Review - Remembering The Birth of Off-Off Broadway

Robert Patrick, that legendary pioneer of Gay Theatre, may spend most of his time on that other coast these days, but his heart always remains at a little storefront on Cornelia Street that once housed the birthplace of Off-Off Broadway, the Caffe Cino. One of my first assignments for BroadwayWorld was an interview with that remarkably colorful playwright, where he shared vivid memories of that exciting time in American theatre when he and the likes of Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and John Guare enjoyed complete artistic freedom in seeing their early efforts staged. Bernadette Peters starred in the original one-act version of Dames At Sea on the tiny Cino stage.

Robert just popped me an email to tell me about a documentary in the works called The Caffe Cino, directed by Mark Waren and produced by Fay Chiang. Judging from their web site, this one looks like it's going to be a must see for theatre lovers. Pictured here are Waren and Chiang surrounding Ellen Stewart, who created quite a bit of Off-Off Broadway history herself as founder of La MaMa E.T.C., after sharing some of her own Cino memories for the camera.