#Provincetown Theater

[i-run-with-scissors39]

Source: instagram ptowntheater

#cast party #Provincetown #raúl esparza #Provincetown theater #the fantastics #end of summer fun

[bosguy]

June 2022 performances in Provincetown

Are you coming to #Provincetown in June? Here is a comprehensive listing of all the talent performing in June. Show these entertainers some love. Get tickets to see a show.

The variety and caliber of entertainers coming to Provincetown this summer is astonishing, and after the past two years, they could really use your love and support. Shows are listed chronologically, starting with shows running all season. This list will continue to be updated. You can also check out the main venues in Ptown at Art House, Crown & Anchor, Pilgrim House, and Post Office Cafe &…

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#Audra McDonald #Bianca del Rio #Chita Rivera #Debby Holiday #Dina Martina #drag shows #Edmund Bagnell #Ginger Minj #Indigo Girls #Judy Gold #Latrice Royale #Matteo Lane #Meghan Murphy #Melissa Ferrick #Miss Coco Peru #Miss Conception #Miss Richfield 1981 #Paige Turner #Provincetown Theater #Rachel Bay #Randy Roberts #Ryan Landry #Sahsa Velour #Seth Rudetsky #Seth Sikes #Sharon McNight #Show Girls #The Art House #The Pilgrim House #The Post Office Cabaret

[ryanhamiltonwalsh]

The first Velvet Underground show in Boston - 10/29/66

In Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 I devoted many pages in service of fleshing out just how important Boston was for VU in the late sixties. But what I didn't get to talk about was the very first time the band appeared in the city on 10/29/66, which happens to be 57 years ago this week. It's a fine excuse to briefly stop thinking about the ceaseless horrors of the larger world and collate/post a bunch of info I've collected about that show as well as their first show in Massachusetts all together in Provincetown a few months prior.

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable—Warhol's multimedia bombardment of lights, film, live music, performance, and dance—was less than a year old when it was scheduled to appear in Boston. This EPI, featuring the music of the Velvet Underground, was to serve as the culmination of Warhol's exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art (the ICA), which at this point was located at 100 Newbury Street (where H&M currently resides). This was only Warhol's second museum exhibition and the mere booking of it at the ICA led to robust conversation in local art cliques. Boston was titillated and ready to have strong opinions about the new pop sensation whom some were calling genius and others a charlatan. More on that in a bit.

But before that exhibit even opened, Massachusetts had gotten a preview of the full Warhol experience late that summer at the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, the coastal resort town located at the very tip of Cape Cod.

The Chrysler Art Museum is the large white building in the background of this postcard on the right.

Since the late 1800's, Provincetown had been in contrast to much of Puritan-singed Massachusetts, welcoming artists and writers as residents and visitors, presenting experimental theater, and supporting thriving art colonies. In 1916, the Boston Globe wrote that Provincetown was 'the biggest art colony in the world.'" By the time the Warhol entourage rolled through, it was also quickly becoming known as a safe haven for LGBTQ folks as well. "There had been a gay presence in Provincetown as early as the start of the 20th century as the artists' colony developed, along with experimental theatre. Drag queens could be seen in performance as early as the 1940s in Provincetown." This, far more than Boston, was the kind of environment you'd imagine the Velvet Underground would be welcomed with open arms. But that's not how things panned out at all.

The Boston Globe previewed the event in late August:

By the time the EPI was set to come to Boston, the Globe preview of that booking (published 9/18/66) was far less dismissive; the write-up noted how the Exploding Plastic Inevitable grew out of Warhol's statements to the press that he had given up on painting (which was a terrific lie):

But back to Provincetown and the Velvets. Save for album opener "Sunday Morning," the debut VU album was already complete at this point, but would not be out until March of next year. Earlier in the summer, the band's first single had been released with Nico on lead vocals on both the A & B side. This no doubt frustrated Lou Reed if not all of the other Velvets. Warhol had convinced VU they needed a mysterious chanteusse in the mix, and they reluctantly, begrudgingly agreed to facilitate Nico's membership in the band while always simultaneously keeping her at arm's length (though both Reed and Cale also eventually both had affairs with her).

On the single version of "All Tomorrow's Parties," the six-minute prepared piano tour-de-force fades out after the 3 minute mark, undercutting its power substantially. The single did not chart. Reed claimed "All Tomorrow's Parties" was about the scene he witnessed at The Factory ("I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things," he explained) while Cale contends it's about a woman named Darryl they were both pursuing. In any event, it's highly unlikely anyone in Provincetown had heard the single before these performances but, factually, there *was* recorded VU music available out in the world at the time.

The complete EPI entourage in Provincetown featured all the Velvets—John Cale, Sterling Morrison. Nico, Lou Reed, and Maureen Tucker—Warhol himself, dancers Gerard Malanga, Mary Woronov, and Eric Emerson, road manager Faison, and Warhol assistants Paul Morrissey and Ronnie Cutrone. Relatively new to the group was Susan Bottomly (aka International Velvet) with David Croland, her boyfriend.

While it's certainly been mentioned that Susan Bottomly was from Boston (well, Wellesley, specifically), I haven't seen anyone chronicling the VU story or its primary players note that she was also the daughter of John Bottomly, who was not only the State Assistant Attorney General but also the chief of the special “Strangler Bureau," aka a key player in the infamous Boston Strangler saga.

International Velvet's father had never conducted a criminal investigation before heading up the bureau created in order to capture the phantom-like serial killer who had been terrorizing Boston for years, murdering over a dozen women. Bottomly was criticized for the interrogation methods he used on lead Strangler suspect Albert DeSalvo, guiding him directly towards certain ideas and details, for instance, and even more so when he became a paid consultant on the 1968 film The Boston Strangler. Between Bottomly's controversial Strangler hunt being recounted in Gerold Frank's best-selling '66 book, The Boston Strangler, and working on the Tony Curtis-starring-film of the same title, his daughter danced in the EPI, had flings with Lou Reed and John Cale, and appeared on the FEB '67 cover of Esquire sitting in a trash can. Being able to draw a direct line from the Boston Strangler case to the Velvet Underground is truly a hallucinatory, peak-1960's kind of footnote.

But according to Warhol, this was not how the Bottomlys actually felt about Susan's trashcan cover turn and current direction in life: "Her parents weren’t happy with her new ‘career’ - modeling in New York - and later on, when she was on the cover of Esquire, photographed in a garbage can (‘Today’s Girl, Finished at 18’), they were really upset... but they went on supporting her, and she went on supporting lots of her friends.”

Along with Nico, Bottomly was one of the few performers in Warhol's Chelsea Girls film that actually lived at the Chelsea Hotel. Bottomly also appears in the Andy Warhol 1966 film "The Velvet Underground and Tarot Cards" in which, over the course of 65 minutes, all members of the band get their tarot read (there's more on VU's unlikely interest in astrological signs and other occult topics in my book). The film is extremely difficult to screen, but here's a short silent clip featuring Susan.

"I'd be dying to go to bed with Susan Bottomly (International Velvet)," whom Lou was also fucking on the side," Cale wrote in his 2000 autobiography. "Unfortunately [Lou] caught me in bed with Susan and he threw us both out of the apartment." How much of this had already transpired by the time the New Yorkers landed at the curled edge of Cape Cod is unclear.

"Everyone is uptight for amphetamine," Gerard Malanga wrote upon the crew's first impressions of Provincetown and the lack of connections to a dealer in the area. "We're all waiting in front of the museum to go to the beach." Enjoying the beach might have been the last good thing to happen to the EPI team in Provincetown. For starters, apparently, the toilets in the house Warhol rented did not work and members of the entourage were "throwing shit out the window."

Next up, one of the EPI entourage stole various items from a local shop for the show, and the police arrived on stage during one of the performances. They "untied Eric Emerson from a post (which he was strapped to in preparation for being whipped by Mary Woronov) in order to retrieve some belts and whips that were stolen from a leather store." (Source: Up-tight)

Additionally, Gerard Malanga was running out of patience with how little control he had over any visual aspect of the EPI and having to compete for the literal spotlight with the Velvet Underground. In Provincetown, Susan Bottomly refused to dance where Malanga instructed her to and then, during "Heroin," she blocked the spotlight that provided him with any source of light to navigate the space. "I'm in total darkness. Mary is also in total darkness," he wrote in his diary. "Andy seems oblivious to the situation and to my personal feelings."

In a letter written to Warhol but never sent, Malanga griped about the Cape Cod performance: “I thought the Provincetown show got off to a rough but very good start, until you were so kind enough as to let Susan and everyone else not directly connected with the show to get involved with Mary and I on stage…You are slowly taking this away from me by allowing outside elements to interfere with my dance routines…From my vantage point on stage to have more than two dancers the show becomes a Mothers of Invention freak-out.”

Even worse, new dancer Eric Emerson tried to steal a priceless piece of art from the museum "just to see if he could get away with it" and negotiations to return the art without charges being pressed were only narrowly achieved.

Finally, to tie a bow on the cursed Provincetown engagement, the large photograph on the back of the debut VU album was taken during one of the Chrysler Museum performances, and that particular image led to a legal issue which severely affected the impact the first VU LP was able to have with the listening public. It all has to do with the head above the projection of Lou's head, both hovering above the band. That upside down man is would-be art thief and EPI dancer, Eric Emerson.

The best, succinct explanation of the debacle comes from Richie Unteberger's excellent White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground day-by-day book:

“Seeing how no one asked [Eric Emerson] about putting his picture on the jacket, he asked Verve for a lot of money,” Morrison later explains in M.C. Kostek and Phil Milstein’s critical Velvet Underground discography. “Verve got scared and airbrushed it out.”

As an immediate consequence, The Velvet Underground & Nico – which has only just entered distribution and the lowest levels of the charts – has to be pulled from stores while Verve/MGM alters the artwork. The delay effectively kills the record’s chances of rising up the charts – not that it goes very far, peaking at a lowly Number 171 on Billboard...When the album finally reappears, Emerson’s image has been airbrushed out, leaving a murky, yellow glow where his face once appeared. Even worse, some copies simply paste an ugly, black-and-white sticker with the album title and Warhol’s production credit over where Emerson’s face had been. There are no winners in this battle.

But how was the music? The Boston Globe's Ray Murphy covered the event and his specific references to the Velvet Underground sound more like how you might describe different shades on a painter's palette than an innovative rock band comprised of five unique individuals:

The performance ended when "all the fuses in the room blew out under the strain of all the projectors, amplifiers, and lights. The quiet made you dizzy."

"It was a wild affair and difficult to analyze," Murphy concluded.

"They got run out of Provincetown on a rail," Cutrone said in summary.

---

Less than two months later, the EPI/VU gang marched right back into Massachusetts for a rematch, this time in Boston proper.

Andy's appearance at the ICA in early October for the opening of his exhibit kicked off the Beantown version of Warhol-mania. The Globe reported:

Guess who this chic hangman was? That's right...

The Boston Globe spelled her last name incorrectly here, but other articles about her get it right.

Warhol, as he often did, just stood there and let people project their ideas onto him.

The paper declared Warhol "the hottest living art personality since Picasso and Dali." Then it was off to the races, with droves of Bostonians visiting to see what all the fuss was about, making it the most popular exhibit in the ICA's history.

Future Fletch novelist Gregory Mcdonald covered the phenomenon weeks into the exhibit for the Boston Globe. Mcdonald conjectured that it's not just people who love his art and hate his art, but also a third category of person who knows it's a fraud but finds it delightful that he's pulling one over on the sophisticated art world.

"His work has the limited future of a soup label," Mcdonald writes, unaware how wrong he'll eventually be proven, but then again, Warhol felt the same way. "My work has no future at all," he told the reporter, "I know that." Outside of a good caption joke about an older patron confused about whether she was at the supermarket or an art gallery, the Mcdonald piece concludes in what can only be described as the writer spiraling out trying to put the artist's ethos and its consequences into words:

"What are you currently reading exists this morning in 600,000 copies," he declares, "but by 2:30 this afternoon will not exist at all." And yet, here I am, reading those words and thinking about that same artist. No one saw what was coming.

The EPI event promptly sold out and an additional performance was added for 11PM on October 29th at the ICA. In the lead up to the show, the Velvet Underground are referred to in the press as a "cultural mafia," a preview of the event says the band will be "unleashed," and that "Boston has not seen anything like it." Admission was five dollars.

---

Just like the Provincetown trip, Boston had its own unique roster of ancillary players involved with the EPI and VU, and a few of them had some connection to a scene that was just starting to develop up on Fort Hill in Roxbury. The Mel Lyman Family, or Fort Hill Community, like Warhol, would soon receive reams of press coverage in an attempt to figure out who/what/why they precisely were. For now, Lyman and Co. had just acquired several dilapidated houses on Fort Ave. in the wake of Mel's initial audacious claims that he was God. Their alternative newspaper, Avatar, would start the following year in June of '67.

Ronna Page, who would dance in the EPI that night, had previously done a Warhol screen test and is the co-"star" of one of the most infamous scenes in Chelsea Girls in which an amphetamine fueled Ondine slaps her after she calls him a phony. It's a real, unscripted moment. It's also one of the most exploitive, squirmish moments in all of Warhol's work. Warhol said the unexpected violence made him uncomfortable and he had to leave the room while it was happening but Mary Woronov, in her memoir Swimming Underground, reported that privately the director said, "it's our best film yet. It's so beautiful."

The description of her screen test: "Ronna Page, lit only from the left, stares hard at the camera without blinking, until her eyes tear up halfway through the roll."

It was Page who introduced filmmaker Jonas Mekas to Mel Lyman at the Paradox Restaurant in New York, a connection that would lead to Lyman's first book, Autobiography of a World Saviour. It's unclear if she was ever a full time member of the Lyman family or just a friend on the periphery. In 1967, a member of the Fort Hill Community wrote of Page in the pages of Avatar:

The darkly voluptuous superstar, Ronna Page's metier is seducing swamis, and there's more and more work for her every day. Everyone's off to see the Master these days. The Beatles, Shirley MacClaine, Mrs. Frank Sinatra (that's Mia), Kandy Kane, Bobby Vinton are all looking for someone to help them on the journey to spiritual salvation. Can't you just see it! In a few years everyone will be going to their "psychia-christ" to the tune of seventy love — dollars an hour. But as long as our lovely Ronna is around, she'll weed out the swamis who are not bent on salvation but are bent over something else.

The subtext of this gossipy blind item is unknown, and whether this is in praise of Page or a dig is hard to say. In the 1966 "Expanded Arts" issue of Film Culture, Mel Lyman is listed as available for "A full evening show alone or together with Eben Given, Ronna Page, Jonas Mekas, light, images, voice, human presence" (Film Culture 43 [1966]: n.p.).

Also part of the Warhol entourage in Boston is artist and future art critic Rene Ricard, who was actively trying to avoid the Cambridge police for living illegally on Harvard property "and numerous flower thefts - from gardens, flower shops and particularly an alleged heist of one of Andy’s flower paintings."

In a November '67 article in Avatar, apparently Rene wrote an anonymously disparaging piece about himself:

A raging, high-pitched, red-eyed little transvestite called, get this, Rene Ricard, attacked Mel Lyman the other night in the back room (the place) of Max's Kansas City. Mel, slightly startled, but always the Master of the situation, just shut the little thing up by slapping his face. It turned out the reason for his attack was somehow everyone in New York thinks he's ME and he feels that I am ruining his name — YOUR name, you little bitch, think what you're doing to MINE!

Uh, ok. Sure. Maybe you had to be there.

Some of the NY entourage stay with Gordon Baldwin, others with Ed Hood, and because Nico only appears with the Velvet Underground a few times in Boston, this date is a fairly good candidate for one of the times the band stayed in the houses of the Mel Lyman Family. From AW68:

On one such occassion, when Nico simply helped herself to someone’s bed, the German singer was bluntly instructed to find somewhere else to catch some sleep. Personnel from the band and a Fort Hill Community member had certainly crossed paths at least once before; Faith Gude and VU’s whip dancer Gerard Malanga had a brief affair in the early sixties.

At 9PM, Saturday, October 29th, the first Velvet Underground show in Boston began.

Gerard Malanga sets the scene in Up-Tight:

In Jack Bernstein's review of the event for MIT's The Tech newspaper, he knew he had seen something ahead of its time:

To borrow a phrase, "it's the shape of rock to come." Andy Warhol's Expanding Plastic Inevitable featuring The Velvet Underground with Nico performed their new 'psychedelic rock' at the Institute of Contemporary Art Saturday. The biggest difference between this music and the stuff you get on 'frantic forty' radio is that you have to see this to believe it.

Bernstein describes the disorientating nature of the opening of the EPI with its lights, films, and a sense something was about to happen. And then:

Their first number, 'All Tomorrows Parties,' which, incidentally, has been released by Verve records, featured Nico singing, and the Underground, electric bass, electric guitar, electric piano, and supersonic drums, providing the most driving backing I've ever heard...the technical armament of Velvet Underground is something fantastic to behold...the most starling of all was two huge gas-discharge lamps which would flash in syncopated time as the music reached its climax. The only aspect of the performance which could been improved upon was the group's tendency to rely on the background material for too long between numbers, but once the music started, all was forgiven.

It sounds like an unadulterated win, but just like Provincetown, apparently, the New Yorkers left feeling down about the gig. EPI entourage member Susan Pile had a fairly grim assessment of how it all shook out in the end in a letter to her friend:

"Boston’s reaction was an incredible rejection. The thing is, those who do not get involved with the show tend to react in loud objection; those who do get involved are too overcome with the experience (capital E) to do much of anything. And the show in Boston was beautiful--it was a stage show in the auditorium - no dancing by scum on the floor."

But Pile also noted, "the Velvets are getting so much better--their album is done, but everyone is becoming disenchanted with the idea of touring." In truth, it wasn't quite done, and it was going to be awhile before it came out, and even then, it wasn't going to get the praise and adulation it deserved for decades, arguably. A long, long wait was ahead for the band, as an entity and even as a name. Think of the anticipation and crazed majesty of this first performance compared to the final Boston VU show, at Oliver's on Lansdowne St in 1973 with no original members and Doug Yule leading a competent bar band through a set that included some Velvet Underground songs. There would be a long free fall towards obscurity before they would be crowned one of the greatest to ever do it.

"One of the more celebrated rock groups..." indeed.

As would become tradition, the post-VU-Boston-show after party was held at Ed Hood's place in Harvard Square. Pile recalled, "A totally paranoid party - millions of people at Ed Hood’s in total isolation, everyone stoned beyond belief and uncommunicating."

The EPI in Boston generated an avalanche of stimuli, information, and discussion. Maybe everyone had done enough communicating for the night.

#the velvet underground #andy warhol #Boston #ICA #Youtube

[mellowgoop]

friend: is boston and the boston area good if you want to get out of the midwest?

me, activated, : ..AND THERES STEPHEN KING AND THERES PROVINCETOWN AND THERES SALEM GOTH NIGHTS AND THERES THAT ONE THEATER IN THE BERKSHIRES AND THERES BEN AND JERRIES IN VERMONT AND AND AND

#i like it here! #irl #thoughts

[rndyounghowze]

Review 534: Nosferatu

Created by: Joshua William Gelb, Nick Lehane, and Normandy Sherwood

Presented By: Theater in Quarantine

and NYU Skirball

@joshuawilliamgelb nyuskirball.org/events/nosferatu3d/

When Ricky was first learning stagecraft a professor pointed at two platforms that had just been bolted together and said “Oneill, Glasspell, most of the great work coming out of the Provincetown Players started in an 8-foot by 8-foot stage just that size in an abandoned wharf”. That started Ricky into a lifelong love of Black box spaces and how they revolutionized how new plays were made. So when Joshua William Gelb announced at the beginning of this live stream that every scene was staged in a space about the size of a closet we were immediately intrigued. Add to that the technological acumen it takes to make that experience 3D and using mainly effects that work in-camera and projections then you have a beautiful remake of a silent horror classic, Nosferatu

L: Normandy Sherwood C: Joshua William Gelb R: Nick Lehane

It was very interesting how the creative team used some age-old techniques that were invented in the silent film era. They’re classic techniques because they work. Watching this you will notice that the performers never stop moving. In a thirty-minute piece, we don’t think anyone ever takes a break. It takes a lot to tell a story without words in the best of times but then take the physicality of horror, mixed with physical theatre and the speed required to make sure there's not a dull moment in this small performing space and you get a three performer tour de force.

We are so glad that this kind of experiment and performance space exists. In a world where everyone is holding a device that they get all of their news, socialization, and entertainment maybe this is an opportunity for refreshing older stories and telling them in some new ways. we always say that digital theatre is where theatre and film shake hands. We would love to see this setup being used in more places. We hope they become as ubiquitous as black box theaters. We can’t wait to see what new stories will be told when writers, directors, and performers come together and take advantage of this new platform.

[richardskipper]

[chineselomo]

Cape cod national seashore

CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE FULL

photo courtesy of Nearby Cape Cod National Seashore Beaches & Trails It’s a great place to browse field guides, maps, books, apparel, and other items related to the Cape Cod National Seashore. You can find the entrance on the pond side of the facility. Stop by America’s National Parks Storeīefore you leave the Salt Pond Visitor Center, stop by America’s National Parks store. More outdoor information stations are located outside of the visitor center at seashore sites. It’s the best way to get to know the area before you adventure through it. You get to learn about the fishing and whaling boom, wildlife on and around the Cape, the many lighthouses and life-saving operations, and the age of tourism.Īll of this is demonstrated through artifacts, artwork and photos, oral histories, and a partial wetu (home). The exhibits at the visitor center museum cover Wampanoag history – the tribes who inhabited the land first – and the arrival of European settlers – the Pilgrims. Check Out the Museum ExhibitsĪlongside the theater, the Salt Pond Visitor Center has a museum with a lot of excellent exhibits that go into more detail about Cape Cod’s cultural and natural history. It was found on the dunes of Coast Guard Beach. One of the short films is about the discovery of an 11,000-year-old campsite in 1990. It’s joined by five other short films on a rotating schedule. The film was made in 2018 by Northern Light Productions. In the theater, you can see a 14-minute orientation video - “Standing Bold.” It plays every hour, highlighting the cultural and natural history of the Cape and Seashore. The Salt Pond Visitor Center lobby is only a small preview of what’s in the rest of the facility. Did you know that there used to be much more land than what you see today? On the map, you can see the Cape’s location in the Gulf of Maine and how natural forces have shaped and continue to shape the land. There’s a big topographic map that shows the glacial history of the Cape. It’s the starting point for learning everything you could want to know about the Cape Cod National Seashore. There’s more to do in the Salt Pond Visitor Center lobby than get information about your next stop. photo courtesy of Things to Do at the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitor Center Start in the Lobby On top of that, the facility has a lot of fantastic educational and interesting things to do and see. In addition, the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center features self-serve information boards and is staffed by knowledgeable rangers who can answer any questions you may have. Then, pick up some of the trail and resource brochures to enrich your experience. You can grab a trip planner to help you decide where to visit next. This visitor center has all of the information that you could want about this protected area. While it seems counterproductive not to begin at one end or the other, this facility is the main visitor center for the Cape Cod National Seashore. We recommend the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham. Along this stretch of coastline are trails, beaches, and lighthouses that you can visit for yourself.Ĭonsidering the length of the landscape, you might wonder where to start. The Cape Cod National Seashore consists of protected marshlands, uplands, ponds, and more - from the outer islands of Chatham to the tip of Provincetown. photo courtesy of An Overview of the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center The best activities, restaurants, museums, events, views, and much more!Ĭlick here to request the guide.

CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE FULL

Get our free Cape Cod Vacation Guide, full of the best things to do in Cape Cod.

#Cape cod national seashore

[deepartnature]

Provincetown Players

“The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of George Cram ‘Jig’ Cook and Susan Glaspell from Iowa, the Players produced two seasons in Provincetown, Massachusetts (1915 and 1916) and six seasons in New York City, between 1916 and 1922. The company's founding has been called ‘the most important innovative moment in American theatre.’ Its productions helped launch the careers of Eugene O'Neill and Susan Glaspell, and ushered American theatre into the Modern era. ...”

W - Provincetown Players, W - Davenport Group

A  History of the Provincetown Playhouse

Lewis Wharf, first home of the Provincetown Players in 1915

[hell-yeahfilm]

THE SHORES OF BOHEMIA

A lawyer, literary agent, and longtime Cape Cod resident, Williams draws on personal interviews, memoirs, biographies, and cultural histories to create a generous, commodious portrait of the communities of artists and writers who flourished on the Cape from 1910 to 1960. Cheaper than Greenwich Village, where many of them lived, they came to the sleepy, shabby villages of Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet “dedicated to radical political reform, a new exploration of personal relationships free from Victorian strictures, and the search for a new ‘American’ voice in writing, painting, architecture, and theater.” Through the years, the towns attracted a stellar population of playwrights (Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Susan Glaspell) who presented their work at the Provincetown Players; poets (Edna St. Vincent Millay, e.e. cummings); novelists (Mary McCarthy, Robert Nathan, Norman Mailer); artists (Edward Hopper, Anni Albers, Hans Hofmann); literary critics (Edmund Wilson, Daniel Aaron); activists (John Reed, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn); editors (Max Eastman, Philip Rahv); and scores more. Some were drawn to communism and anarchism, all to intellectual rebellion; some enjoyed independent wealth, others struggled financially. Together, they created a bohemian world of “cocktails, beach parties, and long, boisterous dinners, all liberally fueled by alcohol.” Even during Prohibition, alcohol flowed freely, sometimes spurring creativity and freeing inhibitions, often eroding “professional promise and domestic happiness.” Men and women changed partners so often, some readers may have difficulty keeping track. Children suffered, ignored or even abandoned by self-absorbed parents. “When mixed with multiple divorces,” Williams notes, “the world they created for their children was both unsafe and enticing.” Williams sets the inhabitants in historical and political context: women’s suffrage, labor strikes, the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, two world wars, the Depression, the Spanish Civil War, antisemitism, and a hunt for communists, all of which had an impact on their lives, loves, friendships, and work.

from Kirkus Reviews https://ift.tt/JGFaSrn

[queerguru]

Queerguru got to meet the multi-talented Venezuelan performer Migguel Anggelo who is a fireball of energy and is brimming with his infectious passion and unbridled charm as he talked about his One-Man-Show WELCOME TO LA MISA, BABY directed by David Drake that he is bringing to the Provincetown Theater

#provincetown theater #migguel anggelo #LGBTQ #performer #multi talented

[bosguy]

August / September 2022 performances in Provincetown

Planning a trip to #Provincetown this August or September? Here is a running list of performances you can see while visiting through Labor Day Weekend. Make plans and get your tickets now before these shows sell out.

The variety and caliber of entertainers coming to Provincetown this summer is astonishing, and after the past two years, they could really use your love and support. Shows are listed chronologically, starting with shows running all season. This list will continue to be updated. You can also check out the main venues in Ptown at Art House, Crown & Anchor, Pilgrim House, and Post Office Cafe &…

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#Audra McDonald #Bianca del Rio #Chita Rivera #Debby Holiday #Dina Martina #drag shows #Edmund Bagnell #Ginger Minj #Indigo Girls #Judy Gold #Latrice Royale #Matteo Lane #Meghan Murphy #Melissa Ferrick #Miss Coco Peru #Miss Conception #Miss Richfield 1981 #Paige Turner #Provincetown Theater #Rachel Bay #Randy Roberts #Ryan Landry #Sahsa Velour #Seth Rudetsky #Seth Sikes #Sharon McNight #Show Girls #The Art House #The Pilgrim House #The Post Office Cabaret

[uwmarchives]

Theater Thursday: Provincetown Playhouse

This Black History Month the UW-Milwaukee Archives are honoring African-Americans in the arts. Shown above are three playbills featuring two plays written by Eugene O’Neill; All God’s Chillun Got Wings, and The Emperor Jones.

Charles S. Gilpin (1878-1930) was first to star in The Emperor Jones in 1920.  Gilpin objected to the overuse of an offensive term in the script and asked that O’Neill change the text. O’Neill refused to alter the script which resulted in Gilpin not appearing in the 1925 revival of the play. O’Neill asked Paul Robeson (1898-1976) to take the starring role. Robeson was not a stranger to the stage as a concert vocalist but this was his stage acting debut. 

Eugene O’Neill is thought to be one of the only playwrights writing for Black actors at the time. The plays became so popular that the Provincetown Palyhouse wasn’t big enough to hold the audiences coming to see them. 

You are welcome to view these and mamy more artifacts during February Pop-Up Days at the Golda Meir Library. The exhibits will be available through Friday, February 21 in the American Geographical Society Library, Archives, and Special Collections.

#theater thursday #playbills #charles gilpin #paul robeson #provincetown playhouse #eugene o'neill #the emperor jones #plays #1920s #new york #theater #black history month #february pop-up #pop-up days #archives #uwm archives #black actors

[ether-blooms]

Provincetown Theater https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx3J4GVhAwi/?igshid=30bu9nnus6a6

#provincetown #theater #theatre #beach #ruins #my face #me

[rawrymonahan]

Austin is late. Running late for whatever excuse he could fish out of thin air. Right now, it’s traffic— the bustling Los Angeles traffic, always a fine excuse, though entirely predictable. He can always tell the truth, about how he slept in twenty minutes late, and he wasn’t about to skip a single step of getting ready for rehearsal. Whatever he’s going to end up telling the crew, the crew of assistant directors and actors who were currently waiting impatiently for Austin’s arrival, will fall naturally from the tongue whenever he gets there. It’s thirty minutes past the start time when he finally drives up to the theater, digging through his center console once parked and pulls out his little pouch of black pills. He knows it’s not Provincetown, that taking the muse whilst out west would probably end very poorly for him, but still— he can’t help it. He’s addicted to the success and if it can help him direct as much as it can help him write well… it didn’t really matter that he’s late— or unprepared. He pops the black pill past his lips, swallows it dry before getting out. He stretches, his striped black and white button-up pulling up to expose some thick hairs kissing his stomach, though it’s not like he’s not exposed to the world already. Adorning some black dress pants, Austin also wears his shirt unbuttoned to just above his belly button, chest out in the open while several necklaces drape around his neck. It’s his standard at this point. He walks into the theater, pushing the big, blue doors of the auditorium open with a wide smile. “Terribly sorry, my loves!” he calls out as he walks down the isle between rows and rows of navy upholstered seats, “Los Angeles traffic is an utter hell— but, now that I’m here, we can get this party started, huh? Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? I’m Austin Sommers, but you all already know that…” He can feel all eyes on him, just how he likes it, as he crosses to sit in on the front row seats, immediately crossing his legs, “can I have each one of you step forward and introduce yourselves? It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen all your beautiful faces in those casting videos.”

@bloodsuckinsommers

Today had been eventful already, and it was still early in the morning. Not that Rory really minded, excitement brewing in his veins, with an underlying sense of nerves, on top of the cold brew coffee he had downed on the way here. He needed all he could get though, his first day on set, getting ready for a show directed by the one and only Austin Sommers. Sure, Rory spent most of his time on television, in front of cameras, the whole shebang but he wasn't complaining one bit- getting to be under the hot lights of the theater and get to perform live in front of an audience was something he'd always cherished, and getting to work under a brilliant director was only the cherry on top. Who, every other actor and assistant director had been waiting for at least for a solid thirty minutes, leaving everyone frustrated, pacing around the auditorium walkways and the stage Rory was currently sat on, swinging his feet until the great, big double doors open revealing the man in question, confident as he struts down the isle and plops himself down in a front row seat, right in front of him, apologizing, though halfheartedly, Rory thinks. Thinks, because he truthfully isn't paying much attention to what the other man is saying because he's too busy taking in the grin stretched out across his cheeks and dark eyes, ones that barely even rake over the auditorium as he makes himself known. And he's trying desperately not to let his eyes move south, to take in the other man's outfit, to the button up revealing a chest decorated with an abundance of jewelry and wisps of hair. He does however catch a bit of what Austin says, and then it's silent for a moment as everyone stops, now timid for whatever reason, leaving Rory to pull his feet up, clambering up to a standing position, a matching grin meeting Austin's, his cheeks flushing just the slightest bit as he straightens out his beloved white and blue baseball tee. "So much for getting the party started, huh? Well,, it's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Sommers. I'm Rory Monahan."

@bloodsuckinsommers

#this is awful KSJDGNkj my first reply was better #i hate tumblr sometimes

[richardskipper]

[bates--motel]

I saw Return to Grey Gardens tonight in PTown. The entire tiny cast was hilarious and talented. Jinkx and Peaches absolutely blew me away with their performances. They (and Major Scales) were incredibly sweet and great to talk to. I said something to Jinkx about the dress she was wearing. It was a gorgeous, black, skin tight dress with a jeweled mesh top. She then said “Oh thank you. You know, I don’t know if you know her but my good friend Robbie Turner made this for my birthday!”

#you need to read it in her voice coz the italicized words are wht she put emphasis on #i love her so much #her laugh vibrated the entire room it was glorious #jinkx monsoon #peaches christ #robbie turner #personal #return to grey gardens #drag queens #drag #provincetown #ptown #arthouse theater