Alternative Theatre in New York, 1960-Present

By jhooker
  • Period: to

    Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr (D)

  • Dodgers & Giants Leave NYC

  • Caffe Cino Opens

  • The Connection

    Living Theater by Jack Gelber

  • Maciunas in SoHo

    George Maciunas active as "father of soho"...defying Robert Moses and with Jane Jacobs defeating the planned downtown expressway...

  • "Off-off Broadway" coined by VV

  • Poets Theatre

    Judson Poets Theatre and New York Poets Theatre -- a "formal theatre movment" anti-realist, etc.

  • Happy Days PREMIERES at Cherry Lane

  • Cafe La MaMa ETC founded

    1st in a basement on East 9th, then at an old flower shop on 2nd Ave; then another 2nd floor space on 2nd Ave (and renamed La Mama ETC); then, finally, E. 4th in 1969.
    Larry Kornfeld's Balls was a trasfer from Cino and one of the earliest recorded performances at La Mama. Constantly harassed by building inspectors.

  • Judson Dance Theater begins

    had been programming arts since late 50s with Al Carmines, et al

  • Warhol's Factory

    1962 opened in midtown; 1968 moved to Union Square; 1984 moved to a flat irons office building

  • Albee founds the Playwrights Unit

    199-seat proscenium house...like a step between OOB and Off-Broadway...didn't work for the more experimental of the Caffee Cino crowd.

  • What Happened at Judson Poets Theater

    Lucinda Childs, Aileen Pasloff, Al Carmines, Yvonne Rainer...

  • Theatre Genesis @ St. Mark's

    Also: Sam Shepherd's first two plays Cowboys and Rock Garden

  • Dutchman at Cherry Lane

  • The Madness of Lady Bright

    at Caffe Cino...1st openly queer work (?); one person pyschodrama monologue; ran for 200 perf; convinced Cino to focius on new (small-cast) plays.

  • Harlem Riots

  • Theatre of the Ridiculous

    1965 - John Vacarro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous with plays by Ronald Tavel
    1967 - The Ridiculous Theatrical Company dir. by Charles Ludlum
    "We have passed beyond the absurd: our position is absolutely preposterous."

  • Max's 1 opens

    near Union Square; Closed in 1974; a lot of glam but also big artist hangout. Max's 2 with much more punk opened in Chelsea in 1975

  • NEA established

  • NYU Tisch founded

  • Malcolm X Assassinated

    as Audobon Ballroom

  • 1964/5 World's Fair

    Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding", dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe"; although American corporations dominated the exposition as exhibitors.

  • City-wide Blackout

  • Viet Rock & American Hurrah - Open Theater

    Viet Rock - Open Theatre's last La Mama show dir. by Megan Terry, successful but then bombed off-bway. First piece to be entirely created through the workshop/ensembel process. (early artistic response to the war.) American Hurrah much more successful -- a vanity piece by Van Italie which was playtext driven but BASED on some of Chaikin's exercises. Three short one acts, one of which chaikin directed. Where American Hurrah was taugh, scripted and professional; Viet Rock was loose, ironic, et

  • Dames at Sea at Cino

    Signalled the beginning of the end...

  • Transit Workers Strike

  • Period: to

    Mayor John Lindsay (D)

  • Plays at the Old Reliable

    mostly Robert Patrick, but some other Cino Alum. Stopped its probramming in 1971 because of unsustainabliity. In Alphabet City...a long way from the village.

  • Central Park Be-In

  • Hair at the Public

  • Performance Garage opens

  • The Serpent at the Open Theater

    text by Van Itallie but created collectively

  • Circle Rep

    opened by Cine Vets right after the Caffe closed...much more career-minded.

  • Paradise Now! at BAM

    Constructed to include audience participation; a series of 8 rites, rooted in anarchist principles. In the "rite of Universal Intercourse" audienc members "made love, not war"...disrobing in an onstage writhing mass. The show climaxed with audience and performers going outside to retake the streets (if the perf. got that far).

  • Hair on Broadway

  • Teachers & Sanitation workers Strikes

  • Dionysius in 69

    dir. Schechner; ends w/ orgy based on Euripides The Bacchae

  • Caffe Cino closes

    Due in some part to cabaret license being enforced by councilman Ed Koch

  • Circle Rep

    opens on back of Cino Closing; more career minded...Michael Smith, Doric Wilson, Marshall Mason (dir) wanted to create a stable ensembel of actors and playwrights with sustatinability in mind.

  • Stonewall Riots

  • Playwrights Horizons begins

    out of the ashes of the Playwrights Unit

  • The Kitchen opens in th Village

    It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1971 by Steina and Woody Vasulka, taking its name from the original location, the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center, where artists working mostly in video showed their work. Although first intended as a location for the exhibition of video art, but expanded its mission to include other forms of art, both plastic and performance. In 1974, relocated to the corner of Wooster and Broome Streets, then moved to Chelsea in 1987.

  • Deafman Glance

    w/ Raymond Andrews

  • WTC Opens

  • Open Theatre ends

  • Vietnam War ends

  • CBGB opens

    closes in 2006...now formed a music festival

  • Dancespace Project at St. Mark's

  • Period: to

    Mayor Abraham Beame (D)

    Mayor during the near Bankruptcy

  • ETW Founded

  • Sakonnet Point

  • Son of Sam begins

  • 1977 Blackout and Riots

  • The Bronx is Burning

    Fire at abandoned elementary school in Harlem; nadir of NY's economic woes, and broadcast on CBS Sports during Yankees Game.

  • Squat Theatre's 1st Show in NY

  • Sid Kills Nancy

  • Period: to

    Mayor Ed Koch (D)

  • Ps122 Founded

  • St. Ann's active at the church

    Begin with mostly choral and litirugic music but move quickly into avant-rock...Bread and Puppet (1985); Cale and Cage's Songs for Drella (1989); Jeff Buckley's Greetings from Tim Buckley (1991); Mabou Mines Peter and Wendy (1992); much music and puppetry; closed in 2000 at the church.

  • 2nd Transit Strike

  • John Lennon Murdered

  • Koch's Arist Home Ownership program

    IN LES...defeated by coalition of social justice advocacy groups.

  • Route 1 & 9

  • WOW CAfe Opened

    moved to E. 4th location in 1984; started as 11 day women's theater festival in 1980...Holly Hughes, Split Britches, etc.

  • BAM Next Wave Starts

    Next Wave Series started in 1981 with Trischa Brown, Laura Dean, Lucinda Childs and Philip Glass peformances; Laurie Anderson's United States Part I-IV; expands to festival in 83 W/ Lee Beuer's The Gospel at Colonus, then Pina Bausch and Einstein on the Beach in 1984; 1986 - The Civil Wars (Wilson); 1987 - The Mahabharata (Brook); 1996 7 Streams of the River Ota (Lepage); William Forsyth (1998);

  • Bogart's South Pacific

    Set in VA Mental War during Vietnam

  • Julian Beck Dies

  • The Normal Heart at the Public

  • ACT UP formed

  • NEA Four

  • Record Murders in NY

    2245 (515 in 2011)
  • Period: to

    Mayor David Dinkins (D)

  • Crown Heights Riots

  • Ont-Hys Theatre @ St. Mark's

  • SITI's Orestes

  • 1st WTC bombing

  • Quotations from a Ruined City

  • Period: to

    Mayor Rudy Guiliani

  • Abe Lebewohl shot

    2nd Ave Deli Ownder

  • GAle GAtes in DUMBO

    Michael Counts is an artist and entrepreneur who has been a pioneer in alternative theatre, art and entertainment for more than a decade. As co-founder and artistic director of Gale Gates et al he was instrumental in the development of DUMBO, Brooklyn and served as primary architect of the creative identity of this now vibrant cultural district.

  • Jump/Cut

  • Cab Legs

    Cab Calloway + Bollywood + 50s love story; move away from sheer physical comedy to more emotional work)

  • Two Trees in DUMBO

  • Terrorist Attacks

  • St Ann's reopens in DUMBO

    To You The Birdie (2002); Jennie Richie (2003)...deeper commitment to inter-disciplinary theatre works, in addition to staged concerts and the puppetry program.
  • Period: to

    Mayor Michael Bloomburg (I)

  • GAle GAtes closes

  • Anti-War Protest

    btw 300,000 and 400,000 participants

  • Blackout (peaceful)

  • Barysnikov opens BAC

    Wooster Group in residence...?

  • Transit Strike (3-days)

  • Hair Revival on Bway