The Off Off Broadway Book

"Scrupulously researched, critically acute, and written with care, Playing Underground will become a classic account of an era of hard-won free expression." -William Coco "At last---a book documenting the beginnings of Off-Off Broadway theater. Playing Underground is an insightful, illuminating, and honest appraisal of this important period in American theater." -Rosalyn Drexler, author of Art Does (Not!) Exist and Occupational Hazard "An epic movie of an epic movement, Playing Underground is a book the world has waited for without knowing it. How precisely it captures the evolution of our revolution! I am amazed by the book's scope and scale, and I bless its author especially for giving two greats, Paul Foster and H. M. Koutoukas, their proper, polar places, and for memorializing such unjustly forgotten masterpieces as Irene Fornes's Molly's Dream and Jeff Weiss's A Funny Walk Home. Stephen Bottoms's vivid evocation of the grand adventure of Off-Off Broadway has woken and broken my heart. It is difficult to believe that he was not there alongside me to breathe the caffeine-nicotine-alkaloid-steeped air." -Robert Patrick, author of Kennedy's Children and Temple Slave Few books address the legendary age of 1960s off-off Broadway theater. Fortunately, Stephen 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 countercultural 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.

Many of us have questions about the Bible: Can we believe the Bible? What was Jesus’ mission? What is sin? Does hell exist? Is anyone beyond God’s forgiveness? In A Jesuit Off-Brodway, James Martin, SJ, answers these questions about the Bible, and other big questions about life, as he serves as a theological advisor to the cast of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Grab a front-row seat to Fr. Martin's six months with the LAByrinth Theater Company and see first-hand what it's like to share the faith with a largely secular group of people . . . and discover, along with Martin, that the sacred and the secular aren't always that far apart.

"This volume, essential for anyone who loves Broadway, includes a full introduction by Ben Brantley, chief theater critic of The Times, his selection of 25 of the influential Broadway plays that defined the twentieth century, and his choice of 100 other, memorable plays - right up through plays currently running on Broadway.".

"Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez is among the most interesting and original minds at work in performance studies and American studies. José, Can You See? is a landmark achievement, an important contribution to 20th century American cultural history. Quite simply, there is no other critic of Latino popular culture who speaks with so much wisdom and wit, so much eloquence and expertise."--David Roman, University of Southern California

THE STORY: Sister Elizabeth Donderstock is Squeamish, has been her whole life. She makes cheese balls (traditional and smoky) that sustain the existence of her entire religious community, Clusterhaven. However, she feels unappreciated among her Squ

Whether you're coming to Broadway fresh faced or are an old hand, you'll enjoy these 150+ profiles of the great musicals to hit the stage--including Hamilton!

Foreword by Edward Albee The off-off-Broadway movement of the 1960s remains one of the most dynamic periods in the history of American theater. Filled with one-on-one interviews and entertaining anecdotes,Off-Off-Broadway Explosionexplores the backstage stories and captivating history of the unusual venues and legendary personalities of the era. Readers will discover intimate accounts of the innovative Beat Generation playwrights who transformed the New York stage, such as Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Amiri Baraka, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and many other artists whose legacy is still felt within theater halls today. They’ll learn about the Greenwich Village visionaries who allowed emerging playwrights to showcase experimental works not welcome on the traditional stage, such as Joseph Cino, the wildly eccentric papa who sired Caffe Cino, and Al Carmines, the radical minister of Judson Memorial Church, whose Judson Poets’ Theater was known for the avant-garde musicals conceived by the pastor himself. Finally, a special chapter, “Your Own Off-Off-Broadway,” advises today’s playwrights and theater artists how give voice to their own work and find progressive audiences to appreciate it. Playwrights Discussed: • Edward Albee • Sam Shepard • Amiri Baraka • Landford Wilson • Maria Irene Forneacute;s • Jean-Claude van Itallie • Robert Patrick • Megan Terry • Rochelle Owens • Doric Wilson • and many others • Documents the origins of innovative off-off-broadway plays and their writers • Includes archival, rarely seen photos • Personal interviews with leading playwrights • Applicable advice for theater groups in any city

Told in their separate voices, sixteen-year-old Prince Oliver, who wants to break free of his fairy-tale existence, and fifteen-year-old Delilah, a loner obsessed with Prince Oliver and the book in which he exists, work together to seek his freedom.