Caffe Cino was an

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

theater founded in 1958 by

Joe Cino Joseph Cino (November 16, 1931 – April 2, 1967), was an Italian-American theatre producer. The Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement is generally credited to have begun at Cino's Caffe Cino in the West Village of Manhattan. Caffe Cino and off-off ...

. The

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

coffeehouse, located at 31 Cornelia Street, was initially conceived as a venue for poetry,

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, and visual art exhibitions. The plays produced at the Cino, however, became most prominent, and it is now considered the "birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway".

Beginnings and early productions

was born into an Italian-American family, and moved from Buffalo, New York to be a dancer in New York City. After 10 years, he used his $400 in savings and opened the Caffe Cino Art Gallery. Initially, Cino encouraged his friends to hang their artwork on the walls. That led to poetry readings, which led to staged readings and eventually to productions of plays. During the early days of the Cino, plays were produced on the floor. A makeshift 8x8-foot stage was later created using milk cartons and carpet remnants. Productions were initially limited to 30 minutes, and the audience could stand anywhere. The space was only 18x30-feet, and audience members often perched atop the cigarette machine. Admission was one dollar, and audience members were offered a coffee and an Italian pastry along with the show.

Fire and Cino's death

On Ash Wednesday 1965, a fire destroyed the interior of the Cino. The building's structure was not affected. A new lighting system had been installed, along with the fireproofing of the Caffe's ceiling, which prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the tenement building. The official cause of the fire was a gas leak, but some suspected that Cino's lover set the fire. The community raised money by staging

benefit performance A benefit performance is a type of live entertainment which is undertaken for a cause. In its original usage, benefit performances were opportunities for an actor to supplement his/her income. In its modern usage, benefit performances are given to ...

s while the Caffe was closed for renovations.

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodm ...

, founder of

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

, offered Cino and his staff a space to continue Caffe Cino productions on Sunday and Monday nights at her theater. Joe Cino died three days after an attempted suicide in 1967. Some suspected that the attempt was due to the death of Cino's lover John Torrey and to his drug use.

Notable contributors

The Caffe Cino was an incubator for first-time directors, playwrights, actors, and lighting or set designers. Many continued to work in stage, screen, or both after the Cino closed. Notable contributors include: *

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Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

* Robert Dahdah *

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...

* Robert Heide *

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

Johnny Dodd John P. "Johnny" Dodd (June 25, 1941 – July 15, 1991) was a lighting designer for theater, dance and music active in the downtown art scene in Manhattan during the latter half of the 20th century. Career achievements During the 1960s, Dod ...

Doric Wilson Doric Wilson (February 24, 1939May 7, 2011) was an American playwright, director, producer, critic and gay rights activist. He was born Alan Doric Wilson in Los Angeles, California, where his family was temporarily located. Originally from the ...

Jean-Claude van Itallie Jean-Claude van Itallie (May 25, 1936 – September 9, 2021) was a Belgian-born American playwright, performer, and theatre workshop teacher. He is best known for his 1966 anti-Vietnam War play ''America Hurrah;'' ''The Serpent'', an ensemble ...

Rosalyn Drexler Rosalyn Drexler (born November 25, 1926) is an American visual artist, novelist, Obie Award-winning playwright, and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, and former professional wrestler. Although she has had a polymathic career, Drexler is perhap ...

Marshall W. Mason Marshall W. Mason (born February 24, 1940) is an American theater director, educator, and writer. Mason founded the Circle Repertory Company in New York City and was artistic director of the company for 18 years (1969–1987). He received an Obie ...

Tom O'Horgan Tom O'Horgan (May 3, 1924 – January 11, 2009) was an American theatre and film director, composer, actor and musician. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals ''Hair'' and ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. During his ca ...

Magie Dominic Magie Dominic (born 1944) is a Canadian poet, author, and artist who was born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Corner Brook, Dominion of Newfoundland, Newfoundland. Her first memoir, ''The Queen of Peace Room'', from Wilfrid Laurier Uni ...

* Irene Fornes * William Hoffman *

Tom Eyen Tom Eyen (August 14, 1940 – May 26, 1991) was an American playwright, lyricist, television writer and director. He received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for ''Dreamgirls'' in 1981. Eyen is best known for works at opposite ends ...

* Paul Foster * Leonard Melfi * Ondine * H.M. Koutoukas * David Starkweather *

Michael Warren Powell Michael Warren Powell (January 22, 1937 – July 17, 2016) was an American artistic director, director, actor and designer involved in the Off-Off-Broadway movement, Off-Broadway and in the development of new American plays. Early career Origina ...

* Mari-Claire Charba *

Robert Patrick Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and honorable authority figures, he is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations. Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparked ...

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed."Margalit Fox, Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Wi ...

Andy Milligan Andrew Jackson Milligan Jr. (February 12, 1929 – June 3, 1991) was an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker, whose work includes 27 movies made between 1965 and 1988. In spite of the fact that he directed a number of movie ...

(playwright)The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Andy Milligan by Jimmy McDonough

References

External links

Caffe Cino on La MaMa Archives Digital CollectionsJames Gossage photographs, 1965–1975
Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Robert Patrick papers, c. 1940–1984
Billy Rose Theatre Division,

Lanford Wilson Collection
at the University of Missouri Libraries {{Authority control 1958 establishments in New York City Arts organizations established in 1958 Former theatres in Manhattan Organizations disestablished in 1968 Off-Off-Broadway West Village