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Bil Pfuderer, Director: Former Artistic Head of Canton Players Guild, 68, Worked on Broadway, in Theater, Film, Television

Posted on: Friday, 9 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Carol Biliczky, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 9--When Bil Pfuderer wasn't waiting outside for a ride to church on Sunday, the friend became alarmed.

After pounding on the door and finding it unlocked, she found the news was as bad as it could get.

Her longtime friend, a staple of the Canton performing arts community, was dead.

Pfuderer's unexpected death of natural causes at 68 was a tragic loss, said another friend. "He could do anything -- make costumes, create scenery, direct. He was a Renaissance man," said Kris Furlan.

Pfuderer came to Canton in 1997, competing against 100 applicants for the job of artistic director of the nonprofit Players Guild.

His first production, William Shakespeare's classic The Merchant of Venice, debuted the next year. He juggled many tasks to bring it to life -- directing, designing the set and many of the costumes, and acting the role of the Jewish moneylender Shylock.

He told the Akron Beacon Journal he took the acting part out of necessity.

"We had to have an older Shylock. Some good actors auditioned, but we couldn't get the age, so I had to bite the bullet," he said.

That was a challenge, he acknowledged. It was difficult "to have a vision of what's on stage and to be inside that vision."

Still, the role was one with which he was familiar. As manager of performing arts for the city of Austin, Texas, he won the critics circle award for his portrayal of the Jewish moneylender.

He wore the same costume in both the Texas and Canton productions -- one provided by Hasidic Jews in New York whom he turned to for advice in preparing for his role.

He directed, acted in and designed more than 300 shows for the Texas city before moving to Canton.

An eye for detail was his specialty: "I insist on having complete artist control of every element," he said, relegating only lighting and sound to technical assistants.

Pfuderer was a native of Chicago who trained at the University of Iowa, Western Illinois University and the University of Erlangen in Germany.

His mother, the late Grace Jenson, was an actress; his father, the late Wilhelm Pfuderer III, was a director at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.

He toured with his godmother, the late Martha Raye, in Everybody Loves Opal.

"She wasn't a saint, but she was a fantastic talent," he told the Beacon Journal.

Pfuderer's experience was vast. He worked on Broadway, in regional theater, film and television with notables including John Malkovich, Richard Burton and Christopher Plummer.

His tenure at the Players Guild of Canton ended in 2002, when the board terminated his contract 17 days before it was to expire, as he produced Arsenic and Old Lace. The dismissal came just months after he got a negative performance review from the theater board personnel committee.

Still, he stayed active as a freelance director and actor. He stayed in Canton, performing his one-man show, Contrasts in Shakespeare, and working throughout the state and country.

Pat Levy, a Players Guild volunteer, said Pfuderer gave her son, Aaron, now 17, a role as a page in a Shakespeare production, inspiring him to take an interest in the Bard.

"He had a great personality, very straightforward. He could turn anything around and make you smile about it," she said.

Furlan, now managing director of the Canton Palace, said Pfuderer told friends he didn't want a funeral. Still, some are trying to put together a memorial service. Plans are pending, she said.

Rick Walters, an investigator for the Stark County Coroner's Office, said Pfuderer died of a stroke.

Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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