Found 214 collections related to Theater -- New York (State) -- New York

Tamara Daykarhanova (1889-1980) was a Russian-born actress and acting teacher. She debuted with the Moscow Art Theatre (Moskovskiĭ khudozhestvennyĭ akademicheskiĭ teatr) at age 18 and, following the Russian Revolution, went on to tour with the Chauve-Souris company (Teatr "Letuchai︠a︡ mysh´") throughout Europe. She settled in New York in 1923 where she founded the Tamara Daykarhanova School of the Stage. The Tamara Daykarhanova photographs date from 1897 to 1975 and document personal and professional activities throughout her life. Photographs include family portraits and informal family photographs in Russia, France, and the United States; headshots and production stills from her early career with Moscow Art Theatre and the Chauve-Souris company; and portraits of Russian and American actors contemporary to Daykarhanova. Some photographs are captioned in Russian with English translations. Also included is a calendar listing birthdays, anniversaries, and deaths of Daykarhanova's family members and friends. Some materials in this collection were previously cataloged under the classmarks MWEZ + n.c. 25,797 and 8-MWEZ + n.c. 25,034. less

En Garde Arts, Inc., was a New York-based theater company that specialized in "site specific" productions, staging both classics and new works in specially designated, nontraditional architectural or outdoor spaces. Founded in 1985 by former performance artist Anne Hamburger, En Garde Arts distinguished itself by setting plays in unusual public spaces such as warehouses, factories, street corners, piers, and parks. The 1989 production AT THE CHELSEA consisted of three one-act plays set at the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street, each staged in a different room at the hotel itself. In 1990 the troupe presented Mac Wellman's CROWBAR in the dilapidated Victory Theatre on 42nd Street, the first play produced there in over fifty years. In 1993 En Garde Arts staged Charles L. Mee's adaptation of Euripides' ORESTES at an abandoned railroad switching station at 59th Street and 12th Avenue. In 1995 the company staged Jonathan Larson's J.P. MORGAN SAVES THE NATION at the intersection of Wall Broad streets in the heart of Lower Manhattan's financial district. En Garde Arts disbanded at the conclusion of the 1998-1999 season. The En Garde Arts ephemera consists of clippings, photocopies, reviews, programs, fliers, production photographs, press releases, financial papers, and other documents pertaining to En Garde Arts. less

Leona Stephens (born circa 1885) and her husband Len D. Hollister (1884-1936) were writers and actors who worked on the Broadway stage and in vaudeville in the early 20th century. Following Hollister's death, Stephens continued performing and publishing songs through the 1940s. The Leona Stephens papers date from 1878 to 1952 and contain photographs, programs, song lyrics, and sheet music that document the entirety of Stephens's career, as well as her vaudeville act with Hollister. In addition, the collection includes an 1878 program from Edwin Booth's performance in Richelieu at the Pittsburgh Opera House. less

S. Jay Kaufman (1886-1957) was a writer, director, and producer for the American stage in the first half of the 20th century. The S. Jay Kaufman photographs and ephemera date from 1917 to 1947 and contain autographed headshots of theatre and music performers as well as photographs of Italy and the Vatican. Many of the photographs in the collection depict European actress María Korda. The collection also holds souvenir tickets for the opening night of the Roxy Theatre in New York City; invitations to New York City theatrical premiers; and two letters with commendations of Kaufman's European relief work during World War I. less

Kenneth Fox (born Kenneth Duvall Tooill, 1896-1979) was an actor who performed on Broadway and in stock theatre companies during the 1920s. The Kenneth Fox papers document Fox's career and his longtime interest in theatre with contracts, programs, and photographs. Contracts originate from Fox's work on Broadway and in regional stock theatre companies from 1922 to 1926. Contracts for single productions list Fox's role and the show title. Programs, dated 1951 to 1962, are from popular Broadway musicals and plays of the 1950s and 1960s, including The Threepenny Opera. Photographs in the collection consist of autographed portraits of stage actors, some of whom were Fox's contemporaries. Photographs date from 1878 to the late 1920s and include portraits of Zelda Sears, Edith Kingdon, Fiske O'Hara, and Lotte Crabtree. less

Scrapbook containing clippings of reviews and programs from the 1958 revue La Plume de Ma Tante at the Royale Theatre in New York City, and the 1963 musical Sophie at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. less

Reza Abdoh was an Iranian born theatrical director, known for his emotionally charged and controversial subject matter. He died in May, 1995 of AIDS. Collection consists primarily of original sound tapes for two Dar a Luz theatrical productions titled Tight, Right, White and the Law of Remains. Also included are 5 Compact discs titled Dar a Luz / Spew music and 3 unidentified cassettes. less

Richard Foreman (1937- ), American director, designer and playwright, founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre company in New York in 1968 in order to present his avant-garde plays. Beginning in 1979, he co-produced his work with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Music Theatre Group/Lenox Art Center and the Wooster Group. Foreman's plays include TOTAL RECALL (1970), PANDERING TO THE MASSES (1975), PENGUIN TOUQUET (1981), FILM IS EVIL: RADIO IS GOOD (1987), MY HEAD WAS A SLEDGEHAMMER (1994), and BAD BOY NIETZSCHE! (2000). The Richard Foreman papers span 1973-1987, and consist of two notebooks, handwritten notes and a typescript of his play NEGATIVES, and two articles about Richard Foreman's work, one in French and the other in Italian. less

A "writer's theater dedicated to the creation and production of new American plays and musicals," Playwrights Horizons was founded in 1971 and is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater located on 42nd Street's Theatre Row. Consists of design ideas, sketches, mock-ups and mechanicals for houseboard, ad and playbill for ASSASSINS which opened on December 18, 1990. Also includes mechanical for playbill cover for THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE, the next Playwrights Horizons production that opened on March 1, 1991. Material was the work of Neal Pozner, designer and donor. less

Robert Edmond Jones (1887-1954), stage scenic designer, director, author, and motion picture production designer, collaborated on several stage productions with puppet designer and puppeteer Remo Bufano (d. 1948). After collaborating on a production of OEDIPUS REX in the early 1930s, the two men corresponded about a number of other potential projects over the ensuing years, most of which, it would appear, did not come to fruition. In the theater, Mr. Jones was closely identified with the work of Eugene O'Neill, and also designed and/or directed THE GREEN PASTURES (1930) and OTHELLO (1934). Both men found work in motion pictures, Mr. Jones designing such early Technicolor films as BECKY SHARP (1935) and THE DANCING PIRATE (1936), while Mr. Bufano contributed puppetry to the Fred Astaire musical YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (1945). Mr. Bufano had plans to bring puppetry to television in its early days, but died in 1948. The collection consists of four folders of correspondence between Robert Edmond Jones and Remo Bufano, concerning projects both realized and unrealized. Three of Mr. Bufano's early letters are in French. less

Philip Van Doren Stern (1900-1984) was a historian, social critic, editor and author, best known for the short story which became the source for the 1946 film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Elmer Harris (1878-1966) was a playwright and screenwriter, best known for his play and film JOHNNY BELINDA. The correspondence between Elmer Harris and Philip Van Doren Stern dates from April 1939 to January 1940, and concerns Harris' stage adaptation of Stern's book THE MAN WHO KILLED LINCOLN, concerning the last days of John Wilkes Booth. Also taking part in the correspondence was producer Joseph M. Gaites (1873-1940), who initiated the theatrical project and selected Harris as adaptor, and who occasionally wrote to Stern with updates on the production, and on the Hollywood producers said to be interested in motion picture rights to the play. The Stern-Harris letters discuss Booth and the historical facts concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the portrayal of Booth in Stern's book and in the play, and matters concerning the production such as scenery and possible casting choices. Harris' outline which details the play scene by scene is included with an early letter. The play eventually premiered at the Longacre Theatre on January 17, 1940, but closed three days later after only five performances. No film version was made. less

The Neighborhood Playhouse was founded in 1915, by two sisters Alice and Irene Lewisohn, as part of the Henry Street Settlement House. This neighborhood theatre closed in 1927. In 1928, Irene Lewisohn in collaboration with Rita Wallach Morgenthau founded the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Contains partial handwritten script with notes, sheet music, property plot, costume lists, rehearsal schedules, ground plans (in pieces), and a handwritten report on the 1933-1934 year at the Neighborhood Playhouse where BODAS DE SANGRE was considered a play ready for production. Also includes a poster for a memorial program for Federico Garcia Lorca at Washington Irving High School in New York City on Oct. 8, 1937. less

Nada, founded as Theater Club Funambules and later known as Todo con Nada, was a Manhattan theater company that staged experimental work for twelve years until it closed in 2000. Aaron Beall, Tim Carryer and Babs Bailey began Theater Club Funambules in 1988 in a small space on Ludlow Street in New York's East Village. After Carryer and Bailey departed in 1991, Beall changed the names of the company and its theater to Nada. Other venues operated by the company included two midtown spaces, Nada 45 on 45th Street, and Nada Show World in a former strip club near the Port Authority bus terminal. The Nada company was known for festivals of works by such playwrights as Richard Foreman and Charles Ludlam, and for festivals that consisted entirely of unconventional adaptations of HAMLET and FAUST. Veterans of Nada include playwright Kirk Wood Bromley. The company was evicted from its Ludlow Street space in November 2000 for nonpayment of back rent. The Nada ephemera consists of clippings, fliers, postcards, and other documents pertaining to the theatrical company Nada, also known as Theater Club Funambules and Todo con Nada. The clippings include reviews of individual productions as well as general feature stories about the Nada company, its history, and its artistic director Aaron Beall. Nada was a co-sponsor of the First Annual New York International Fringe Festival in 1997, and a program for that festival is included. less

The New York Enthusiasts was an organization active during the Post-World War Two period, made up of persons who, in the words of the club's newsletter, "like New York, want to learn more about New York, and want to do this in the company of people with similar desires and interests." At its peak the club had several hundred members, and its newsletter ZIG ZAG was mailed out to some 2,000 subscribers. ZIG ZAG was published from July 1946 until May 1963. During that time, the Enthusiasts attended many stage productions in the city and the greater New York area, especially smaller-scale Off-Broadway plays. The New York Enthusiasts papers consist mostly of correspondence addressed to Hans Hacker, editor of the club's newsletter, ZIG ZAG, in which representatives of New York's smaller theater companies attempt to arouse interest in their productions. Several of the notes are concerned with the logistics of handling large theater parties of Enthusiasts, while others are focused on extolling the virtues of an upcoming show or season. Correspondence from the New Dramatists Committee gives a detailed description of their workshop process, and invites club members to attend readings. A 1952 note from the Oval Players announces that its next production will be directed by Joseph Papirofsky (i.e Joseph Papp). A 1949 note from a New Jersey Burlesque club invites Enthusiasts to enjoy material no longer legal in New York. Also included in the collection is the September/October 1952 issue of ZIG ZAG. less

This collection contains two volumes of records for New York's Olympic Theatre. Volume one consists of the accounts of sales from September 5, 1864, to July 8, 1865, and volume two documents box office returns from August 31, 1868, to May 1, 1869. Present are records of daily tabulations of ticket sales, the numbers of tickets sold, cash taken in, names of the plays, competitive attractions, and weather conditions less

Nathaniel Buchwald (1890-1956), drama critic, teacher, and authority on Yiddish theater, was also a co-founder of the Artef Players Collective, a Yiddish dramatic group, active in New York from the late 1920's to 1940. Born in the Ukraine, Nathaniel Buchwald came to the U.S. as a young man and studied at the University of Georgia, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and New York University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He became a journalist, contributing pieces in Yiddish to the Jewish Daily Forward of New York, then co-founded the Morning Freiheit in 1922. Mr. Buchwald became the Morning Freiheit's drama critic, and also wrote a theater column for the monthly Jewish Life. In 1925, he and several like-minded colleagues formed the Artef Players Collective, a drama troupe dedicated to performing "plays of social import," supported by subscribers and by the players themselves. The collective staged its first production in 1927, and prospered during the Depression, but eventually experienced financial and other difficulties resulting in a two-year hiatus, 1937-9. The group resumed work with Louis Miller's CLINTON STREET in autumn 1939, but despite positive notices and popular support they disbanded in February 1940. In 1943 Nathaniel Buchwald published a book on Yiddish theater in America. He died in 1956. The Nathaniel Buchwald papers and lecture notes span 1927-1940 and consist of lecture notes, a five page ballet synopsis, a program and a handbill relating to the life and career of Nathaniel Buchwald, a critic and co-founder of the Artef Players Collective. The bulk of the collection consists of lecture notes, some encased in mylar, which date from 1927 to 1937 and pertain to the study of drama. There is also an unsigned, undated synopsis for a "proposed Purim ballet," suggested by the folk festival Purim, based on narrative material by Sholem Aleichem. Also included is a program and a handbill for a revue written by Nathaniel Buchwald, LEBEDIK UN FREILACH. less

A theatrical organization founded by a group of writers and artists whose common aim was the production of new and experimental plays, the Provincetown Players began performing in 1915 in members' homes in Provincetown, Mass. In 1916 the Players took up residence in Greenwich Village, NY and launched the career of Eugene O'Neill with a production of his Bound East for Cardiff. Called the first minute book; contains constitution, resolutions, meeting minutes, membership lists, correspondence and financial reports, both typed and handwritten. less

Private diary kept by Winthrop Ames, 1909-1911 on the activities of the New Theatre. Includes list of companies and salaries paid each member for each season; playbills of plays presented; receipts; copies of agreements with playwrights and program contracts; expenses of building and maintaining the New Theatre, and biographical data less

Walter Fried was a producer and general manager of Broadway plays. His productions included DEATH OF A SALESMAN, COME BLOW YOUR HORN, MAN OF LA MANCHA, FESTIVAL, LIFE WITH FATHER, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT and RAISIN IN THE SUN, to name a few. The papers of Walter Fried consist of business correspondence, financial papers and box office statements dealing with his productions from 1954 until 1963. Some productions included are FESTIVAL, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT and COME BLOW YOUR HORN. less

Shirley De Me was an actress whose appearances included the role of "Mary" in the silent film BONDWOMEN (1915). Jeanne De Me was an actress whose stage appearances included LOOSE ANKLES (1926) and DIVIDED HONORS (1929). The Shirley De Me ephemera consists of family letters, congratulatory telegrams to Jeanne De Me wishing her success in the show LOOSE ANKLES (1926), and bank books covering her savings account between 1926 and 1933. less

Lester Vail was a stage and screen actor, most active during the 1920s and 1930s. Vail's stage appearances included CAUGHT (1925), George S. Kaufman & Herman J. Mankiewicz' THE GOOD FELLOWS (1926), Maxwell Anderson's GYPSY (1929), and Sophie Treadwell's HOPE FOR A HARVEST (1941), with Fredric March and Florence Eldridge. Vail's film credits include DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, I TAKE THIS WOMAN with Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard (both 1931), and BIG TOWN (1932). Lester Vail was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1899, and died in Los Angeles, California, on November 28, 1959, at the age of 60. Consists of 19 congratulatory telegrams to Lester Vail from friends and relatives, dated between 1925 and 1928, on the opening nights of various shows in which he was appearing. There is also one calling card inscribed with complimentary remarks. less

Townsend Walsh (1872-1941) worked as a press agent for various theatrical companies beginning in 1898. He was also a drama critic, playwright, collector, theater and circus historian, and sometime actor. Scrapbook, predominately clippings, also programs and ephemera, documents a musical production of THE WIZARD OF OZ presented by Frederick R. Hamlin, staged by Julian Mitchell, with book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum and music by Paul Tietjens. The extravaganza, starring Anna Laughlin, Fred A. Stone and David C. Montgomery, played at the Grand Opera House in Chicago in the summer of 1902, then toured various cities including Memphis, St. Louis and Toronto, before serving as the opening production of the new Majestic Theatre in New York City in January 1903. less

The Soho Repertory Theatre, commonly known as Soho Rep, was founded in the fall of 1975 by Marlene Swartz and Jerry Engelbach at 19 Mercer Street, in the storefront of a loft building. Opening with a revival of Maxwell Anderson's KEY LARGO, Soho Rep has distinguished itself as a producer of adaptations, classics such as Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT and Ibsen's THE MASTER BUILDER, and revivals of rarely staged plays, including John Osborne's INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE and Frank Marcus' THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE. Like other Off-off Broadway troupes, Soho Rep has struggled with rising real estate costs and in the mid-1980s had to leave its original home, eventually moving to 46 Walker Street in 1991. Actors appearing in Soho Rep productions have included Kathleen Turner, Kevin Spacey, and Tim Blake Nelson. The Soho Repertory Theatre ephemera consists of clippings, programs, fliers, photocopies, newsletters, and other documents related to the company. less

Clayton Braun, artist. Consists of three drawings of actresses appearing on Broadway in the 1925-1926 theater season: Greta Nissen in the Ziegfeld revue, NO FOOLIN' at the Globe Theatre, Eva Puck in THE GIRL FRIEND at the Vanderbilt Theatre and Betty Bruce Henry in KONGO at the Biltmore Theatre. less

Director James Light (1894-1964) veteran of the Provincetown Players and its offshoot, the Experimental Theatre Company, was best known for his work with Eugene O'Neill, staging the original productions of THE EMPEROR JONES, THE GREAT GOD BROWN, and others. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, James Light came to New York in 1917, after graduating from Ohio State University, intending to pursue additional studies at Columbia. Through a chance meeting with George Cram Cook, artistic director of the Provincetown Players, Light was cast in a small role in Susan Glaspell's play CLOSE THE BOOK. Soon he left acting behind, and by 1920 was an associate director. He staged the premiere production of Eugene O'Neill's THE EMPEROR JONES that year, and later presented O'Neill's ALL GOD's CHILLUN GOT WINGS and THE GREAT GOD BROWN. James Light also directed E. E. Cummings' HIM, Virgil Geddes' THE EARTH BETWEEN, and Paul Green's IN ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. He later served as Dean of the Drama Faculty at The New School for Social Research in New York and taught at Yale University. James Light died in New York City on Feb. 11, 1964, at the age of 69. The two James Light typescripts are titled THE PARADE OF MASKS and A NEW MARIONETTE THEATRE. In his 11 page essay THE PARADE OF MASKS, which is undated, Light writes about the the use of masks in various Provincetown Players productions of Eugene O'Neill's plays. A NEW MARIONETTE THEATRE, also undated, is unfinished, ending mid-sentence on Page 7. less

George O'Neil was a poet, playwright, and screenwriter. O'Neil's first play produced on Broadway, AMERICAN DREAM (1933), impressed critics and theater professionals though it was not a financial success. After one more Broadway production he went to Hollywood, where his best-known work was a screen adaptation of INTERMEZZO (1939), which became Ingrid Bergman's American movie debut. George O'Neil died May 23, 1940, at the age of 41. The George O'Neil papers consist mostly of brief letters, primarily from the 1930s, most of which consist of praise concerning O'Neil's Broadway play AMERICAN DREAM. A few notes pertain to other works, and there are two synopses of another play O'Neil was developing, GLITTERING STAR. There is also a poem by O'Neil, and a few brief lines of verse which, according to a marginal note, represent his first attempt at poetry. less

The 29th Street Repertory Theater was founded in 1988 by Tim Corcoran, David Mogentale, and a core group of actors and directors including Leo Farley and Paula Ewin. The company's best known productions include Tracy Letts' KILLER JOE and Bill Nave's BIBLE BURLESQUE, which featured actor Edward Norton. The 29th Street Repertory Theater ephemera consists of clippings, programs, fliers, postcards, photographs and other documents pertaining to the 29th Street Repertory Theater. The clippings include reviews of individual productions, especially Tracy Letts' play KILLER JOE. There are also feature stories about actor/director Leo Farley, a founding member of the troupe, and playwright-in-residence Bill Nave. less

Adeline Leitzbach, also known as Adelaine Leitzbach, was a playwright and screenwriter who often worked in collaboration, and was active from the 1910s through the 1940s. Plays written by Adeline Leitzbach include THE WOMAN HE LOVED, FADED ORANGE BLOSSOMS, A WOMAN OF MYSTERY, SUCCESS (1918), which starred Helen Holmes, and was co-authored with Theodore J. Liebler, Jr., and BEYOND THE GATES OF PARADISE, co-authored with Henry Belmar. Adeline Leitzbach wrote the screenplays for a number of silent films, including DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (1917), STOLEN HONOR, THE HEART OF ROMANCE, HER PRICE, and THE LIAR (all 1918), and also provided the original story for several later films, including COUNTERFEIT LOVE (1923), MANHATTAN KNIGHTS (1928), THE PEACOCK FAN (1929), and NOTORIOUS BUT NICE (1933). In the later years of her career Adeline Leitzbach attempted to adapt her writing skills to the requirements of radio drama. The Adeline Leitzbach papers span 1924 to 1949, and consist primarily of letters to Ms. Leitzbach from radio station WOR, New York, N.Y., concerning her script submissions and program ideas. There is one handwritten letter written by Adeline Leitzbach in German, dated 1924, and a press packet from the Chesterfield Motion Picture Corporation touting new releases of 1929, including THE PEACOCK FAN, based on a story by Adeline Leitzbach. less