In the 1950s, the group was among the first in the U.S. to produce the work of influential European playwrights such as
Bertolt Brecht (
In The Jungle of Cities in New York, 1960) and
Jean Cocteau, as well as
modernist poets such as
T. S. Eliot and
Gertrude Stein. One of their first major productions was
Pablo Picasso's
Desire Caught By the Tail; other early productions were
Many Loves by
William Carlos Williams and
Luigi Pirandello's Tonight We Improvise. Based in a variety of small New York locations which were frequently closed due to financial problems or conflicts with city authorities, they helped to originate
off-off-Broadway and
off-Broadway as significant forces in U.S. theater. Their work during this period shared some aspects of style and content with
Beat generation writers. Also during the 1950s, the American composer
Alan Hovhaness worked closely with the Living Theatre, composing music for its productions. In 1959, their production of
The Connection attracted national attention for its harsh portrayal of drug addiction and its equally harsh language. In the early 1960s the Living Theatre was host to
avant-garde minimalist performances by artists including
Simone Forti and
Robert Morris.
The Brig (1963), an
anti-authoritarian look at conditions in a
Marine prison, was their last major production in New York before a tax dispute led to the closure of the theatre space and the brief imprisonment of Beck and Malina. Judith defended Julian at the
IRS hearing dressed like Portia from
The Merchant of Venice.
Paradise Now, a semi-
improvisational piece involving audience participation, was notorious for a scene in which actors recited a list of social taboos that included nudity, while disrobing; this led to multiple arrests for
indecent exposure. The group returned to the U.S. in 1968 to tour
Paradise Now,
Antigone,
Mysteries and Smaller Pieces, and
Frankenstein. "That madman who inspires us all,
Artaud, does have some advice," Beck said in an informal address at
Yale University after his return, "and I think he is the philosopher, for those of us who work in theatre, whom we can reach toward most quickly, of whom we can say, yes, here is one man since
Rousseau who does uphold the idea of the non-civilized man." He added: "Our work had always striven to stress the sacredness of life." In 1971 they toured in Brazil, where they were imprisoned for several months, then deported. The Living Theatre has toured extensively throughout the world, often in non-traditional venues such as
streets and prisons. It has greatly influenced other American experimental theatre companies, notably
The Open Theater (founded by former Living Theatre member
Joseph Chaikin) and
Bread and Puppet Theater. The Living Theatre's productions have won four
Obie Awards:
The Connection (1959),
The Brig (1963 and 2007), and
Frankenstein (1968). In 2006, The Living Theatre signed a 10-year lease on the basement of a new residential building under construction at 21 Clinton Street, between Houston and Stanton Streets on Manhattan's
Lower East Side. The Clinton Street theater is the company's first permanent home since the closing of The Living Theatre on Third Street at Avenue C in 1993. The company moved into the completed space in early 2007 and opened in April 2007 with a revival of
The Brig by Kenneth H. Brown, first presented at The Living Theatre at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue in 1963. The re-staging, directed by
Judith Malina, won
Obie Awards for Direction and Ensemble Performance. In October 2006, the company opened a revival of
Mysteries and Smaller Pieces, the 1964 collective creation that defined the interactive and Artaudian style for which the company became famous. In late 2007 / early 2008 the company founder Judith Malina performed in
Maudie and Jane, a stage adaptation, directed by Reznikov, of the
Doris Lessing novel,
The Diary of Jane Somers. In April 2008, Hanon Reznikov suffered a stroke. He died on May 3, 2008. In 2010, the company presented
Red Noir, adapted and directed by Judith Malina. In 2011, the company presented
Korach, by Malina, and a revival of
Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism, directed by Malina and Tom Walker. Also in 2011, the company created
The Plot Is The Revolution, starring Malina and Silvia Calderoni, a co-production with the Italian group Motus. In 2012, the company presented
The History of the World, written and directed by Malina. In 2013, the company presented
Here We Are, written and directed by Malina. The company also vacated its Clinton Street space. In 2014, Judith Malina's play
No Place to Hide premiered at the Clemente Soto Velez Center on the Lower East Side. The production later took to the streets of New York for the Underground Zero Festival, and was performed at
Burning Man. Malina was writing
Venus and Mars when she died in April 2015. == Goals and influences ==