Found 218 collections related to Theater -- New York (State) -- New York

Al Pacino, stage and film actor, was born in New York, N.Y., April 25, 1940. Since the release of the first GODFATHER film in 1972, which made him famous, Al Pacino has played lead roles in films (DOG DAY AFTERNOON, SERPICO, SCARFACE) and on stage (RICHARD III, AMERICAN BUFFALO, THE BASIC TRAINING OF PAVLO HUMMEL). This undated interview with Al Pacino, conducted by Leonard Probst, was apparently recorded in the fall of 1975, prior to the release of DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Al Pacino discusses his early decision to become an actor, the difficulties fame has brought to his daily life, the differences between stage and film performance, his onstage work in RICHARD III, and his work in the first two GODFATHER films. Mr. Pacino is briefly joined by Martin Bregman, producer of SERPICO and DOG DAY AFTERNOON. The transcript is riddled with typos, misspellings and garbled phrases, and is difficult to read in places due to cross-outs and type-overs. less

Philip Loeb (1894-1955) was an American stage and television actor. He worked at a number of theaters in New York as an actor, stage manager and casting director. He also taught at the Americ.an Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the 1930s he joined the Actors' Equity Association and was a member of its Executive Committee. He was accused of being a communist supporter and was blacklisted after being summoned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951. Collection consists of correspondence, Loeb's personal papers and printed matter. Correspondence, 1937-1955, includes letters concerning his alleged communist activities. Personal papers contain materials relating to his involvement with Actors' Equity, 1940-1954; House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1951; American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1953; legal documents, 1913-1948; and financial records, 1932-1955. Also, file of newspaper clippings, 1947-1950. 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 Brooks Atkinson papers contain correspondence, awards, personal papers, photographs, ephemera, scrapbooks, datebooks, clippings and subject files and document his life and career as a drama critic for the New York Times. The papers span the years 1904-1980. Significant in the correspondence are letters from notables figures of the theater community including writers, actors, scholars and other journalists. Included in these are Sean O'Casey, Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, Eugene and Carlota O'Neill, Robert W. Anderson, Maxwell Anderson, Clifford Odets, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, to name a few. less

Carl Henkle was the author of two plays produced on Broadway, DECISION (1929) and PAGE PYGMALION (1932). Henkle's play DECISION opened at the 49th Street Theatre on May 27, 1929, and ran for 64 performances. PAGE PYGMALION opened at the Bijou Theatre on Aug. 3, 1932, and ran for 13 performances. The Carl Henkle papers consist of a small amount of correspondence and five tablets of pencil sketches of female figures by an unknown artist. The correspondence includes three telegrams wishing Henkle good luck on his first Broadway play, DECISION, including one from an actress in the cast. The other letters involve a dispute concerning the bill for a kimona used in PAGE PYGMALION, Henkle's second Broadway play. The unsigned and unlabelled sketches of women appear to be student work, but might have been preliminary costume sketches for one of Henkle's productions. 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

The Manhattan Theatre Club was founded in 1970 by Albert E. Jeffcoat, Margaret Kennedy, Philip Barber and A. Joseph Tandet. In 1972, Lynne Meadow was hired as Artistic Director. In 1975, Barry Grove was hired as Managing Director. Due to their working relationship, one of the most long-standing in the non-profit community, the Manhattan Theatre Club produces "works of the highest quality by both established and emerging American and international playwrights" (website quote)-e.g. Bad Habits, Crimes of the Heart, Ain't Misbehavin', The Singular Life of Alfred Nobbs, and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune. Correspondence with financial and theatre related agencies, artistic personnel connected with both proposed and produced productions, and with Manhattan Theatre Club staff makes up a considerable portion of this collection. This collection also contains papers that illustrate the practical business of running a theater company such as literary office reports, meeting minutes, and guidelines, as well as a significant amount of production related material including casting information, production reports, programs, and general publicity. less

Maria Astrova, also known as Marie or Masha Solomonik, was an actress who studied with Stanislavki, toured Europe, then came to New York in 1940, where she and her husband Alexandre Solomonik were central figures in the Theatre of Russian Drama, a troupe which performed in Russian. During her time with the Moscow Art Theatre in the 1920s, Maria Astrova toured Europe as a member of the Prague Troupe. She left in 1930 to settle in Paris, and married Alexandre Solomonik there the following year. She continued acting with a troupe in Paris until she and her husband moved to Brussels. As the war approached, the couple moved to London, then emigrated to the United States in 1940. During the 1940s Maria Astrova and her husband staged Russian drama in New York, Astrova as an actress and Alexander Solomonik as producer and chief financial backer of the Theatre of Russian Drama. The Maria Astrova papers consist primarily of newspaper clippings from Russian language newspapers of the 1940s and 1950s, mostly Russky Golos as well as the Novoye Russkoye Slovo, in which the productions and activities of the Theatre of Russian Drama are described. In addition to the newspaper clippings, there are two programs from performances of works by Gogol, MARRIAGE (1944) and THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (1949), featuring Maria Astrova. Aside from one 1970 clipping, all other news material dates from between 1941 and 1952. There is one brief letter in Russian, dated 1952, from Vladimir Zelitsky, director of the Theatre of Russian Drama. There is a booklet dated 1946 with text in Russian and a number of pictures of dancers. There is also a watercolor of three costume designs, with two swatches of fabric attached. less

The Michael Strange papers consist primarily of 218 autographed letters, many more then 2 pages in length, from her second husband John Barrymore. These span the years 1917-1925 and coincide with the end of her marriage to Leonard Thomas, as well as Barrymore's and Strange's courtship, marriage and divorce. Michael Strange was John Barrymore's second wife and the correspondence gives insight to the stormy nature of their relationship. Most of the correspondence is love letters which use personal terms of endearment and are almost always affectionate and sometimes sexually explicit. less

Michel Mok (1889?-1961) was a theatrical press agent and journalist. Born in the Netherlands, he immigrated to Canada and later to the U.S. where he worked as a reporter for the New York Post. In the mid-1940s he associated himself with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for whom he handled publicity, public relations and scheduling of major productions. He also translated The Works of Anne Frank for Doubleday. Collection consists of correspondence, business files, typescripts of writings and translations, photographs, and printed matter. Business files include biographical sketches of actors and actresses, programs and press releases. less

Artist Leo Mielziner (1869-1935) and his wife Ella McKenna Friend Mielziner (1873-1968), raised two sons, each of whom became prominent in the arts: Leo J. (1899-1962), a stage and screen actor and director who worked under the name Kenneth MacKenna, and Jo Mielziner (1901-1976), one of the most influential designers of theatrical scenery and lighting of the twentieth century. The Mielziner family papers consist of correspondence, most of it personal but some of a more formal nature, other papers, a few sketches, clippings, ephemera, and family photographs, some of which have been placed in small albums. 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

The papers of Montgomery Clift consist of a small amount of correspondence, scripts, photographs, notes and scrapbooks. The strength of the collection is in the large number of annotated scripts which range from early drafts to final scripts. The annotations provide insight both to Clift's involvement in the development of the films and plays and the characters he portrayed. Some plays included are : THE SEA GULL (1954), THERE SHALL BE NO NIGHT (1940), YOU TOUCHED ME (1945) and YR. OBEDIENT HUSBAND (1938). Films include: THE BIG LIFT (1950), THE DEFECTOR (1966), FREUD (1962), FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953), JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961), THE MISFITS (1961), A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951), RAINTREE COUNTY (1957), THE SEARCH (1948), SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (1959), WILD RIVER (1960) and THE YOUNG LIONS (1958), among others. Included as well is a manuscript for an unproduced screenplay written by Clift and Kevin McCarthy, Clift's friend and collaborator. 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

Survivor Productions was formed in 1989 by Leslie Sara Carroll and several other actors in order to stage the American premiere of the 1857 Charles Dickens/Wilkie Collins melodrama THE FROZEN DEEP. Under artistic director Carroll, the group specialized in reviving Victorian melodramas, as well as new stage adaptations of 19th century novels such as DRACULA, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, IVANHOE, and JANE EYRE. Other plays staged by Survivor Productions included George Bernard Shaw's ARMS AND THE MAN and CANDIDA, Ferenc Molnar's THE GUARDSMAN, and Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. The Survivor Productions ephemera consists of programs, fliers, reviews, photocopies, newsletters, three scripts, and photographs from several productions. The scripts included in the collection are THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1994) and THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1995), each adapted by Survivor Productions' artistic director Leslie Sara Carroll, and IVANHOE (1993) by Carroll and Ian Rose. Also included is a cookbook entitled LOOSEN YOUR LACES, edited by Carroll and published to benefit the company. 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

Rowland Stebbins (1882-1948) was a New York theatrical producer who worked under the name Laurence Rivers, Inc. He began his professional life as a stockbroker, started producing plays during the 1920s, and in 1929 became a full-time theatrical producer. Collection consists of correspondence and production records of Laurence Rivers, Inc. Correspondence, 1933-1947, with playwrights, actors, agents, theatrical unions and organizations, theater managers, and others, reflects the day-to-day operation of the firm's office. Also includes circulars, legal agreements and other communications from the League of New York Theaters; and Stebbins's correspondence with Union College, 1935-1947. Production records contain correspondence, memoranda, financial papers, legal documents, photographs, and printed matter. 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

In the course of his career, Richard Seff worked as an actor, agent, and playwright. The correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings in this collection document his professional career and his friendship with many notable names of show business. less

The Robert Benney drawings are black and white sketches in graphite and ink primarily of actors and actresses in costume for New York City theater productions. The drawings also include sketches of entire scenes and portraits of musicians, radio personalities, comedians, dancers and film stars. There are some photocopies in the collection; most duplicate the Library's holdings of originals. 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

The Roman Bohnen papers consist of family, personal and professional correspondence as well as scrapbooks of clippings, reviews, programs, and photographs. The collection documents Bohnen's career including early theatrical experiences, his life as a New York actor and member of the Group Theatre, his motion picture years, and the establishment of the Actors' Laboratory Theatre. The correspondence between him and his brother Arthur is rich in personal information about family relationships. The papers span the years 1919-1976 with the emphasis on 1922-1949. Arthur Bohnen's account of his brother's life is included. less

The Ron Vawter Papers the document the life and career of the actor Ron Vawter (1948-1994), reflecting his career in motion pictures, television and the theater, especially his work with The Wooster Group. The papers include production materials, scripts, photographs, slides, publicity material, personal papers and correspondence. The papers span the period of 1963-1994, with bulk dates being 1981-1994. 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