Off-Off-Broadway

an excerpt from THRUST! LASH! CLAMOR!: the off-off broadway play.

by Wolf Larsen

The froZen deaD fish sAid to thE ciGarette buTt: "Should I write this play?"

The sun said: "There weRe thousandS and thOusands of deCapitated dog'S heads floatinG and flOating aRound our bedroOm the catePillar's daY . . . theRe were thousAnds and thousands of deCapitated dog's heaDs floating and flOating aRound our bedrOom the catePillar's daY . . . tHErE WERe tHOUsANDS aND ThOuSANdS oF DEcAPITATED DOg'S HEaDs FlOATINg AND fLOATING AROUnD OUR BeDROoM ThE CATIpILLAR'S dAY . . . "

The Priest said: "yesterday I walked up to a playground full of little boys and girls and when they saw me they all silently laid face down on the ground. That's when I begAn shoOting theM all iN the baCk Of the heaD - OnE . . bY . . . oNE . . . "

Narrator: "The mountains were all flying though the air. The vilLagEs werE falLing  iNto    the    seA    onE    bY  oNe  . As we SLEEP the PLAYWRIGHT stands OUTSIDE in THE dark WITH his SHOTGUN waiting FOR our DREAMS . . ."

The plaNet in A gaLaxy faR aWay saiD to the dEad mouSe: "I BEGIN SLICING UP THE AUDIENCE AND TURNING THEIR BRAINS INTO A SOUP OF CELESTIAL COLORS, love my tennis shows?" - The entire audience begins dreaming of their own deaths -

The cat said: "The play is not a play, the play is 6 billion minds with their own rivers turning and turning through them, the play is centuries and centuries of invasions like naked peanets through Asia and Europe... tHe pLaY?"

- The roof suddenly disappears and becomes an explosion of the universe with stars and planets falling on the audience -

ThE pianO soNatA saiD tO the Air: "Let us kill all dialogue - all of the human languages are mountain peaks eating on another planet"

A termiTe with tWenty faCes of yoUr futurE chiLdren walkiNg in betWeen the walLs saiD: "ecstasy? ThraShing-firE-aNd-mAnic-fiRe-and-eNtanGled-firE!"

- Everyone's naked seventy year old mother surrounds the audience. All the naked seventy year old mothers begin a telephone dance for the end of the human race -

Thousands-of-maggots-eating-through-your-body-said: "This is not a play!"

A painting said: "Kill the play! All of the dead soldiers begin crawling out of the ground and screaming salt to their gods - build obsessions (!) and build convulsions (!) and build floods (!) out of each word! (iF yoUr minD is fiftEen-thOusAnd-oVerlaPpiNg-mAzEs thRoUgh yourSelf?"

A mouSe conVulsing iN a mouse trap said: "agitAteD hAPpinesS! - rUineD haPpinesS! - clamOring hAppiNess!"

Copyright © Wolf Larsen 2001

This avant-garde play is more hair-raising than anything in off-off-Broadway theater! Think contemporary! Think exciting!

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Off Off Broadway

(The following is from Wikipedia)

Off Off Broadway refers to plays or musicals performed in New York City in smaller theatres than (professional) Broadway productions or (still professional) off-Broadway productions. Off-off-Broadway theaters are defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats.

The shows can range from quite professional and successful productions by established artists like Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theatre in the East Village, or The Flea Theater in Tribeca, to extremely small amateur performances all over the City.

An off-off-Broadway production that features members of Actors Equity is called an Equity Showcase production. The Union maintains very strict rules about working in such productions, including restrictions on price, the length of the run and rehearsal times. Professional actors' participation in showcase productions is not infrequent, and in fact comprises the bulk of stage work for the majority of New York actors.

Off-off-Broadway developed in the early 1960s as a reaction to off-Broadway, which had, in the estimation of many in the New York theater community, grown conventional and safe.

Among the first venues for what would soon be called "off-off-Broadway" (a term supposedly coined by critic Jerry Tallmer of the Village Voice) were coffeehouses in Greenwich Village, particularly the Caffe Cino, operated by the eccentric Joe Cino, who early on took a liking to actors and playwrights and agreed to let them stage plays there without bothering to read the plays first, or to even find out much about the content. Also integral to the rise of off-off-Broadway were Ellen Stewart at La MaMa, and Al Carmines at the Judson Poets' Theater, located at Judson Memorial Church. (from Wikipedia)

Off Off Broadway Theaters

Y Theater | 344 East 14th Street

440 Studios | 440 Lafayette Street @ Astor Place

45 Below | 45 Bleecker Street

Arclight Theatre | 152 West 71st Street

Ars Nova | 511 West 54th Street

Axis Theater | 1 Sheridan Square

Big, Little Theatre | 141 Ridge Street

Crown Theatre | 358 W 44th Street

Don't Tell Mama | 342 West 46th Street

Flamboyan Theater (csv Cultural Arts Ce | 107 Suffolk Street

Flea Theater Mainstage | 41 White Street

Gene Frankel Theatre | 24 Bond St.

Helen's Hideaway Room | 169 8th Avenue

Here Arts Center | 145 Avenue of the Americas

Interart Annex | 500 W. 52nd St.

Kraine Theater | 85 East 4th Street

La Mama (first Floor Theater) | 74A E. 4th Street

Looking Glass Theatre | 422 W 57th St

Ohio Theater | 66 Wooster St

Performance Space 122... 150 1st Ave.

Producers Club II | 616 Ninth Avenue

Seventh Street Small Stage | 43 East 7th Street

07/10/06 - 07/19/06 Three Sisters Rising Phoenix

Shooting Star Theatre | 40 Peck Slip at the South Street Se

Stella Adler Theatre, Studio 2-B | 31 West 27th Street

TBG Arts Center, Studio Theatre | 312 west 36th Street

The East 13th Street Theatre | 136 East 13th St

Theater For The New City | 155 First Avenue

Theatre 5 | 311 W. 43rd St.

Theatre 80 | 80 St. Marks Place

Under St. Marks | 94 St. Mark's Place

Urban Stages | 259 W 30th Street

Walkerspace | 46 Walker Street

Workshop Theater Mainstage | 312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor

Off Broadway
(The following is from Wikipedia)

Off Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. Off-Broadway theatres (venues) are those with 100 to 499 seats. The classification of theatres is governed by language in Actors' Equity contracts, rather than by whether the theatre has a Broadway address. Generally these productions housed in off-Broadway theatres are less expensive, less publicized, less well-known and feature less-famous performers. The smaller scale often allows more experimental, challenging work to be presented. Many groups which produce off-Broadway shows are non-profit rather than commercial producers, meaning they can more easily afford to take chances on plays which might not be commercial hits; however, they still have to ensure enough interest in their plays to have a large enough subscriber base to keep them financially sound. Some commercial productions have found a profitable niche in Off-Broadway venues which allows long runs in their original theatres. It is not uncommon for shows staged successfully off-Broadway to later have a run on Broadway. For instance, the musicals Godspell, Avenue Q, Rent, Hair, and Little Shop of Horrors, and the plays Doubt and I Am My Own Wife were initially shown in New York off-Broadway. However, some productions may run successfully for several years in off-Broadway venues; examples are Stomp, Blue Man Group, Perfect Crime and Naked Boys Singing. The Fantasticks, the longest-running play in New York theatre history, spent its 40-year run off-Broadway. (from Wikipedia)

Off Broadway Theaters

Brooklyn Arts Exchange: 421 5th Avenue (at the corner of 8th street) Park Slope, Brooklyn

Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater 416 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues)

The Culture Project, The Culture Pro 45 Bleecker Theater (Corner of Bleecker & Lafayett Reservation Line: (212) 253-9983

3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group, Experimental, Multimedia, New Works, Performance, Readings, Neighborhood: Tribeca Address: 80 Greenwich Street New York, New York

Actors Theatre Workshop: Classics, Comedy, Experimental, Multimedia, New Works, Performance, Readings, Revivals, Solo, TDF Vouchers Accepted Neighborhood: Chelsea Address: 145 W 28th St., 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10001

Interborough Repertory Theater: African American, Asian, Childrens, Classics, Experimental, Latino, New Works, Neighborhood: West Village Address: Interborough Repertory Theater (IRT) 154 Christopher Street #3B New York City, NY 10014

Juneteenth Legacy Theatre: African American, Comedy, Gaylesbian, New Works, Performance, Neighborhood: Midtown Address: 312 W. 36th St. 4th fl. between 8th & 9th Aves.

Broken Watch Productions: New Works TDF Vouchers Accepted Neighborhood: Midtown Address: Michael Weller Theatre 311 West 43rd Street, 6th Floor

MCC Theater: African American, Comedy, Experimental, Gaylesbian, Irish, Jewish, Latino, Multimedia, New Works, Readings, Solo, Special, Women Tickets: The Lucille Lortel Theater 121 Christopher Street, (btwn. Bleecker and Hudson

STOMP: Performance, Orpheum Theatre Second Ave. at 8th Street

Peccadillo Theater Company: Classics, Jewish, Musicals, New Works, The Oak Room 59 W. 44th Street

Airmid Theatre Company: Classics, Revivals, Women The Nathaniel Conklin House 280 Deer Park Ave, Babylon Village Babylon, NY 11702 From NYC - LIRR train to Babylon

Roots & Branches: Experimental, Jewish, New Works, Women Neighborhood: Soho Address: 315 hudson st NYC 10013

Rising Phoenix Rep: Classics, Musicals, New Works, Readings, Revivals TDF Vouchers Accepted Neighborhood: East Village Address: Seventh Street Small Stage at Jimmy’s No. 43 43 East 7th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues

Present Company, The: Experimental, Multimedia, New Works, Performance, Readings, Special Tickets: 212-420-8877 TDF Vouchers Accepted Neighborhood: Lower East Side

Off-Off-Broadway