Memorial Service for Off Broadway Theater Movement Founder Judith Malina to be Held Next Month

The Living Theatre will honor the life and legacy of Judith Malina with a memorial celebration to be held on Sunday, October 4, 2015 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La Mama, 66 E. 4th St., New York City. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the service will begin at 7:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

The program will include poetry readings by Ann Waldman, music by Baba Israel and Renê McLean, and presentations by Olympia Dukakis, Garrick Beck, Brad Burgess, Gordon Rogoff, Richard Schechner and other special guests. The Living Theatre ensemble will present a scene from "No Place to Hide," Judith Malina's last play.

"Judith was a galaxy of culture, a rock star, a booming presence. She put a lot of life in every second. She inspired students and artists, and by celebrating her we celebrate an example of what a person can be," said Brad Burgess, artistic director of The Living Theatre.

Judith Malina was an actor and director who with her husband, Julian Beck, founded The Living Theatre in New York City in 1947. She was born in Kiel, Germany, and came to New York in 1929 at the age of three, with her mother, a former actress, and her father, a Conservative rabbi. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, The Living Theatre linked political protest with artistic expression and became a force for experimental theatre, erasing the boundaries between performance and the audience. Her ensemble was among the first to present works by Kenneth Rexroth, T. S. Eliot, Paul Goodman, Jean Cocteau, W. H. Auden and William Carlos Williams.

As an actress, Ms. Malina appeared on "The Sopranos" as Aunt Dottie and in films including "The Addams Family," Woody Allen's "Radio Days" and, most memorably, "Dog Day Afternoon" as the mother of the bank robber played by Al Pacino.

Judith Malina won many honors for her work including seven Obie Awards, the Grand Prix du Théâtre des Nations, the Paris Critics Circle medallion, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2003. Judith Malina died on April 10, 2015, at the age of 88.

About The Living Theatre

The Living Theatre is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States and has been called the single most influential American company of its era. For most of its history it was led by its founders, the actress, director and playwright Judith Malina and the painter and poet Julian Beck. From its beginnings in New York City in 1947, The Living Theatre has used political theatre to transform society. The troupe engages, energizes and involves audiences in its performances and continues to be a major contributor to the off Broadway theater movement.

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