Loading...
Creator
More Fire! Productions
Call number
*T-Mss 2008-003
Physical description
1 linear foot (2 boxes)
Preferred Citation

More Fire! productions records, *T-Mss 2008-003. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Scripts, photos and publicity document the eight plays produced by the women's theater collective, More Fire! productions, in New York City's East Village from 1980-1987.

Biographical/historical information

More Fire! Productions was a women's theater collective founded in 1980 by Robin Epstein and Dorothy Cantwell and based in the East Village of New York City. More Fire! Productions created and produced eight full-length plays between 1980-1988, becoming known as "one of the city's leading women's theatre groups" for its contributions to downtown, experimental theater and women's and lesbian theater scenes of the 1980s. Epstein and Cantwell co-wrote, produced and performed in the company's first three plays: As the Burger Broils(1980), The Exorcism of Cheryl(1981), and Junk Love (1981), which had numerous runs and became a neighborhood cult classic, "the longest running show on Avenue A." Epstein then wrote and produced The Godmother (1983). Novelist Sarah Schulman joined the company in 1983 and collaborated with Epstein on writing and performing the next three plays: Art Failures(1983), Whining and Dining(1984), and Epstein on the Beach(1985). The final play, Beyond Bedlam (1987), was written and produced by Epstein.

Scope and arrangement

The collection, containing scripts in various drafts; notes; research materials; rehearsal, performance and publicity photographs; programs; press releases; flyers; clippings; an article by Epstein; and the transcript of a talk, 2006, by Epstein and Cantwell about their experiences with More Fire! Productions, provides thorough documentation of the work of this experimental theater collective.

The More Fire! Productions records are arranged in five series:

  • Series I. Historical information
    1982-2006, n.d
    3 folders

    Consists of background information Robin Epstein sent with the collection including her summary of More Fire! Productions, a wikipedia article about it, an article Epstein submitted to HeresiesMagazine in 1982 or later, and the transcript of a talk she and Dorothy Cantwell gave at the Modern Language Association in 2006.

  • Series II. Scripts
    18 folders

    Various drafts of scripts, typed with some handwritten notes, revisions and cues, for all eight of the plays.

  • Series III. Photographs
    1980-1987

    Contains rehearsal, performance and publicity photos.

  • Series IV. Programs and publicity
    1980-1987
    2 folders

    Includes programs, press releases and flyers.

  • Series V. Clippings and reviews
    1981-1987
    2 folders

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Robin Epstein, May, 2008.

Processing information

Processed by Elisabeth Elkind; Machine-readable finding aid created by Elisabeth Elkind.

Separated material

6 cassettes pertaining to the following shows: Junk Love, The Godmother, Art Failures, Epstein on the Beachand two for Beyond Bedlam were transferred to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive of Recorded Sound.

One VHS video and its transfer to DVD for Junk Loveand another VHS-DVD set for Art Failureswere separated to Theatre on Film and Tape (TOFT).

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.