Paul Schierhorn

Paul Richard Schierhorn

Asheville - Paul Schierhorn, who co-created two Broadway plays and taught hundreds of students at two colleges, died of cancer Sunday, July 8, 2012, at the John Keever Solace Hospice in Asheville. Schierhorn, 61, lived in Weaverville.

His hallmark in the theater was his versatility. For The News which premiered on Broadway in 1985, he was composer, lyricist and co-author. This rock and roll musical was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Music and Lyrics. It had premiered at Burt Reynold's Jupiter Theatre. Post-Broadway it played in London's West End with Richard O'Brien in the lead role. Paul also was vocal director, arranger and associate conductor of The 1940s Radio Hour, which premiered on Broadway in 1979 and was performed as The Christmas Show at the Carter White House.

His repertoire ranged from Shakespeare to the stage musical, The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien, for which he was music director and keyboard player on the first North American Tour in 1980. He brought his zest for music and the theater to his students at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he was an Associate Professor of Theater from 1988 to 2007, and where he co-founded and was Co-Artistic Director of The Tulane Summer Shakespeare Festival; and to Mars Hill College where he was a Professor of Theater Arts and Head of The Musical Theatre Program 2007 until the end of this Spring Semester, 2012. While at Mars Hill, he also served as resident musical director, director and actor at the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre (SART). Throughout his 30+ year career, he was known as a demanding but nurturing teacher and continuing mentor to his students, many of whom went on to theatrical careers.

He wrote music for and acted with numerous regional theaters, including the Folger Theatre (American Premiere for David Hare's Teeth 'n' Smiles), Arena Stage and Kennedy Center in Washington, the American Repertory Theatre in Boston, The Denver Center Theatre Company, Tom Haas' Indiana Repertory Theatre and Joe Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival.

Schierhorn was born in Chicago and spent most of his childhood in Adrian, Mich. His first professional performances were with the Columbus Boychoir of Princeton, N.J., including singing with the choir at the North American premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at Tanglewood when he was 12.

He graduated from high school at Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City, Mich., in 1969 and was admitted directly to the Master of Fine Arts program at Yale University, graduating from its special 5-Year Program in 1974. He acted with the Yale Repertory Theater for 10 years, appearing in over 30 productions as a student, and a company and faculty member. Highlights include: Suicide in B-Flat, Mahagonny, Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been. . ., Idiots Karamazov, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, MacBett, Troilus and Cressida, Happy End, Bingo (Obie winning production), Puntila, The Possessed, Lear by Edward Bond, General Gorgeous, The Shaft of Love, Baal, White Marriage, Man Is Man, and The Frogs by Aristophanes (in the Yale swimming pool).

Some of the world and American premieres included working with musicians William Bolcolm, Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove, Gary Fagin; directors Andre Serban, Andre Belgrader, Anrej Wajda, Alvin Epstein, Bill Peters, David Rotenberg; playwrights Sam Shepherd, David Hare, Christopher Durang and Albert Innurato, Terrence McNally, Michael McClure—all under the helm of legendary Robert Brustein.

The Yale Cabaret Group, reinvigorated by John McAndrew, Bill Peters, Sarah Albertson and Jim Burt (deceased), invited Paul and Joe Grifasi to join them in 1971.  It became a sensation.  Walt Jones' The 1940s Radio Hour, first shown at the Yale Cabaret, evolved to include Carol Lees, Gary Fagin, Paul Schierhorn and Stan Lebowski; Brustein had invited it into the Yale Rep season, and it went on to Broadway and regional theatre runs. 

The Cabaret was an outlet for the talents assembled at YSD and productions ranged from Bertolt Brecht to hilarious revues.  Friendships from that period continued throughout Paul's life, especially with Rusty Magee (deceased), Lewis Black, Mark Linn-Baker, Chuck Levin and Joe Grifasi.

Schierhorn was essentially self-educated as a traditional college undergraduate. His program at Yale included no liberal arts classes, yet he could articulately discuss books, history, journalism and current events. In 1973, in Washington with a show, he arranged to be a reporter during Watergate. He loved baseball, theater and music of all kinds, and an audience - whether in his living room, at friends' homes, on stage or in the classroom.

The scope of Schierhorn's career is varied. After his YSD, regional and Broadway theatre years, he embraced teaching. His specialties were teaching acting, Shakespeare, verse, vocal production, singing, dialects; he was also a voice over talent, and dialect coach who worked for directors such as Robert Benedetti, Christopher Reeves, and Nicolas Cage. He was also known for being a devoted father to son, Will.

In Spring 1982, he met his future wife, actor Maria Mason, at the Equity theatre PlayMakers Rep attached to University of North Carolina in a professional production of Twelfth Night. They married in 1986. They lived in NY, New York, New Orleans and moved to North Carolina post-Katrina.

Besides his devoted wife, he is survived by a loving son, Will Schierhorn of Weaverville; and wonderful brother and sister-in-law, Carl and Ann Schierhorn, of Kent, Ohio; and their daughter Karen of NY; and Maria's relatives. His father, Barnard, died in 1966 and mother, Janice, died in 2010. He credited his father for his love of journalism, and his mother Janice, a music teacher and church soloist, with nurturing his love for and career in music.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made at any Wells Fargo Bank to "The J-P-W Schierhorn Music Education Fund" deposited into "The Asheville High School Band Association" account to help support the band programs at Asheville Middle School and Asheville High School.

A memorial service will be at Grace Episcopal Church in Asheville on Monday, July 30 at 2 p.m. with reception following in the Parish Hall. Celebrations honoring his life and music are also planned for New York City and New Orleans.