Playing underground : a critical history of the 1960s off-off-Broadway movement / Stephen J. Bottoms.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bottoms, Stephen J. (Stephen James), 1968-

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Series:

Theater--theory/text/performance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Off Off-Broadway theater--History--20th century.

Off Off-Broadway theater.

Theater--History--20th century.

Theater.

History.

American drama--20th century--History and criticism.

American drama.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 401 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations.

Other Title:

History of the 1960s off-off-Broadway movement

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2004.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Few books address the legendary age of 1960s off-off Broadway theater. Fortunately, Stephen J. Bottoms fills that gap with Playing Underground -- the first comprehensive history of the roots of off-off Broadway. This is a theater whose legacy is still felt today: it was the launching pad for many leading contemporary theater artists, including Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornes, and others, and it was a pivotal influence on improv comedy and shows like Saturday Night Live. Off-off Broadway groups such as the Living Theatre, La Mama, and Caffe Cino captured the spirit of nontraditional theater with their edgy, unscripted, boundary-crossing subjects. Yet, as Bottoms discovers, there is no one set of truths about off-off Broadway to uncover; the entire scene was always more a matter of competing perceptions than a singular, concrete reality. No other author has managed to illuminate this shifting tableau as Bottoms does. Through interviews with dozens of the era's leading playwrights, performers, directors, and critics, he unearths a counter-cultural theater movement that was both influential and transforming -- yet ephemeral and quintessentially of its moment. Playing Underground will be a definitive work on the subject, offering a complete picture of an important but little-studied period in American theater.

Contents:

2. Setting the Scene: A Look at the Fifties 16

Part 1 Emerging Venues, Emerging Playwrights, 1960-66

3. Caffe Cino: The Birth of a Movement 39

4. Judson Poets' Theater: Verse Plays and Vaudeville Skits 61

5. La Mama ETC: Hurrah for the Playwright 83

6. Theatre Genesis: Urban Prophecy 105

7. In One Act: On the Aesthetics of Off-Off-Broadway Playwriting 124

Part 2 Present Collaborations, 1963-68

8. The Judson "Musical": Sublimely Ridiculous? 147

9. The Open Theatre: Transformations 169

10. La Mama Troupe: The Kernel of Craziness 192

11. The Play-House of the Ridiculous: Beyond Absurdity 215

12. Other Kinds of Cruelty: Ritual, Participation, and the Plague 237

Part 3 Changing Times, 1966-73

13. Going Overground: Changing Profiles in the Later 1960s 259

14. Death and Disaster: Leaving the Caffe Cino 279

15. The Absence of Peace: Changing Politics, Changing Communities 301

16. Going Solo: Auteurs, Poseurs, and La Mama 322

17. Signals through the Flames: The Afterlife of a Movement 344.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-388) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

047211400X

9780472022212

Publisher Number:

10.3998/mpub.22965

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.