The Great American Life-Show: 9 Plays from the Avant-Garde Theater

About this book

"Nine explosions of pure theater from the most vital and vigorous talents in American drama!" The nine plays, each of which is preceded by a short introduction by one of the editors, are: "In the Wine Tree" by Ed Bullins; "The Serpent" by Jean-Claude van Itallie; "Operation Sidewinder" by Sam Shepard; "Slaveship" by Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones); "The Kid" by Robert Coover; "Cop-Out" by John Guare; "Injun: A Happening" by Claes Oldenburg; "Mysteries and Other Pieces" by Judith Malina & Julian Beck; "AC/DC" by Heathcote Williams. The most radical in form is Oldenburg's piece, "A Happening" rather than a play per se, which is represented here by three texts: "A Statement" by Oldenburg himself; "the script," a three-page narrative written by Oldenburg "for himself" during the preparation of the piece; and "Injun/the production," a 12-page account by Michael Kirby of the staging of this "Happening" at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts in 1962.