Ruth Zaporah

July 8, 1936 - May 12, 2025

Ruth Zaporah, Creator of Action Theater, Dies Peacefully at 88 Ruth Zaporah, pioneering performance artist, visionary teacher, and founder of Action Theater—a highly influential improvisational practice integrating movement, voice, and narrative—died peacefully on May 12, 2025, at her home in Berkeley, Calif. She was 88. The cause was pancreatic cancer. Zaporah was born on July 8, 1936, in Baltimore, Md., the daughter of Ethel Rahamah Himelfarb Glick and Henry Glick, an attorney. She grew up dancing “in the stairwells” from the age of three and went on to perform worldwide in theaters, concert halls, and even Balkan refugee camps. A brilliant shape-shifter, her embodied awareness in the field of improvisation made her a renowned teacher with far-reaching impact. She developed Action Theater in the 1970s in Berkeley, Calif., as both a training method and performance form. Emphasizing embodiment, spontaneity, and presence, her work—rooted in physical theater, meditation, and real-time storytelling—became foundational for artists exploring the intersection of movement and language. Influenced by her degree in philosophy and a lifelong study of Buddhism, she wove a fascination with the nature of mind into practices that invited the body to become a vehicle for transformation. Zaporah honed her craft through constant experimentation and a teaching practice that spanned more than 60 years and five continents. Her powerful presence, wisdom, fierce humor, and incisive methods inspired thousands of students, collaborators, and audiences. From 2000 to 2023, she lived in the New Mexico desert, where she led workshops and continued to travel and teach internationally. In 2023 Ruth moved home to Berkeley to be closer to family. She completed her work where she started, in the dance studio. Her books, Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence (1995) and Improvisation on the Edge (2014), are considered essential reading for artists and educators. She also authored The Manual, a sequel offering advanced practices and insights into the Action Theater methodology. “I have planned nothing, and that has kept me very busy.” Ms. Zaporah received two Choreographer’s Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Sustained Achievement Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Dance Association, and an Isadora Duncan Dance Award recognizing her contributions to dance and theater. She also served as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy. Her archives are housed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Ruth always followed her passion and managed to keep her children close throughout her artistic life. Creative and unconventional in raising them, she remained ever present—a grounding force and the foundation of the generations that followed. Her light remains eternal. She is survived by her four children: Jon Eric Rymland, 67; Emily Rymland, 63; and Zachary Rymland, 61, with her former partner Richard Sylven Rymland; and Jacob Werblin, 53, with her former partner Frank Simon Werblin. She also leaves behind seven grandchildren: Eli Rymland, 33; Zev Yitzak Rymland, 27; Aidan Samuel Rymland, 27; Dov Erez Rymland, 25; Rox Monroe Rymland, 24; Olivia Rose Werblin, 23; and Zoe Zaporah Rymland, 11. Her brother, Daniel Glick, 92, also survives her. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to to Em’s Clinic founded by Ruth’s daughter Emily Rymland. This rural clinic supports about 6000 people in Uganda whose only health option is the clinic. You can find instruction here. https://wmionline.org/donate.php