Essay Example. The Living Theatre

The Living Theatre was founded by two actresses, Juliani Beck and Judith Malina (Rosenthal, 2019). The Theater was established in 1947 in New York City. The Theater is commonly known for its excellent drama films, which often carry dramatic scenes. It also has a unique clash with aspects linked to tradition, audience, and authority. They fought hard during the 1950s, trying to produce experimental plays written by Luigi Pirandello, T.S Eliot, and Alfred Jarry, amongst others. In 1959, the Living Theater managed to attain its first excellent production of the drama episodes of The Connection, written by Jack Gelber (Rosenthal, 2019). The drama film focused on drug addiction and brought many relationships between the audience and the actors. Also, the play earned its scriptwriters, the production team, and the theatre a lot of tours in European nations.

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The Living Theater appears in many discussions due to its contribution to today's theater experiences and innovations. The Theater, since its establishment, has focused on experimentation with real-life situations and legislation (Rosenthal, 2019). The co-founders have consistently rejected the comforts and securities that most individuals seek in favor of the life of the world-shattering nomads. They also dismissed the government's proposition that believes its people should be completely free and that their liberty would lead them to glory. Through their innovation, the Becks also reject the traditional Theater with the perception that the traditions are full of fakery. They were only convinced that honesty would in the Theater and change the audience who, in turn, would improve their lives.

The main aim of the Theater was to stage experimental features of art with the desire to foment rebellion in the human community. Their first play The Connection and Paradise Now of 1959 and 1968 respectively were all performed with the main aim of establishing resistance against inhuman acts of the time. In the second play, the playwright engages the audience by giving them a chance to join the actor in breaking the traditional taboos. The result of breaking down the social taboos would result in a glorious revolution. It was the most flashy and yet brave move that challenged the Worlds moral obedience. It violated most traditions and government policies that resulted in arrests, attempts of suppression, and imprisonments (Shepard, 2016). The implications of all their work are evident in our current society. They have reshaped their audience's thoughts about the Modern Theater.

The cofounders, Judith, and Julian, encountered a world full of dancers, actors, and artists. All of them flocked at the Living Theater to showcase their talents. The Theater hosted a wide range of people, such as painters, actors, dancers, musicians, and filmmakers. There were poets like Jackson MacLow, Gregory Corso, John Ashbery, and Allen Ginsberg (Shepard, 2016). Also, writers Tennessee Williams, Jack Kerouac, and Paul Goodman were key in the establishment of the Theater. A lot of creative events were hosted by Julian and Judith, who were then in an open physical relationship. Julian was bisexual, whereas Judith would take in any other lover. The two named their company The Living Theater because they believed that nothing would separate art from everyday life, between creativity and resolution.

Judith Malina and Juliani Beck used the living Theater to further social transformation in society. They had actors and actresses who walked around the audience while shouting against the social rules and the ridiculous land laws (Keenaghan & Eric, 2016). The actors chanted against the tight regulations imposed on immigration, smoking, and the law on clothing. By repetitively chanting the same idea, the audience would participate and, thus, incite revolution. The Living Theater was therefore assumed as the Theater of live performance, which was unique compared to other contemporary then theaters.

The story in The Living Theater is a vivid description of the emergence of the New York City avant-garde in the 1950s. The Theater played a crucial role in the counterculture in the 1960s in New York. Also, the Theater created and staged plays communally, thus cultivating a suitable environment for openness and exploration (Keenaghan & Eric, 2016). One of the critical playwrights in the Theater captures the mood, art, and political issues, which were then the significant dynamic challenges in American culture and history.

The overall performance in The Living Theater exemplifies idealism, all bravery, and folly that have come to characterize the 1960s in the Los Angeles Times. The founders Julian Beck and Judith Beck are compelling and loving. They established a theater that influenced and has significantly impacted our current lives and culture. Also, the Theater and its actors, writers, poets, and musicians are luminously detailed as heroes and heroines in the detailed bio of the Living Theater. The two founders also desired to transform as history passed and create a permanent mark and event that would become static and correspond to the events in the 1950s. From their films, it is evident they achieved their set goal.

References

Keenaghan, Eric. "The Impersonal Is Political: On the Living Theatre and William Carlos Williams's Many Loves." William Carlos Williams Review 33.1-2 (2016): 101-127. Doi:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312423007_The_Impersonal_Is_Political_On_the_Living_Theatre_and_William_Carlos_Williams's_Many_Loves

Rosenthal, C. (2019). Judith Malina's Voracious Body, Mind and Spirit: Two Years of raging against Decline in the Actors Home. Performance Research, 24(3), 139-143. Doi https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230298941_5

Shepard, B. (2016). Urban Spaces as Living Theater: Toward a Public Space Party for Play, Poetry, and Naked Bike Rides (New York City, 2010-2015). Revue francaise detudes americaines, (1), 107-124. Doi: https://www.cairn-int.info/abstract-E_RFEA_146_0107--urban-spaces-as-living-theater-toward.htm