Joseph Chaikin

Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater was the most celebrated and influential of the experimental companies that rocked American theatre in the 1960s. His work in that group and since has affected not only the face but the spirit of American theatre. Eileen Blumenthal's study of Chaikin goes beyond previously available material, drawing extensively on private notebooks, workshop records, and dozens of personal interviews conducted over nine years. She brings additional insights from a decade of observing Chaikin's private workshops and rehearsals. This lively account presents Chaikin's ideas about the stage as they have developed since the late 1950s, an inside view of his laboratory explorations in the Open Theater and the Winter Project, and reconstructions of his creative processes in developing ensemble works and directing plays. More than seventy photographs - many of them previously unpublished - include workshop and rehearsal shots as well as production photos. There is also an extensive bibliography.