New York Poets Theatre
Encyclopedia
The New York Poets Theatre was an influential theatre company active in New York, New York in the 1960s. It was founded in October 1961 by James Waring
, LeRoi Jones, Alan Marlowe, Fred Herko and Diane Di Prima
. It staged only one-act plays by poets.
The first wave of productions was staged at the Off-Bowery Theatre, behind an art gallery located at 84 East 10 St. in the East Village
, As Di Prima describes it, the space was a "large, dark, back room with a stage and little else. . the back room had minimal stage lighting and very little heat." Productions included Di Prima's The Discontent of the Russian Prince, written for herself and Fred Herko, and The Pillow by Michael McClure
.
In 1963, the Theatre was brought up on charges of obscenity due to a showing of Jean Genet
's film Chant d'Amour
, a 26-minute black-and-white film depicting the fantasies of a gay male prisoner and his prison warden. The charges were fought, and eventually won.
From February to May 1964 a second series of productions was staged at the New Bowery Theatre on St. Mark's Place off Third Avenue, which was more of a "real theatre . . with hanging sign, and a stoop, entry and lobby and seats and a proscenium stage." Productions included Loves Labor, an eclogue by Frank O'Hara
, Three Travelers Watch a Sunrise by Wallace Stevens
, and Di Prima's own Murder Cake.
James Waring
James Waring was a dancer, choreographer, costume designer and theatrical director based in New York City in the 1940s through the 1970s. He was a prolific choreographer as well as a dedicated teacher who selflessly helped his students and proteges to advance their careers, while maintaining a...
, LeRoi Jones, Alan Marlowe, Fred Herko and Diane Di Prima
Diane di Prima
Diane Di Prima is an American poet.-Early life:Di Prima was born in Brooklyn. She attended Hunter College High School and Swarthmore College before dropping out to be a poet in Manhattan...
. It staged only one-act plays by poets.
The first wave of productions was staged at the Off-Bowery Theatre, behind an art gallery located at 84 East 10 St. in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, As Di Prima describes it, the space was a "large, dark, back room with a stage and little else. . the back room had minimal stage lighting and very little heat." Productions included Di Prima's The Discontent of the Russian Prince, written for herself and Fred Herko, and The Pillow by Michael McClure
Michael McClure
Michael McClure is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955 rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums...
.
In 1963, the Theatre was brought up on charges of obscenity due to a showing of Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's film Chant d'Amour
Un Chant d'Amour
A Song of Love is French writer Jean Genet's only film, which he directed in 1950. Because of its explicit homosexual content, the 26-minute movie was long banned and even disowned by Genet later in his life....
, a 26-minute black-and-white film depicting the fantasies of a gay male prisoner and his prison warden. The charges were fought, and eventually won.
From February to May 1964 a second series of productions was staged at the New Bowery Theatre on St. Mark's Place off Third Avenue, which was more of a "real theatre . . with hanging sign, and a stoop, entry and lobby and seats and a proscenium stage." Productions included Loves Labor, an eclogue by Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...
, Three Travelers Watch a Sunrise by Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
, and Di Prima's own Murder Cake.