pad for several generations of beloved Saturday Night Live comedians. He is also an award-winning playwright, director and producer.
Sahlins' contributions to arts and culture will be acknowledged by Columbia College Chicago on Sunday May 14 when they bestow on him the title, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
Sahlins will receive his doctoral hood and degree during morning commencement for Columbia's School of Fine and Performing Arts and School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Ceremonies are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine. Sahlins will address the assembled graduates and their families after being introduced by longtime friend and colleague Sheldon Patinkin, chair of Columbia's theater department.
"I have long admired Columbia College, both for the worthiness of its artistic mission and the superb skill with which it implements that mission, says Sahlins. "This is a unique institution. I am thrilled and delighted by this honor."
"Bernard Sahlins' accomplishments have contributed immeasurably to the growth of Chicago as a major theater town," says Dr. Warrick L. Carter, president of Columbia. "He is a true Chicago institution and is eminently worthy of this recognition."
"Bernard Sahlins has for many years been a major figure in the history of theater both in Chicago and in America," says Sheldon Patinkin, chair of Columbia's theater department. "In 1953 he became a producer of Playwrights Theatre Club, the first professional theater company in Chicago in many years. It featured such budding actors and directors as Ed Asner, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne and Joyce Piven, and me. In 1956 he took over the empty downtown Studebaker Theatre and did a year of plays which included the Chicago premiere of Waiting for Godot and then in 1959, with Paul Sills and Howard Alk, he opened The Second City where Bernie remained as producer and, eventually, one of the directors until the 1990s. Among the many talents he hired are John and Jim Belushi, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. Bernie was also one of the producers of the acclaimed TV show SCTV. Since retiring from Second City, he has remained an active presence on the Chicago theater scene, helping to produce the International Theatre Festival among other such enterprises, and now staging readings of verse plays for Poetry Magazine. His legacy to theater and, in particular, to comedy in America, is secure and clearly permanent."
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to nearly 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
Biography of Bernard Sahlins
Director, author and producer Bernard Sahlins is the founder of the world-renowned The Second City, where he also served as a longtime director and producer. Sahlins also co-founded The International Theatre Festival of Chicago and The Lithuanian International Theater Festival, and has directed and/or produced various shows in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Toronto. He is also the co-creator and long-time producer of SCTV. Sahlins' directing credits include his own adaptation of The Mysteries for the Court Theatre, The Wasteland for the Humanities Festival & The Arts Club, The Cure at Troy for Steppenwolf Theater, and The Shoemakers Holiday, The Knight of the Burning Pestle and The Burial at Thebes for the Chicago Shakespeare, among myriad other productions. He has written and directed several works, including See the Light for the Museum of Science & Industry, The History of Comedy, Part 2 for the University of Chicago and A Woman for All Seasons, Jane Addams, and Dylan Thomas for the Illinois Humanities Festival. He has been a consultant for the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and the Lithuanian National Theatre, The Disney Company, The Market Theatre: Johannesburg, The Museum Campus, USIS: Rumania, Lithuania, The University of Chicago arts programs, and The British Council. He is the author of Days and Nights at The Second City: A Memoir. Sahlins is the recipient of The Sergel prize for playwriting, The University of Chicago Professional Achievement Award, The Chicago Drama League's Professional Achievement Award, Joseph Jefferson Awards for directing and professional achievement, The Illinois Arts Alliance "Legend" award, and the Improv Festival Achievement Award. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Board of Directors for The Arts Club of Chicago, and the Board of Directors for the DePaul School of Drama.