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The Living Theatre
The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/poet Julian Beck. After Beck's death in 1985, company member Hanon Reznikov became co-director with Malina; the two were married in 1988. After Malina's death in 2015, her responsibilities were taken over by her son Garrick Maxwell Beck. The Living Theatre and its founders were the subject of the 1983 documentary ''Signals Through the Flames''. History In the 1950s, the group was among the first in the U.S. to produce the work of influential European playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht (''In The Jungle of Cities'' in New York, 1960) and Jean Cocteau, as well as modernist poets such as T. S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein. One of their first major productions was Pablo Picasso's ''Desire Caught By the Tail''; other early productions were ''Many ...
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Julian Beck
Julian Beck (May 31, 1925 – September 14, 1985) was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing The Living Theatre, as well as his role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher in the 1986 movie '' Poltergeist II: The Other Side''. The Living Theatre and its founders were the subject of the 1983 documentary ''Signals Through The Flames''. Early life Beck was born on May 31, 1925, in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, to Mabel Lucille (), a teacher, and Irving Beck, a businessman. He briefly attended Yale University, but dropped out to pursue writing and art. He was an abstract expressionist painter in the 1940s, but his career turned upon meeting his future wife. In 1943, he met Judith Malina and quickly came to share her passion for theatre; they founded The Living Theatre in 1947. Career Beck co-directed the Living Theatre until his death. The group's primary influence was Antonin Artaud, who espoused the Theat ...
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William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pediatrics and general medicine. He was affiliated with Passaic General Hospital, where he served as the hospital's chief of pediatrics from 1924 until his death. The hospital, which is now known as St. Mary's General Hospital, paid tribute to Williams with a memorial plaque that states "We walk the wards that Williams walked". Life and career Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1883. His father, William George Williams, was born in England but raised from the age of 5 in the Dominican Republic; his mother, Raquel Hélène Hoheb, from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, was of French extraction. Scholars note that the Caribbean culture of the family home had an important influence on Williams. Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera observes, "English was not h ...
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The Merchant Of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for the character Shylock and his famous demand for a " pound of flesh" in retribution. The play contains two famous speeches, that of Shylock, "Hath not a Jew eyes?" on the subject of humanity, and that of Portia on " the quality of mercy". Debate exists on whether the play is anti-Semitic, with Shylock's insistence on his legal right to the pound of flesh being in opposition to Shylock's seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination. Characters * Antonio – a prominent merchant of Venice in a melancholic mood. * Bassanio â ...
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United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Marine Corps has been part of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 with its sister service, the United States Navy. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers. The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as ...
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Anti-authoritarian
Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as "a form of social organisation characterised by submission to authority", "favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom" and to authoritarian government. Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil liberties. Sometimes the term is used interchangeably with anarchism, an ideology which entails opposing authority or hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations, including the state system. Views and practice Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds opinions should be formed on the basis of logic, reason and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, or other dogmas. The cognitive application of freethought is known as "freethinking" and practitioners of freethought are known as "freethinkers". Argument from authority ( la, argumentum ab auctoritate) is a common form of argument which leads to ...
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The Brig (play)
''The Brig'' is a play written by Kenneth H. Brown (1936–2022) based on his experiences as a U.S. Marine. It was first performed in New York by The Living Theatre on May 13, 1963, with a production filmed in 1964 by Jonas Mekas. ''The Brig'' received three Obie Awards in 1964, for Best Production (play), Best Design (Julian Beck) and Best Direction (Judith Malina). The play depicts a typical day in a U.S. Marine Corps military prison called the brig. Brown spent 30 days in a brig for being absent without leave while serving with the Third Marines at Camp Fuji, Japan in the 1950s. ''The Brig'' was revived in New York in 2007, and it received an Obie Special Citation for its ensemble and director Judith Malina. In 2009, it was performed as an unlicensed production at the New World School of the Arts, Theatre Division in Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coa ...
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Robert Morris (artist)
Robert Morris (February 9, 1931 – November 28, 2018) was an American sculptor, conceptual artist and writer. He was regarded as having been one of the most prominent theorists of Minimalism along with Donald Judd, but also made important contributions to the development of performance art, land art, the Process Art movement, and installation art.Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press. 2009. p. 481 Morris lived and worked in New York. In 2013 as part of the October Files, MIT Press published a volume on Morris, examining his work and influence, edited by Julia Bryan-Wilson. Early life and education Born in Kansas City, Missouri to Robert O. Morris and Lora "Pearl" Schrock Morris. Between 1948 and 1950, Morris studied engineering at the University of Kansas.Josine Ianco-Starrels (April 27, 1986)Robert Morris Works Focus On Environment''Los Angeles Times''. He then studied art at both the University of Kansas and at Kansas City Art Institute ...
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Simone Forti
Simone Forti (born March 25, 1935), is an American Italian Postmodern artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer. Since the 1950s, Forti has exhibited, performed, and taught workshops all over the world. Her innovations in Postmodern dance, including her seminal 1961 body of work, ''Dance Constructions'', along with her contribution to the early Fluxus movement, have influenced many notable dancers and artists.Yvonne Rainer (2014). "On Simone Forti". In Sabine Breitwieser. ''Simone Forti: Thinking with the Body.'' University of Chicago Press. pp. 70–71. .Steve Paxton (2014). "The Emergence of Simone Forti". In Sabine Breitwieser. ''Simone Forti: Thinking with the Body.'' University of Chicago Press. pp. 59–61. .''The Judson Dance Project'' 1980-1982. Founding members of the Experimental Modern Dance Group active in New York City's Judson Church in the 1960s discuss their work. Includes archival footage of performances. Series of 7 videocassettes, VHS (New York, The Kitchen, 198 ...
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Avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical Debate and Poetic Practices' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004), p. 64 . It is frequently characterized by aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability.Kostelanetz, Richard, ''A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes'', Routledge, May 13, 2013
The avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the ''
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The Connection (1959 Play)
''The Connection'' is a 1959 play by Jack Gelber. It was first produced by the Living Theatre, directed by Living Theatre co-founder Judith Malina, and designed by co-founder Julian Beck. The play has a play-within-a-play format, with characters Jim Dunn as the "producer" and Jaybird as the "writer" attempting to stage a production about the underbelly of society using "real" addicts. Some of the addicts are jazz musicians. They all (except for the "producer", "writer", and two "photographers") have one thing in common: they are waiting for their drug dealer, their "connection". The dialogue of the characters is interspersed with jazz music. The music for the original production was composed by jazz pianist Freddie Redd. Original cast *Jim Dunn – Leonard Hicks *Jaybird – Ira Lewis *Leach – Warren Finnerty *Solly – Jerome Raphel *Sam – John McCurry *Ernie – Garry Goodrow *1st Musician – Freddie Redd (composer, piano) *4th Musician – Michael Mattos (bass) *First Phot ...
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Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American-Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and 434 opus numbers. The true tally is well over 500 surviving works, since many opus numbers comprise two or more distinct works. ''The Boston Globe'' music critic Richard Buell wrote: "Although he has been stereotyped as a self-consciously Armenian composer (rather as Ernest Bloch is seen as a Jewish composer), his output assimilates the music of many cultures. What may be most American about all of it is the way it turns its materials into a kind of exoticism. The atmosphere is hushed, reverential, mystical, nostalgic." Early life He was born as Alan Vaness Chakmakjian ( hy, Ալան Յարութիւն Չաքմաքճեան)Julia Michaelyan"An Interview with Alan Hovhaness" ''Ararat'' 45, v. 12, no. 1 (Winter 1971), pp. 19–31. Reprinted ...
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Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generationers in the 1950s, better known as Beatniks. The central elements of Beat culture are the rejection of standard narrative values, making a spiritual quest, the exploration of American and Eastern religions, the rejection of economic materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration. Allen Ginsberg's ''Howl'' (1956), William S. Burroughs' ''Naked Lunch'' (1959), and Jack Kerouac's ''On the Road'' (1957) are among the best known examples of Beat literature.Charters (1992) ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Both ''Howl'' and ''Naked Lunch'' were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize publishing in the United States.Ann Charters, ''int ...
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