A show-and-tell lecture with hundreds of historical photos.

“Beautiful, beautiful. I love Robert Patrick’s lecture. So many plays, people, history, and details I had not known about. Fabulous photos! Such a rich and sparkling legacy. Patrick is a gifted speaker. Totally fascinating and entertaining.” - Harry Hart-Browne

Robert assesses the quality of the sound as fair, and video as mediocre.
However, the historical documentation and legacy is priceless.

73 minute DVD video
$20 US postage paid - checks only - allow two weeks delivery
Robert Patrick, 1837 N. Alexandria Ave., #211, Los Angeles, CA 90027

For more information on Robert Patrick, see his: Resume and Links to Online Works

“Temple Slave” (1994) is a novel about the origins of Off-Off Broadway. It has gone into a second printing and been optioned for film. In 1997, Robert Patrick received the Robert Chesley Award for “Lifetime Achievement in Gay Theatre.”

This data CD contains the complete novel, along with annotations in MS Word.

From chapter one:

      “And I see you’re actually producing a gay play–about A.I.D.S., of course.
      That should work for your subscription audience: They love to see us dying
      of a withering disease.
      Got time at the top to read long letters? Beware. I have the motive,
      the means, and the opportunity: I have twenty years of vintage bile,
      just fermenting to boiling point; I have Flair pens and Prism notebooks
      from every school where I’ve ever lectured on The Origins of Underground
      Theatre, and I have diddledy-squat-zilch else to do. I caught my latest
      producer today, you see, pick-pocketing the big bucks my latest, late,
      play raised to benefit that new gay high school; she chose to close our
      show rather than face audit; and since I returned to New York only to
      benefit the kids, here I sit idol-idle, reflecting in the glass wall of
      Phebe’s Bar and Grill, sucking my coffee and blowing my Koolwhile
      schools of topical, tropical punks flush by.”

This data CD has adult content.
$15 US postage paid - checks only - allow two weeks delivery
Robert Patrick, 1837 N. Alexandria Ave., #211, Los Angeles, CA 90027

For more information on Robert Patrick, see his: Resume and Links to Online Works

“Film Moi or Narcissus in the Dark” (2004) is a copiously illustrated version of Robert Patrick’s book in Word on a CD.

From the Film Moi text:

      “American culture is eating itself in front of a mirror, like a porn star.”
      “Charlton Heston is indisputably the lead in The Ten Commandments —
          no matter how you pronounce ‘lead.’”
      “Pornography recaptures the original thrill of film —
          simply seeing ordinary things moving on a screen.”
      “I never liked life much. I preferred art.

This data CD has adult content.
$15 US postage paid - checks only - allow two weeks delivery
Robert Patrick, 1837 N. Alexandria Ave., #211, Los Angeles, CA 90027

“Patrick, a founding father of gay drama in America, writes with intelligent perception about movies … Patrick’s candid commentary on his own precocious sexual and artistic life is equally absorbing … Patrick’s prose is so smart and fluid that it’s hard to, well, put the ‘book’ down.” — Richard LaBonte

For more information on Robert Patrick, see his: Resume and Links to Online Works

This Web site has photos, audio and other memerabilia of the cafe/theater:
      Caffe Cino Pictures

Joseph Cino (1931-April 4, 1967), was an Italian-American theatrical producer and café-owner. The beginning of the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement is generally credited to have begun at Cino’s Caffe Cino.

Many of the plays produced at the Cino had gay themes.

Authors included:
      Jean Genet, Robert Patrick, Doric Willson, Tennessee Williams, Ruth Yorck,
      Lanford Wilson, Daniel Haben Clark, Claris Nelson, William M. Hoffman,
      Bob Heide, Jeff Weiss, Hal (Haal) Borske, and Jean-Claude van Itallie.

Cino History

In 1958, retired dancer Joe Cino rented a storefront at 31 Cornelia Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village in order to open a coffeehouse in which his friends could socialize. Not originally intending that Caffe Cino would become a theatrical venue, Cino instead visualized a café where he could host folk music concerts, poetry readings, and art exhibits. Actor and director Bill Mitchell says it was he who suggested that Cino add plays to the performance mix. Dated photographs show that plays were staged from as early as December 1958. After 1960, plays were usually directed by actor and director Bob Dahdah.

Compiled and edited by Francine L. Trevens, publisher TnT Classic Books.

An eclectic anthology of plays ranging in playing time from seven minutes to more than 40. The 27 play collection has works from 14 authors, including Jane Chambers, Doric Wilson, Perry Brass, Michael Devereaux, Paul Dexter, Victor Gluck, David Brendan Hopes, David Johnston, David J. Mauriello, Sidney Morris, William F. Poleri, Daniel P. Quinn, and George Zarr. Designed for colleges, universities, libraries and theaters.

$16.95
Info: 212-736-6279; fax 212-695-3219; tntclassics@aol.com

edkarvoskijr-author.com

Karvoski is an actor, writer and photographer, and has authored:
      “A Funny Time to Be Gay:
            Hilarious Gay & Lesbian Comedy Routines from Trailblazers to Today’s Headliners”
      “Award-Winning Men: Up Close and Personal with Gay Honorees”
      “The Movie Queen Quiz Book: A Trivia Test Dedicated to Fabulous Female Film Stars”

Charles made his Broadway debut in a production of Antony and Cleopatra, starring Katharine Cornell and featuring Charlton Heston, Maureen Stapleton and Tony Randall. Playing the title in the 1951 production of Billy Budd garnered Charles critical attention and acclaim. He also appeared in such films as “War Paint,” “The Steel Cage,” “Ten Seconds to Hell,” and “Under Ten Flags.”

Charles returned to the University of Minnesota and earned a doctorate in 1966. He taught at the University of Minnesota from the mid-1960s through the late 1990s. He wrote the play “Do Not Pass Go,” which was produced off-Broadway, and wrote the libretti for two operas by Dominick Argento, “The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe,” and “Valentino.”

Charles suffered from prostate cancer for two years before his death at 86. He was survived by Terry Kilburn, his partner for more than 50 years. They met in the 50s in a stage door alley, when Charles was playing in “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” and Terry was next door in “The Teahouse of the August Moon.”

Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Career Achievement Award for Professional Theatre

Doric Wilson studied briefly at the Drama Department of the University of Washington until he was forced to leave after he initiated a one person protest against anti-gay sniper attacks at a nearby park.

In 1961 he became one of the first resident playwrights at the legendary Caffe Cino with his comedy, “And He Made A Her.” The success of his four Cino Plays helped, in the words of playwright Robert Patrick, “establish the Cino as a venue for new plays, and materially contributed to the then-emerging concept of Off-Off- Broadway.” His “Now She Dances” (1961), a fantasia on the trial of Oscar Wilde, was the first off-off-Broadway play to deal positively with gays. Under the mentorship of producer Richard Barr, he became a pioneer of the alternative theatre movement, dedicating his career to writing, directing, producing and/or designing hundreds of productions. He was one of the first playwrights invited to join the Barr/Wilder/Albee Playwright’s Unit and later became a founding member of Circle Repertory Company.

Doric Wilson’s plays from the late 1970s quickly became staples of the merging gay theater circuit, widely performed here and abroad. He is currently working on two new plays, “The Boy Next Door” and “Saints on a Secret Mission.”

In June, 2001, Wilson, and directors Mark Finley and Barry Childs resurrected the company as TOSOS II.

The company is dedicated to “an honest and open exploration of the life experience and cultural sensibility of the GLBT community and to preserving and promoting our literary past in a determined effort to keep our theatrical heritage alive.”

The return of TOSOS has been met with critical acclaim and awards and has achieved a well-earned reputation for the talent and professionalism of its company. At the ripe age of 70, Doric has not stopped risking innovation!

Doric Wilson
tosos2.org

Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Career Achievement Award for Professional Theatre

Judith Malina, of The Living Theatre, was one of the first women directors to break the wall of male dominance and the first to earn a degree as a director from Erwin Piscator at the renowned Dramatic Workshop. She also was the first to introduce some of the most important theatre works to the American and world stage: in the 1950s major writers such as Gertrude Stein, Luigi Pirandello, De Ghelderode, Picasso, Ezra Pound, Bertolt Brecht, and Jean Genet.

Over a period of 60 years, her contributions as a writer, director, actress, teacher and theorist have garnered her many awards, and major recognition with dozens of books dedicated to the work of The Living Theatre.

During the six decades of her work as director, actor, seminal thinker, writer and visionary, Malina has been recognized with numerous awards: The New York Press’ Page One award; The Theatre of Nations award; many Obie awards for director, acting; and a Lifetime Achievement Award. She received a Guggenheim award, and last year, at the age of 81, she was given another Obie for her direction of the revival of “The Brig.” The president of Brazil personally presented her with a special citation for her contributions to culture and theatre.

In 2003 she was inducted into The Theatre Hall of Fame. In March of 2009 she received the prestigious Edwin Booth Award (voted by the doctoral students of the City University of New York graduate program).

Actors who cut their teeth on theatre at The Living Theatre under Malina’s direction and directly credit her influence include James Earl Jones, Geraldine Page, Martin Sheen, Al Pacino and Joseph Chaikin. At the age of 82 she is still directing and inspiring a new generation of actors and artists.

Malina’s work goes beyond the stage and has been wedded for sixty years to the activities of pacifism. She and her company were among the first to protest against the nuclear threat, anti-war activities and the staging of many vivid, literary street demonstrations for causes that often led to her being arrested and imprisoned for her principals and acts of civil disobedience.

The Living Theatre
212-792-8050; contact@livingtheatre.org

Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Jane Chambers Playwriting Award

Meryl Cohn is the 2009 Jane Chambers Playwriting Award recipient for her play “The Siegels of Montauk.”

Ms. Cohn studied playwriting at Smith College and received an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Seven of Ms. Cohn’s plays have been commissioned for productions at The Provincetown Theatre. Most recently her work has been produced or read by Counter Productions, TOSOS, the Smith College Theatre Departments and the Road Theatre in Los Angeles.

Meryl, author of “Do What I Say: Ms Behavior’s Guide to Gay and Lesbian Etiquette,” also has a nationally syndicated “Ms. Behavior” humor column. Cohn is a member of the WHAT Playwrights Alliance, TOSOS, The Northampton and Provincetown Playwrights Labs, and the Dramatists Guild.

Propelled in part by a mystery, Meryl Cohn’s “The Siegels of Montauk” is a witty, feminist ensemble play about sex, loss, family, self and ethics. This winning comedy-with-serious stakes- traces three adult sisters gathering for their mother’s birthday to close out the family’s Montauk beach housein the wake of their father’s death – and the community scandal, as well as unexpected guests that come with it.

Meryl Cohn

Glenn Hopkins, also known as radical faerie Donatello, has written “Mrs. Roosevelt” a half-hour, one-woman, one-act, which serves as basis for a feature screenplay currently under consideration at Universal.

The play entails Eleanor Roosevelt living with her girlfriend in the White House. “Mrs. Roosevelt” will be performed in China in April and has been presented in Czech, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Farsi. The author allows the play to be used as a fund raiser for progressive causes.

Hopkins also intends to remount his play “The Adventures of Robin Hood” using previously recorded narration by Quentin Crisp.

Contact:
Glenn Hopkins, 2508 Stoner Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064
310-478-7379; mootney123@aol.com; mootney.org

Lifeworks Comedy Benefit “Laugh Out Loud” for Gay Youth raised $10,000 at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood. The comedy club was sold out with an audience of more than 300. The show was produced by Jason Stuart, Michael Ferrera, Steve Tyler and Lisa Garvey. Also involved were Judy Tenuta, Scott Thompson, Sandra Valls, Tony Tripoli, Alec Mapa. The event was hosted by Miss Coco Peru.

Other attendees included Alexandra Paul, Peter Paige, Guinevere Turner, Doug Spearman, David Dean Bottrell, Calpernia Adams, Jim J. Bullock, Jack Plotnick, Tim Macluan, David Milbern, Debra Skelton, Poppy Champlin and Andra Kelly, as well as columnist Billy Masters.

Information:
Modern Artists, 5850 West 3rd St., #116, Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-871-2888; modarts@ca.rr.com

“Dear Harvey” by Patty Loughrey is being offered royalty-free during May 2009 to theaters or community groups who want to host a reading. Host organizations are requested to donate a portion of ticket proceeds to an LGBT organization in their community.

The play is based on interviews with Tom Ammiano, Toni Atkins, Jackie Grover, Cleve Jones, Christine Kehoe, Anne Kronenberg, John Laird, Stuart Milk, Nicole Murray-Ramirez, Daniel Nicoletta, Mary Stockton, Robin Tyler, Dottie Wine, and others. The play also uses historical materials from the Harvey Milk Archives-Scott Smith Collection, James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library, and materials and excerpts from the Bay Area Reporter, including Milk’s weekly column, the Milk Forum, published from the summer of 1975 until his death in November 1978.

“These stories about Harvey Milk are from the people he knew and the lives he changed. I’ve had the remarkable privilege of talking with people close to him, and it’s exciting to be able to share these intimate, sometimes surprising, stories with our community. We lost Harvey too soon, but in these stories, we get to hear the impact of his love and courage.” - Patricia Loughrey

Contact Patty Loughrey, 619-322-9837; plwho2002@yahoo

The Theater Offensive’s flagship youth program, True Colors: Out Youth Theater, provides LGBT youth, and their straight allies, a supportive place to tell their story, to embrace their identity, to belong, and to lead. Youth participants create new work reflecting their personal experience, then tour the show to schools and community groups. For some, this is the only safe haven they have.

True Colors has succeeded in, reducing the risk of suicide, building skills to prevent violence, and equipping victims of bigotry with creative leadership skills and community connections. For nearly 20 years, The Theater Offensive has been a fearless cultural voice for New England’s LGBT community. Please consider contributions of $35, or more, for the True Colors program to help keep our youth safe.

The Theater Offensive / True Colors: Out Youth Theater
617-661-1600; truecolors@thetheateroffensive.org; thetheateroffensive.org

From the Lambda Players Board of Directors:

As we begin our 20th season we find ourselves in a financial hardship. In order for Lambda Theater to survive, sponsors and donors are needed. Without continued monetary support the theater will have no alternative but to close our doors.

Donations:
    lambdaplayers.com/donations.htm

Sponsors:
    lambdaplayers.com/sponsors.htm

Checks:
    Lambda Players, 1028 R Street Sacramento, CA 95811

Tickets for the 20th Season shows:
    www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?subscription=lpt

We appreciate the support we have received and look forward to bringing you exceptional theater performances for years to come.

Thank you,
Lambda Players Board of Directors
board@lambdaplayers.com

Village Scene Productions announced that their “Bathhouse: the Musical” show raised $1,700 playing to sold-out houses. The critically acclaimed Canadian cast production performed nine times in Montreal at the Sky Cabaret, and once in Ottawa at the Bronson Center Theatre. Both runs were official events of the Montreal and Capital Pride 08 celebrations. $300 was sent to La Maison Plein Coeur, $300 to the Bronson Center, $400 to Capital Pride, and $700 to Bruce House.

Village Scene Productions mounts the yearly Harvest: Montreal LGBT International Theatre Festival in October. Plans are underway to remount the hugely popular Bathhouse production for an extended Canadian tour in 2008-09.

Info: Davyn Ryall info@villagescene.com

“Jason Stuart: Making it to the middle” will be released on DVD in November 2008. The show was filmed in the middle in the country, the middle of his career and the middle of his life. Because of the popularity of his first comedy stand-up special, Ariztical Entertainment has bought the rights to release it on DVD.

Currently, Jason and Ciara Parsons co-host a radio show called “Sex.com Radio” on National Lampoon Comedy Network (XM #154), which airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm.

Jason has appeared on “Everybody Hates Chris” and “House, MD.”

2008 Roles:

• in the comedy “Ping Pong Playa” - September 2008
• as Buck, a former club kid who is now a leather daddy and mentor to a young actor in the drama “One Degree;” - fall 2008
• as Professor Kean in the coming-of-age drama “Casebook”
• as Father Reilly in the drama “Twisted faith” - on here! TV
• as the rudest waiter in the west in the comedy “Doesn’t Texas Ever End”
• as Nathan in “Family of Four” - already filmed
• in “Drop Dead Gorgeous” - already filmed
• as millionaire Dylan Clay in “San Saba” - already filmed

Celebration Theatre announced that associate artistic director, Michael A. Shepperd will succeed Michael Matthews as new the managing artistic director of the 26-year old Los Angeles institution. Mr. Matthews will remain resident director of the theater, and devote his full-time attention to directing, including shows in Celebration’s upcoming season.

Report from David Gaard (who “felt honored to be part of such a project.”):

Carol Polcovar’s play “Stonewall Stories” gave two sell-out performances at the New York LGBT Community Center during 2008 Gay Pride Week. The performances resulted in cheering audiences, a standing ovation that would not end, as well as raising more than $2,500 for Sylvia’s Place, a shelter for homeless LGBT and Questioning Teenagers, which is run by NYMCC’s Homeless Youth Services.

A young man finds his orientation broadcast on the news because his parent (can be a woman or a man) is running for political office on an anti-gay platform. Beneath all the laughter is the genuine conflict between a loving parent and child who find their basic beliefs suddenly destroying their lifetime relationship.

Equally a charming love story and political comedy, “News Boy” utilizes one set and a small, youthful cast. Besides being great fun to read, it offers a view of coming out in the late 70s.

Arch Brown’s “News Boy” is a gay, political comedy, first published in the late 70s as one of the former JH Press gay play script series. Brown co-founded the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, which awards gay-themed historical literature.

$9.95 paperback
TnT Classic Books, 360 West 36 St. #2NW, New York, NY 10018-6412
Information on a price break for YAHOO group and Purple Circuit subscribers: tntclassics@aol.com

Doric Wilson received an Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theater Awards (IT Awards) for significant artistic contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community.

Wilson, was one of the first resident playwrights at Caffe Cino, a Greenwich Village coffeehouse and theater space. According to playwright Robert Patrick, Wilson “established the Cino as a venue for new plays and materially contributed to the then-emerging concept of Off-Off Broadway.” Wilson became a pioneer of the alternative-theater movement, and later was a founding member of Circle Repertory Theater and the TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) Theater Company, as well as TOSOS II.

In 1994, Wilson won the first Robert Chesley Award for “Lifetime Achievement in Gay and Lesbian Playwrighting.” He has also recieved honors from The Villager and the Chambers-Blackwell Best Play citations for “Street Theater” (1982), the OOBR Award for “A Perfect Relationship” (2002-3), and a nomination of the Lambda Award for the revival of “And He Made a Her” (2007).

The IT Awards are presented annually and were founded to honor excellence in Off-Off-Broadway Theatre and to help nuture the Off-Off-Broadway community.

Note: Paperbacks of Doric’s “Street Theater,” “A Perfect Relationship,” and “Forever After” are available at discount prices to Purple Circuit readers. Put “buddy buddy” in subject line of an email to: tntclassics@aol.com

Finalists for DRAMA/THEATER

• “Questa” by Victor Bumbalo (Broadway Publishing Inc.)
• “Confessions of a Mormon Boy” by Steven Fales (Alyson)
• “1001 Beds” by Tim Miller (University of Wisconsin)

Writer, director, producer Del Shores and his Del Shores Productions have partnered with Funny Boy Films to transform his GLAAD award-winning stage production of “Southern Baptist Sissies” to film.

“Southern Baptist Sissies” is a dramatic portrayal of the experiences of four gay boys growing up in the Baptist Church. The critically acclaimed play recently touring with Emmy Award-winner Leslie Jordan and Delta Burke, both of whom will star in the film. Also attached to the project are Beth Grant, Dale Dickey, Rosemary Alexander, Scott Presley, Rich Delia, and Newell Alexander.

Pre-production begins late February 2007, with principal photography slated for the spring. Shores will direct.

Kirkland Tibbels of Funny Boy and Shores first worked together developing the upcoming half-hour TV series based on Shores’ play “Sordid Lives” for MTV’s LOGO channel. One of Shores other plays has also been made into fim: “Daddy’s Dyin’ … Who’s Got the Will” (MGM). Shores has also written and directed the Showtime feature film “The Wilde Girls.”

The Ugly Ducklings Campaign is a national campaign to prevent lesbian and gay teen suicide. The project is based around production of Carolyn Gage’s play “Ugly Ducklings,” which focuses on homophobic harassment and its devastating effects at a girls’ summer camp.

A documentary film is slated to be made about the production. The film will explore the connection between teen suicide and homophobia, and will be nationally marketed along with an educational kit.

River Rock Foundation gave a $25,000 challenge grant to the Ugly Ducklings Campaign. Donation will be doubled. Also, donors are able to get film credits, special invitations, free tickets, and other benefits.

For further information on the campaign, please see this PDF document:
www.carolyngage.com/prospectusfinal.pdf

For further information on Carolyn, see our article: Touring Performers

The Museum of the City of New York has a permanent exhibit called “Perform.” An exhibit of the “collaborative and thrillingly diverse art of theater-making, and the stories of the entrepreneurs and ingénues, the performers and the producers, the designers, songwriters, and others behind the curtain, how each has helped to shape, enliven, and habitually reinvent — compulsively and competitively — live performance in New York City”

Among the featured items:
      TOSOS / TOSOS II - theater
      “The West Street Gang” - play
      Doric Wilson - author
      Charles Busch - writer, performer

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Ave. (103rd St.), New York, NY 10029
$7 adults; $5 seniors, students, children; $15 adults with children
212-534-1672

“The Demolition of Harry Fay”
“Six O’Clock Boys”

If anyone has a copy of either of these — or a solid lead as to someone who was involved in a production of either play — please contact Francine L. Trevens of TnT Classic Books, literary executor for pioneer playwright Sidney Morris.

Contact: shelleyft@aol.com

The play is available at:
      Sweet Corn Productions: Hey, Citizen

As well as at:
      Poets Against the War

An arrogant ruler is transformed by love. And transformed, once again, by its loss.

This feature-length action/fantasy feature script is based on “Gilgamesh,” the oldest epic poem on the planet.

King Gilgamesh’s heavy rule brings prosperity and social unrest. No one challenges his strength or intelligence, until the gods create Enkidu. As comrades and lovers, they are invincible and conquer all.

Upon Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh suffers deep grief and leaves his throne. Terrified the same fate will befall him, Gilgamesh goes on a quest for immortality. He finds something greater.

        Demian
        Sweet Corn Productions
        Box 9685, Seattle, WA 98109
        206-935-1206
        demian@buddybuddy.com