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Creator
Lamb's Theatre Company (New York, N.Y.)
Call number
*T-Mss 1996-046
Physical description
1.05 linear feet (3 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Lamb's Theatre Company records, *T-Mss 1996-046. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

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

Lamb's Theatre Company was an Off-Broadway production company and resident theatre in New York City between 1978 and 2006. The Lamb's Theatre Company records date from 1985 to 1996 and contain scripts, contracts, photographs, correspondence, programs, and other materials that document eleven of the company's productions in the Little Lamb's Theatre.

Biographical/historical information

The Lamb's Theatre Company was founded in 1978 as an Off-Broadway production company in New York City. It operated at 130 West 44th Street, a building owned by the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene that was formerly home to the Lambs Club fraternal organization for actors. From its founding until 1996, the company was run by producer and director Carolyn Rossi Copeland.

The company used two performing spaces within the building: a 360-seat main stage on the third floor, which was renovated in 1981; and a 140-seat stage on the first floor, which opened in 1984 and was known as the Lamb's Little Theatre. Many of its productions on both stages centered on religious or inspirational themes, including Godspell (1988), St. Hugo in Central Park (1988), and The Revelation of John (1989). The Lamb's Theatre Company also hosted productions for outside companies and staged productions outside of its home theatre, as was the case with productions of Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller in 1988 at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and in 1993 at the Lamb's Little Theatre.

Lamb's Theatre Company continued staging productions in the Lamb's building on West 44th Street until 2006, when the building was sold and the company was evicted.

Scope and arrangement

The Lamb's Theatre Company records date from 1985 to 1996 and contain scripts, contracts, photographs, programs, and other materials that document eleven of the company's productions in the Little Lamb's Theatre. A general file of contact sheets lists production staff, casting, and investor information for individual productions, some of which originate from shows not otherwise documented in the collection. Each production file includes a script, often annotated with stage directions, cues, and line edits. Files for musical productions contain published piano/vocal scores. Production files also consist of contact sheets, contracts, budgets, correspondence, programs, and publicity documents. Correspondence discusses royalties, cast album recordings, video recordings of shows, and ticket sales. Show publicity is documented with clippings, invitations, draft ads, scripts of radio announcements, press releases, and letters to reviewers. A limited number of production files also contain rehearsal and publicity photographs and set and costume design notes.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by file title or production name.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Carolyn Rossi Copeland, 1996.

Processing information

Compiled by Weatherly Stephan, 2014

Original order was maintained, and files were moved from binders to folders. Four floppy disks, from the Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller and Promised Land production files, were removed during processing. These disks, which likely contain commercial control board files, cannot be imaged and are therefore unavailable to researchers.

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

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatrediv@nypl.org.