Playwright Kenneth Bernard Has Passed Away at 90

The New York Times has reported that playwright Kenneth Bernard, a key figure in the experimental theater movement, passed away on August 9th at age 90. Bernard is survived by his sons Lucas and Judd; his daughter, Katey E. Bernard; and four grandchildren.

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Bernard's works were staged by he Playhouse of the Ridiculous and other theatrical companies in New York, and his work began in small performance spaces in New York City in the 1960s. By day Dr. Bernard was an English professor at Long Island University, a job he held for more than 40 years.

Bernard's plays included "Night Club" (1970), "The Magic Show of Dr. Ma-Gico" (1973) and "The Sixty Minute Queer Show" (1977) and more.

In 1978, Gerald Rabkin wrote in Performing Arts Journal:

"In contrast to Tavel's arch verbalism and Ludlam's distinctive blend of travesty and tradition, Bernard brought to the Ridiculous a nightmare imagination rooted in the grotesque... He did not reject the playfulness, the phallicism, the sexual ambiguity that had characterized early Ridiculous work. But he subordinated them and added a scream of pain."

Rob Baker of The Daily News was among those to understand the complexity of Dr. Bernard's work. When reviewing "The Sixty Minute Queer Show" when it was staged at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in Manhattan in 1977, and directed by John Vaccaro, he wrote:

"It is a pastiche of short skits parodying virtually every play presented at La MaMa in the past 10 years, including several of Vaccaro's own...The spoofs are outrageous but never mean, for Vaccaro's style is to move and to provoke as he destroys, to leave us haunted after the hysteria."

Read the full story HERE.