Ridiculous Theatre Pioneer John Vaccaro Dies at 86

When people today think of Off-Off Broadway's Ridiculous Theatre Movement, the name that usually first comes to mind is Charles Ludlum, the playwright/actor who founded Greenwich Village's Ridiculous Theatre Company, which premiered his works such as THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP and EUNUCHS OF THE FORDIDDEN CITY.

But the style was first brought into prominence by director John Vaccaro, whose Play-House Of The Ridiculous, founded in 1965, mounted Ludlam's first New York productions until he left the group due to artistic differences.

The New York Times reports that Vaccaro died this past Sunday due to complications after surgery for an aneurysm. He was 86.

Play-House Of The Ridiculous, a company that performed in various Off-Off Broadway houses such as La Mama ETC, The Coda Gallery and The Gotham Art Theater, Max's Kansas City, was created as an antidote to the predominantly naturalistic American theatre of the time.

Scripts were generally parodies or social commentaries and were considered to be starting points for presentations of farce and absurdity, highlighted by extremely elevated language and broad acting. Vaccaro has said that the company's name came about when an actress called the work "ridiculous." Vaccaro replied, "Yes," and proudly retained the adjective.

Playwright Ronald Tavel, said of the company's first productions, "We have passed beyond the absurd: our position is absolutely preposterous."

Tavel's THE LIFE OF LADY GODIVA, SHOWER and INDIRA GANDHI'S DARING DEVICE were among those early productions, as well as Ludlam's BIG HOTEL, William M. Hoffman's xxXX and Tom Murrin's c*ckSTRONG and SON OF c*ckSTRONG.

"My people are like what they do onstage in real life," Vaccaro explained in an interview for Cue Magazine. "Few of them are different. They're not actors. Few have had any training, and with those, I've had to destroy their grammar-school ideas of acting."

Click the link below for the full obituary.

The BBC documentary below offers a brief profile on Vaccaro's career.