Following is a listing of plays presented by Judson Poets' Theater from 1961 to 1966. This list is based on files from the Judson archives which are now part of the The Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU.
Productions were generally (but not always) presented over three consecutive weekends. This is our first attempt (in late 2008) at presenting a complete list. We acknowledge that there may be omissions and mistakes. Please help us. If you have additional information please contact assistant@judson.org.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the Village Voice for information about the Obie Awards. In many cases the Obie Award was presented to the Off-Broadway production rather than the original production presented by the Judson Poets’ Theater. They are included here to give an idea of the importance of the work being created and presented.
First Performance | Title | Author(s) | Director |
| Nov. 18, 1961 | "The Great American Desert" | Joel Oppenheimer | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Nov. 18, 1961 | "Breasts of Tiresias" | Guillaume Appollinaire | Robert Nichols |
| music by Jackson MacLow | |||
| Jan. 11, 1962 | "The Contest" | Ursule Molinaro | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Jan. 11, 1962 | "Deep Evil" | Howard Hart, music by | Charles Creasap |
| Don Heckman | |||
| Jan. 11, 1962 | "Second Shepherd's Play" | translated by | Al Carmines |
| Robert Nichols | |||
| March 3, 1962 | "The In Out" | Vincent Ferrini, music by | Robert Nichols |
| Charles Adams and | |||
| Carmen Moore | |||
| "The Reservation | Martin Halpern | Ellis Santone | |
| March 3, 1962 | "Inroads Rebuff'd or The Disdainful Evacuation" | Dick Higgens | |
| May 8, 1962 | "The Life of Man" | ||
| "The Life of Man" was co-produced with The Reverends' Repertoire Co. | |||
| May 24, 1962 | "The Women at the Tomb" | Michel de Ghelderode | Ellis Santone |
| May 24, 1962 | "Jourmad" | Derek Walcott | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Aug. 24, 1962 | "Vaudeville Skit" | George Dennison, | Remy Charlip (?) |
| Lawrence Kornfeld (?) | |||
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| August 24, 1962 | "The Executives" | C.V.J. Anderson | Peter Feldman |
| Oct. 25, 1962 | "The Devil's Mother" | Spencer Holst | Leonard Hicks |
| Oct. 25, 1962 | "Malcauchon" | Derek Walcott | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Dec. 14, 1962 | "The Nativity Plays of the York Mysteries" | adapted by | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| George Dennison | |||
| Jan. 25, 1963 | "Miss Right" | Joel Oppenheimer, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| Jan. 25, 1963 | "God is My Ram" | Andrew Susac | Martin Bard |
| March 21, 1963 | "Murder Cake" | Dianne Di Prima | James Waring |
| March 21, 1963 | "Service for Joseph Axminister" | George Dennison | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| April 4, 1963 | "Masks of Angels" | Notis Peryalis | John Chace |
| June 13, 1963 | "The Decapitated Taxi" | Robert Nichols | Robert Nichols |
| June 13, 1963 | "The Wax Engine" | Robert Nichols and | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Al Carmines | |||
| July 26, 1963 | "The Birthday" | Paul Goodman, | Al Carmines |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| July 26, 1963 | "Hagar and Ishmael" | Paul Goodman | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Sept. 19, 1963 | "What Happened" | Gertrude Stein and | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Al Carmines | |||
| Al Carmines and Lawrence Kornfeld both won an Obie Award for "What Happened". | |||
| Sept. 19, 1963 | "Asphodel, in Hell's Despite" | John Weiners, music by John Herbert McDowell | designed by Andy Warhol |
| directed by Jerry Benjamin | |||
| Oct. 17, 1963 | "Poet's Vaudeville" | Diane Di Prima, music by John Herbert McDowell | James Waring |
| Nov. 28, 1963 | "Bust of a Lunatic" | Donald Kvares | Maralyn Chriss and |
| Al Carmines | |||
| Nov. 28, 1963 | "Hurrah, It's Lewis Carroll Day" | Dan Katzman, music by John Herbert McDowell | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| The first performance of "Bust of Lunatic" and "Hurrah, It's Lewis Carroll Day" was delayed a week because of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. | |||
| Jan. 10, 1964 | "Pantagleise" | Michel de Ghelderode, music by Al Carmines | Larry Loonin |
| Jan. 10, 1964 | "The Old Tune" | Robert Pinget,(translated by Samuel Becket), | Peter Feldman |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| March 20, 1964 | "Home Movies" | Rosalyn Drexler, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| March 20, 1964 | "The Bitch of Waverly Place" | Arthur Sainer, | Stephen Aaron |
| music by Paul Knoff | |||
| April 22, 1964 | "Simeon and Joseph" | ||
| April 22, 1964 | "The Judgement" | ||
| July 10, 1964 | "Leonce and Lena" | Georg Buchner, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Hector Berlioz | |||
| July 10, 1964 | "Patter for a Soft Shoe Dance" | George Dennison, | Al Carmines |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| "Patter for a Soft Shoe Dance was co-produced with the Pocket Theater. | |||
| Sept. 18, 1964 | "The Hundred and First" | Kenneth Cameron | Larry Loonin |
| Sept. 18, 1964 | "Three Thousand Red Ants" | Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Rilke W. Stevens (?) | Lawrence Sacharow |
| Sept. 24, 1964 | "For Madeleine Renaud" | composite of Ranier Maria Rilke, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickenson, W.A. Moxart, Ralph Humphrey, Aileen Passloff, Lawrence Kornfeld | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Oct. 30, 1964 | "Central Park Bench #33 Flight 20" | Cecilia Prada, music by John Herbert McDowell | Peter Feldman |
| Oct. 30, 1964 | "The Sightseer" | Tom LaBar | Al Carmines |
| Dec. 19, 1964 | "Sing Ho for a Bear" | R. Sargent and | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Lawrence Kornfeld, | |||
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| In 1964 Rosalyn Drexler received an Obie Award for Distinguished Plays for "Home Movies". | |||
| In 1964 Lawrence Kornfeld won an Obie Award for Distinguished Direction of "What Happened". | |||
| In 1964 Judson Poets' Theatre won an Obie Award for Best Production (musical) for "What Happened". | |||
| In 1964 Al Carmines won an Obie Award for Best Music for "Home Movies" and "What Happened" | |||
| In 1964 Judson Memorial Church received a Special Citation Obie Award for its sponsorship of experiment and experimenters in the performing arts, through the Judson Poets' Theatre and the Judson Dance Theatre. | |||
| Feb. 12, 1965 | "The String Game" | Rochelle Owens, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| songs by Al Carmines | |||
| Feb. 12, 1965 | "Lesson in Understanding" | Bertolt Brecht (translated by Gerhard Nelhaus) | George Wljtasik |
| April 9, 1965 | "Promenade" | Maria Irene Fornés, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| In 1965 Maria Irene Fornès won an Obie Award for Distinguished Plays for "Promenade" and | |||
| "The Successful Life of Three" | |||
| April 9, 1965 | "Devices" | Kenneth H. Brown" | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| May 22, 1965 | "Street Plays" | ||
| June 4, 1965 | "Harmony" | George Dennison, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Peter Lewis | |||
| June 4, 1965 | "Nice Place You Got Here" | Richard Falcone | Al Carmines |
| June 4, 1965 | "Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters" | Gertrude Stein, music by | Michael Smith |
| John Herbert McDowell | |||
| Summer 1965 | "The Sheep and the Cheapskate" | ||
| Summer 1965 | "Remember the Thirties" | ||
| The program during the summer of 1965 was co-produced with the El-Dorado Players | |||
| Sept. 17, 1965 | "Istanboul" | Rochelle Owens, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music byTeiji Ito | |||
| Sept. 17, 1965 | "The Monster" | Richard Falcone, | Al Carmines |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| Oct. 29, 1965 | "Private Potato Patch of Greta Garbo" | J. Roy Sullivan, | Peter Feldman |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| Oct. 29, 1965 | "You're as Old as Your Arteries" | Alex Kemeny, | Jacques Levy |
| music by Joe Raposo | |||
| Dec. 10, 1965 | "Play I, Play II, Play III" | Gertrude Stein | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Dec. 10, 1965 | "A Beautiful Day" (seven poem plays) | Ruth Krauss, | Remy Charlip |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| Jan. 21, 1966 | "Red Cross" | Sam Shepard | Jacque Levy |
| In 1966 Sam Shepard won an Obie for Distinguished Plays for" Chicago," "Icarus's Mother," and "Red Cross" | |||
| In 1966 Florence Tarlow won an Obie Award for Distinguished Performances in "Istanbul," "Red Cross," and "A Beautiful Day" | |||
| Jan. 21, 1966 | "Antigone" | Sophocles (translation and adaptation by | Theodore Stinchecum |
| Theodore Stinchecum), music by Alan Stout | |||
| March 4, 1966 | "Pomegranada" | H.M. Koutoukas, | Al Carmines |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| March 4, 1966 | "After Closing" | Roy Martz, music by | Lawrence Sacharow |
| John Herbert McDowell | |||
| April 22, 1966 | "The Pelican" | August Strindberg, (translated by | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| Evert Springhorn) | |||
| April 22, 1966 | "Hector the Heroic!" | Mark Zalk, music by | Jacques Levy |
| Robert Cosmos Savage | |||
| "Hector the Heroic!" was presented in cooperation with The Open Theatre | |||
| "Judson Revivals" (listed below) were presented as a benefit for Judson Memorial Church. | |||
| May 22, 1966 | "Patter for a Soft-Shoe Dance" | George Dennison, | Choreographed by |
| Remy Charlip | |||
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| May 22, 1966 | "The Mind is a Muscle" | Choreographed by | |
| Yvonne Rainer | |||
| May 22, 1966 | "March & Tambourine Dance" | Choreographed & danced by James Waring | |
| May 22, 1966 | "Home Movies" | Rosalyn Drexler, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| May 26, 1966 | "Promenade" | Maria Irene Fornès, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| May 26, 1966 | "Morning Raga with Yell Chair to Joyce" | Choreographed & danced by Arlene Rothlein | |
| May 26, 1966 | "April and December" | Choreographed by | |
| Remy Charlip, danced by | |||
| Aileen Passloff | |||
| May 26, 1966 | "What Happened" | Gertrude Stein, | Lawrence Kornfeld |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| June 3, 1966 | "Pomegranada" | H.M. Koutoukas, | Al Carmines |
| music by Al Carmines | |||
| June 3, 1966 | "Manu and the Fish" | Choreographed by | |
| Sabina Nordof, danced by Aileen Passloff and | |||
| Remy Charlip | |||
| June 3, 1966 | "What's the Big Idea 123" | Choreographed & danced by Katherine Litz | |
| June 3, 1966 | "A Beautiful Day" | Ruth Krauss, | Remy Charlip |
| music by Al Carmines | |||