Libby Skala

Elizabeth Anne Skala was the eldest daughter of Mary and Martin Skala, a Canadian textile designer and Austrian-born financial writer for The Christian Science Monitor.[https://www.darientimes.com/past_obituaries/article/Obituary-Martin-Skala-longtime-Darien-resident-14024373.php "Obituary: Martin Skala, longtime Darien resident,"] Darien Times (January 22, 2019). Her father's mother was Austrian-American actress Lilia Skala. Libby Skala was born in Englewood, New Jersey, and moved to Darien, Connecticut, with her parents and her younger sister Emily when she was nine.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1740846/bio|title=Libby Skala Biography|website=IMDb|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://thevillager.com/villager_120/theatricaltributeto.html|title=Theatrical tribute to a special grandmother|date=17 August 2005|work=The Villager|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902001426/http://thevillager.com/villager_120/theatricaltributeto.html|archive-date=2 September 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ncadvertiser.com/39615/skala-returns-to-lapham-for-lilia|title=Skala returns to Lapham for 'Lilia!'|date=16 October 2014|work=New Canaan Advertiser|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dariennewsonline.com/news/article/Skala-to-tell-story-of-aunt-in-Felicitas-4967664.php|title=Skala to tell story of aunt in 'Felicitas'|date=8 November 2013|work=Darien News|access-date=29 November 2014}}

After graduating from Oberlin College (also her father's alma mater) with a degree in English Literature/Theatre Emphasis, and attending cattle calls in New York, Skala moved to Seattle where she earned her union cards and studied with Gary Austin, founder of the improvisational theatre company The Groundlings.{{cite journal|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oamcurrent/oam_winter2002/profile_conversing.htm|title=Conversing with Grandmother Beloved by Critics|journal=Oberlin Alumni Magazine|volume=97|issue=3|date=Winter 2001|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://austinhere.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/libby-skala-on-the-48th-st-exercise-2|title=Libby Skala on The 48th St. Exercise|website=Austinhere |date=25 September 2011 |access-date=29 November 2014}}

In 1995, months after her grandmother Lilia Skala's death, Gary Austin encouraged Skala to write a one-woman show about her Academy Award-nominated actress grandmother.{{cite web|url=http://www.polk.edu/news/arts-incubator-series-actress-libby-skala-inspires-students-will-stage-final-show-on-march-22|title=Arts Incubator Series: Actress Libby Skala Inspires Students|date=19 March 2014|publisher=Polk State College|access-date=29 November 2014}} The show Lilia! was developed in Austin's workshop and went on to receive rave reviews internationally.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/31/theater/critic-s-notebook-enter-one-actor-cloaked-in-magic.html?pagewanted=1|title=CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Enter One Actor, Cloaked in Magic|author=Bruce Weber|date=31 July 2003|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=d69b870c-1efa-4b31-9278-3b1b8121820a|title=Tribute to grandmother a lovely, warm memory|date=26 September 2006|work=The Vancouver Sun|access-date=29 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210121335/http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=d69b870c-1efa-4b31-9278-3b1b8121820a|archive-date=10 February 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|url=https://espiritualidadcafe.wordpress.com/tag/libby-skala/|title=Lilia – refugee from the Nazis, Oscar nominee, and grandmother comes to London (as a play)|date=31 October 2010|website=Espiritualidadcafe|url-access=subscription|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://gaycitynews.nyc/gcn-435/ravishingrevivals.html|title=Ravishing Revivals|date=1 September 2005|work=Gay City News|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204122103/http://gaycitynews.nyc/gcn-435/ravishingrevivals.html|archive-date=4 December 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.extraextra.org/Review_Lilia_2010.html|title=Lilia!|author=Bernie Whelan|date=October 2010|website=Extra! Extra!|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah3ZewCSSw0|title=LILIA! Trailer - A one-woman show by Libby Skala|date=26 November 2014|website=YouTube|access-date=30 November 2014}} It ran successfully off-Broadway at the Arclight Theatre, produced by Mirror Repertory Company;{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/news/apr05/1apr05mirror.htm|title=The Mirror Repertory Company begins repertory season at the Arclight|date=1 April 2005|website=New York Theatre Guide|access-date=29 November 2014}} at The Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles (presented by Gary Austin);{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2009/02/13/stage-raw-time-stands-still|title=Stage Raw: Time Stands Still|date=13 February 2009|website=LA Weekly |author=Steven Leigh Morris|access-date=29 November 2014}} at Pacific Theatre in Vancouver; at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland;{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/lilia-by-libby-skala-1-462889|title=Lilia! by Libby Skala ****|date=3 July 2001|work=The Scotsman|access-date=29 November 2014}} in London, sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum;{{cite web|url=http://acflondon.org/events/libby-skala-lilia/|title=Theatre and dance Libby Skala: LiLiA!|date=October 2010|publisher=Austrian Cultural Forum London|access-date=29 November 2014}} in Tbilisi, Georgia; and in Berlin and Dresden, Germany.{{cite web|url=http://www.stlawrenceshakespeare.ca/media/46678/interview%20with%20libby%20skala%20%E2%80%93%20creator%20and%20performer%20for%20lilia.pdf|title=Interview with Libby Skala|date=May 2012|publisher=St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival|access-date=29 November 2014}}

Skala's second play A Time to Dance won "Best Solo Performer Award" at the London Fringe Theatre Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.talkentertainment.com/c-12812-A-Time-to-Dance-Fringe-Festival.aspx|title=A Time to Dance – Fringe Festival|date=16 August 2009|website=Talk Entertainment|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204164436/http://www.talkentertainment.com/c-12812-A-Time-to-Dance-Fringe-Festival.aspx|archive-date=4 December 2014|url-status=dead}} It portrays the story of Skala's great-aunt Elizabeth "Lisl" Polk, a pioneer of dance therapy, and is based on a series of interviews recorded while Skala was researching Lilia!.{{cite web|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20090531/ARCHIVES/305319912|title='Time to Dance' looks at Polk's therapy|date=31 May 2009|work=The Post and Courier|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205020318/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20090531/ARCHIVES/305319912|archive-date=5 December 2014|url-status=dead}} The play toured North America and Europe.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/dance/18fringe.html?_r=0|title=A Therapist Who Fled the Nazis, and Other Characters in Motion|author=Gia Kourlas|date=17 August 2009|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 November 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/A-TIME-TO-DANCE-Comes-To-The-NY-Intl-Fringe-Festival-At-45-Bleecker-Street-81524-20090824|title=A Time to Dance Comes to the NY Int'l Fringe Festival|date=24 August 2009|work=Broadway World|access-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206120559/http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/A-TIME-TO-DANCE-Comes-To-The-NY-Intl-Fringe-Festival-At-45-Bleecker-Street-81524-20090824|archive-date=6 December 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/in-a-time-to-dance-libby-skala-glows-in-her-poignant-portrayal-of-a-zany-great-aunt/Content?oid=1204038|title=In A Time to Dance, Libby Skala glows in her poignant portrayal of a zany great aunt|author=Rachel Ward|date=2009|work=Charleston City Paper|access-date=29 November 2014}}

Libby Skala collaborated with her husband, musician Steven May, to create her third show, Felicitas, which was premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2014. May created the mandolin music score which he performs live on stage to underscore Skala's story of her great-aunt, Felicitas Sofer, a highly trained professional baby nurse who migrated from Vienna to join her sisters Lilia and Lisl in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://blogcritics.org/theater-review-nyc-fringe-felicitas-libby-skala|title=Theater Review (NYC Fringe): 'Felicitas' by Libby Skala|author=Jon Sobel|date=17 August 2014|website=BlogCritics|access-date=29 November 2014}} She was the nurse in attendance at Skala's home birth.{{cite web|url=http://stagebuddy.com/reviews/fringenyc-review-felicitas|title=FringeNYC Review: Felicitas|date=25 August 2014|website=Stage Buddy|access-date=29 November 2014}}

Libby Skala's show, Irena Sendler: Rescuing the Rescuer, premiered at the London Fringe Theatre Festival in 2017.{{cite web|url=https://lfpress.com/2017/06/01/rescuing-the-rescuer-brilliantly-compelling|title=London Fringe: Irena Sendler: Rescuing the Rescuer|date=1 June 2017|work=The London Free Press|author=Joe Belanger|access-date=15 October 2017}}

Skala married musician Steven May in 2008.St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. [https://www.facebook.com/StLawrenceShakespeareFestival/posts/2532120143490366?comment_id=2533014013400979 "We were saddened to hear of the premature passing of LIBBY SCALA [sic] today,"] Facebook (Dec. 5, 2019).

Libby Skala died on December 1, 2019, at the age of 52.[http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1251534-spring-2020/93? "In Memorium,"] SAG-AFTRA magazine (Spring 2020).

London Fringe Festival Theatre. [https://www.facebook.com/LondonFringeFestival/posts/10157365445186144 "We are heartbroken to hear of the death of Libby Skala yesterday..."] Facebook (4 December 2019).{{Cite web|url=https://pollycastor.com/2019/12/04/honoring-libby/|title=Honoring Libby|first1=Polly Castor on|last1=December 4|first2=2019 in|last2=Photography|date=4 December 2019}}

In 2013, the Sunnyside Gardens Historical Alliance presented Lilia! in conjunction with the unveiling of a National Register of Historic Places Plaque on the former home of Skala's grandmother Lilia Skala, Stage and Screen Actor, for which Sidney Poitier wrote a tribute.{{cite web|url=http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2013/42/liliaskala_2013_10_18_q.html|title=From zipper factory to Academy Awards|author=Kevin Zimmerman|date=22 October 2013|work=TQNS|access-date=29 November 2014}} A month earlier, Skala performed A Time to Dance for Sunnyside Gardens Historical Alliance in honor of a National Register of Historic Places Plaque unveiling at the home of her great-aunt, dance therapy pioneer Elizabeth "Lisl" Polk.{{cite web|url= http://sunnysidegardens.us/2-national-register-plaques-for-2-historic-sisters|title=2 National Register Plaques for 2 Historic Sisters|date=27 October 2013|publisher=Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance|access-date=29 November 2014}}

• 1999 Lilia!
• 2007 A Time to Dance{{cite web|url=http://www.londonfringe.ca/stage-show.php?id=8|title=London Ontario Fringe Festival - Theatre, Visual Art, Film, Spoken Word|access-date=14 February 2023|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819032545/http://www.londonfringe.ca/stage-show.php?id=8|archive-date=19 August 2007|df=dmy-all}}
• 2014 Felicitas
• 2017 Irena Sendler: Rescuing the Rescuer

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official|http://www.LibbySkala.com}}
• {{IMDb name|1740846}}
• Skala, Libby. [https://patch.com/california/berkeley/irena-sendler-rescuing-rescuer-freight-salvage-sat-10-7 "IRENA SENDLER: RESCUING THE RESCUER at Freight & Salvage, Sat, 10/7: A solo show about the social worker who rescued 2,500 Jewish children during WWII and the Kansas students who introduced her to the world,"] Patch (Berkeley, CA) (Sep 26, 2017).

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Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:American people of Canadian descent

Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent

Category:American stage actresses

Category:Writers from Englewood, New Jersey

Category:Actresses from Englewood, New Jersey

Category:1967 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:21st-century American women