The Living Theatre [antikvár]

In the spring of 1957,1 received an invitation from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of New York University to conduct a drama course during the forthcoming academic year. I was hesitant about accepting, for I have no academic background and, except for brief spells at the University of Michigan, the Yale School of the Theatre and the University of Colorado's Writers' Conference, I was without experience as a teacher. However, I was assured that there was no formal prescription for the course, and that all that was required was that I draw upon my practical acquaintance with the professional theatre. Given so much latitude, and with more than forty years of theatrical activity behind me, I felt that it was a job I might be able to handle, so finally I agreed to undertake it.I chose, as a title for the course. Contemporary Theatre. That seemed broad enough to cover anything I might want to talk aboutand, indeed, so it proved to be. About seventy students enrolled, and I want to describe the composition of the group, for it has an important bearing upon the genesis of this book. The students were all graduates, ranging in age, I should say, from twenty-five to thirty-five. All were residents of the metropolitan area of New York, many of them natives. While some were undoubtedly taking the course solely in pursuance of the laborious