Bernard "Bernie" Sahlins is an American writer, director and comedian best known as a founder of The Second City improvisational comedy troupe with Paul Sills and Howard Alk in 1959. ^[1] Sahlins also opened the Second City Theatre in Toronto in 1973. The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... The Second City Logo The Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy troupe based in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, with offshoot troupes in other cities, most notably Toronto. ... Improvisational comedy (also called improv) is comedy that is performed with a little to no predetermination of subject matter and structure. ...

Sahlins graduated from University of Chicago in 1943. His brother is anthropologist Marshall Sahlins. The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... See Anthropology. ... Marshall Sahlins (born 1930) is a prominent American anthropologist. ...

When Sahlins received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College Chicago in 2006, theatre department professor Sheldon Patinkin wrote: Columbia College Chicago is the largest arts communications college in the United States. ... Sheldon Patinkin is an author, teacher, and director. ...

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. ^[2]

Sahlins also co-founded The International Theatre Festival of Chicago. 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. Edward Asner Edward Ed Asner (born November 15, 1929) is an American Actor best known for his Emmy-winning role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and later continued in a spinoff series, Lou Grant. ... Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky) is an Academy Award winning movie director of films such as The Graduate and Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was born on November 6, 1931 in Berlin, to a Jewish Russian family. ... Elaine May (b. ... Bryne Piven (September 24, 1929, Scranton, Pennsylvania - February 18, 2002, Evanston, Illinois), was an influential American stage actor, director, and co-founder of the Playwrights Theatre Club, a forerunner of the Second City. ... Vladimir (left) and Estragon (right) hold Pozzo aloft (from a production by Naqshineh Theatre). ... John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an Emmy award winning American actor, comedian and singer most notable for his work on Saturday Night Live, National Lampoons Animal House and The Blues Brothers. ... James Belushi (also known as Jim Belushi) (born June 15, 1954) is an American film and television actor. ... John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. ... Daniel Edward Aykroyd CM (born July 1, 1952 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is an Academy Award-nominated Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, and musician. ... Gilda Radners Live From New York LP cover Gilda Susan Radner (28 June 1946 – 20 May 1989) was an American comedian and actress, best known for her five years as part of the original cast of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live. ... Harold Ramis (born November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, and writer. ... William James Bill Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-winning American comedian and actor. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Bibliography

• Bernard Sahlins, Ivan R. Dee (Editor) (2001). Days and Nights at Second City. ISBN 1566633753
• Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais and Bernard Sahlins (1990) The Marriage of Figaro: In a New Translation and Adaptation. Ivan R. Dee Publisher. ISBN 978-1566630665
• Bernard Sahlins, Moliere (1999). The Bourgeois Gentleman (A Play). Samuel French ASIN B000MWX09E
• Bernard Sahlins (2000). The Mysteries: Creation: A New Adapation. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher; New Ed edition. ISBN 978-1566630054
• Bernard Sahlins (1993). The Mysteries: The Passion. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher; New Ed edition. ISBN 978-1566630245

References

External links

• Bernard Sahlins at the Internet Movie Database