Spolin was born in Chicago in 1906 as Viola Mills, the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She belonged to a family in which games were common and they liked to act and laugh. At 18 she began studying with sociologist Neva Boyd at Hull House, a shelter for the youth of immigrant and poor families from the depressed neighborhoods of Chicago. At Hull House there was a Recreational Training group (what we now know as social services), where Spolin learned about group work. Boyd believed in play as a pillar of learning and socialization, so her training program included storytelling, dance, drama, art, and group play. Boyd, a leader in progressive education movements, had compiled a vast collection of non-competitive story-making games. So Spolin discovered in them how the game made it possible to create theatrical pieces, which were later performed. After finishing high school, Spolin married Wilmer Siverberg (who changed her last name to Sills), with whom she had two sons: Paul (who would found The Second City) and William. After her divorce she joined with other divorced women to create The Educational Playroom. In 1939, Neva Boyd hired Spolin as a drama teacher at the Works Progress Administration Recreation…