The diaries of Judith Malina include personal reflections, a history of many aspects of The Living Theatre, and a view of the avant-garde cultural life of New York in the 1940's and 1950's. Malina documents her own struggles as a young woman and...
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The diaries of Judith Malina include personal reflections, a history of many aspects of The Living Theatre, and a view of the avant-garde cultural life of New York in the 1940's and 1950's. Malina documents her own struggles as a young woman and artist and also the struggle, together with Julian Beck, to create The Living Theatre. Among their contemporaries and collaborators were James Agee, John Cage, Joseph Campbell, Merce Cunningham, Dorothy Day, Richard Edelman, Paul Goodman, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Lester Schwartz and Philip Smith. Malina discusses her work on various productions including: THE AGE OF ANXIETY, DR. FAUSTUS LIGHTS THE LIGHTS, THE IDIOT KING, PHEDRE, AND TONIGHT WE IMPROVISE. Personally, Malina discusses her relationships, her family, her views of the world of the 1950's and her commitment to pacifism. Her involvement as a pacifist, and her imprisonment with Dorothy Day and others, is described in some detail. The final years of the diary (Feb. 1956-June 1959) are incomplete. They relate to the search for and renovation of the 14th Street theater, which opened in 1959. These entries are written by several people who are not identified.
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