Martin Sheen & Olympia Dukakis Set for Living Theater Benefit, 12/18

Acclaimed actors Martin Sheen and Olympia Dukakis, legendary rock musician Ray Manzarek of The Doors, and poets Michael McClure and Anne Waldman are set to join Judith Malina and other artists for a one-night-only gala to benefit The Living Theatre on Friday, December 18, beginning with cocktails and dinner at 6pm, followed by a program of music and performance at The Players Club (16 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.

"The Living Theatre is hosting this once-in-a-generation benefit to enable us to hold onto our beautiful performance space on Clinton Street in Lower Manhattan," says Judith Malina, co-founder and Artistic Director of The Living Theatre, the oldest experimental theatre group still producing in the United States.

"Since opening the new theatre in 2007, we have produced five dazzling mainstage productions with our marvelous, young ensemble of actors. In these times, raising money to support avant-garde work is especially difficult," adds Ms. Malina. "So, I am calling on all the longtime friends of The Living Theatre to come together and raise the fundamental costs to help keep this vital performance space open."

"Supporting creative theater has always been a particular burden for the arts community. The Living Theatre, with our combination of utopian political theories and experimental theatrical techniques, has often struggled to maintain funding," continues the noted actress and director. "Now we have created a wonderful new performance space which we are in danger of losing. We have a long-term lease, but meeting its terms leaves us facing an uncertain future. With the help of our friends and supporters from the mainstream and avant-garde theatre, we will be able to stay at the current theatre at 21 Clinton Street - and I will be able to continue to do the work I love."

Joining Ms. Malina and The Living Theatre to perform selected readings are multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Martin Sheen, best known for his work on TV's "The West Wing," and in such films as "Apocalypse Now," and "The Subject Was Roses," in which he reprised the role he originated on Broadway in 1964; and Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis whose most memorable roles include Rose Castorini in "Moonstruck" and Clairee Belcher in "Steel Magnolias," and the title character in the one-woman Broadway play ROSE.

Mr. Sheen is celebrating his 50th-year anniversary with The Living Theatre, joining in 1959 to portray Ernie in the company's OBIE Award-winning production of THE CONNECTION, and serving on our board of directors for the last 25 years.

Special guests and performers also include legendary rock musician Ray Manzerak, co-founder and keyboardist for The Doors; acclaimed writers Michael McClure ("The Beard") and Anne Waldman, author of RED NOIR which is currently playing at The Living Theatre; and others to be announced.

The evening also includes a rare screening of select scenes from the documentary "Babbleonia" featuring Al Pacino, with whom Ms. Malina co-starred in "Dog Day Afternoon," in which he discusses The Living Theatre's influence on his life and career.

The Living Theatre was co-founded in 1947 by current artistic director Judith Malina and Julian Beck, who served as the company's executive director until his death in 1985. For more than six decades, the company has presented a unique body of work that has influenced theatre the world over, staging nearly a hundred productions, performed in nine languages in twenty-nine countries on five continents.

In the 1950s, The Living Theatre was among the first theater companies in the U.S. to produce the work of influential European playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht and Jean Cocteau, as well as modernist poets as T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein. Based in a variety of small New York locations that were frequently closed due to financial problems or conflicts with city authorities, they helped originate Off-Broadway as a significant force in U.S. theatre. Their work during this period shared some aspects of style and content with beat generation writers. Also during this time, the American composer Alan Hovhaness and John Cage worked closely with The Living Theatre, composing music for its productions. In 1959, THE CONNECTION attracted national attention for
its harsh portrayal of drug addiction and its equally harsh language.

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 Theatre (founded by Living Theatre member Joseph Chaikin) and
Bread & Puppet Theatre. Its productions have won three Obie Awards: THE CONNECTION (1959); THE BRIG (1963) and FRANKENSTEIN (1968).

The company opened the doors of its present location at 21 Clinton Street in May of 2007 with a revival of its landmark production THE BRIG. The Living Theatre's current (and possibly last) production in the performance space, Anne Waldman's RED NOIR, directed by Judith Malina, runs December 7, 2009-January 30, 2010.

THE LIVING THEATRE FUNDRAISING GALA on Friday, December 18 at The Players Club (16 Gramercy Park South) begins with cocktails and a buffet dinner from 6 to 7pm, followed by a program of music and performance. Tickets are $60, plus your contribution to the theatre. For reservations, call 212-397-9301 or email livingbenefit09@gmail.com.

For additional information, visit www.livingtheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride