Jilline Ringle (1964-2005) Requiem for an Amazon: A Celebration of Jilline Ringle Monday, April 4, 2005 Doors open at 7pm Cabaret starts at 8pm At The Trocadero 1003 Arch Street A fabulous cabaret featuring the Big Mess Orchestra, Carlotta Tendant, Harriett Levy and performances by 1812, the Arden and other Philly favorites. Pay-what-you-can donations support the Jilline Ringle Solo Performance Fund at 1812 Productions. Learn more»

Jilline Ringle, 40, comic actress star
As written in the Philadelphia Inquirer, March 3, 2005
By Douglas J. Keating
Inquirer Theater Critic

Jilline Ringle, one of Philadelphia's most highly regarded comic actresses, died Monday of complications from cancer.

Ms. Ringle, 40, a resident of West Philadelphia who had remained in this area to act after graduating from Bryn Mawr College, died at a hospital near her family home in Fairfield, N.J.

Although Ms. Ringle had performed in more than a score of local productions in a variety of parts, her best work was done as a comic actress and singer. Her talent for both was recognized by the three Barrymore Nominations for Excellence in Theatre she received. Two were for her appearances in the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Box Office of the Damned; the other was for Mondo Mangia, the show for which she was best known.

The tall, imposing 6-foot-2, 180-pound actress, who referred to herself jokingly as "a 6-foot, red-headed Amazon from hell, whom all men desire," also wrote Mondo Mangia. In it she talked and sang humorously and affectionately about eating, describing how integral food was to her life and memories while cooking a pasta meal that she shared with the audience.

Ms. Ringle first staged Mondo Mangia in 2000 for the local troupe 1812 Productions, then went on to perform it many times in theaters throughout the East. Having decided to retire the piece, last fall she reprised it for the last time in Philadelphia and it virtually sold out a 90-seat theater for five weeks.

Ms. Ringle made her professional debut as one of the singers in Godspell in 1989 with the Arden Theatre Company, where she continued to appear. "Jilline was absolutely one of a kind," said Arden producing artistic director Terrence J. Nolen. "She brought all of herself to her performances. What you saw on stage was an extension of who she was - funny, smart, self-deprecating and really generous."

Nolen said Ms. Ringle was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer in the fall of 2003 when she was rehearsing and performing in a new musical, Café Puttanesca, at the Arden. In addition to rehearsing and the medical treatment, she was also performing in a cabaret in Cape May. "She was determined she was going to keep working. She was determined to live life to the fullest," Nolen said.

With the disease in remission, Ms. Ringle continued with her career. After the farewell run of Mondo Mangia, she appeared over the holidays with Jennifer Childs in Always a Lady, also for 1812 Productions. A show in which she sang and portrayed female comedians of the past, the piece was a perfect vehicle for Ringle's talents.

Always a Lady ended in early January. Ms. Ringle, Nolen said, found out later in the month that the cancer had returned, and she was unable to travel to the Orlando Shakespeare Festival to take the serious, dramatic part of Josie in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten.

In an Inquirer interview last fall, she had called it "the role of my life."

She is survived by her father, Charles Ringle, and brothers Scott and Jeffrey.

Visiting hours are from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Ippolito-Stellato Funeral Home, 7 Two Bridges Rd., Fairfield, N.J. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Fairfield.

The family requests that memorial donations be made to 1812 Productions, 525 S. Fourth St., Suite 479, Philadelphia 19147.

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