Charles Ludlam And The Ridiculous Theatrical Company

Download or read book Ridiculous! written by David Kaufman and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2005 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Applause Books). From his first unscripted appearance on an Off-Broadway stage in the revolutionary 1960s to the frontpage news of his death from AIDS in 1987 at age 44, Charles Ludlam embodied and helped to engender the upheavals of his time. The astonishing life and legacy of this force to be reckoned with are at last revealed in RIDICULOUS! , a literary biography of an American comic genius. After founding the Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1967, Ludlam sustained an ever-shifting troupe of bohemian players through two decades of perennially daunting circumstances by writing 29 plays plays that he starred in and directed as well. While Ludlam's work has become increasingly popular at regional theatres, on college campuses, and on stages throughout the world, his gender-bending theories and wide-ranging cultural impact have reached far beyond Bette Midler, the original cast members of Saturday Night Live and the countless other artists he influenced during his abbreviated lifetime. Like his early plays, Ludlam's life was rife with the sex, drugs and creative experimentation that characterized the freewheeling '60s and '70s. Based on a decade of research and interviews with more than 150 people who knew or worked with Ludlam including all of the major players in his troupe and seven of his lovers RIDICULOUS! recreates the dramatic life of an inimitable and subversive theatrical master with you-are-there intensity. Winner of the LAMBDA Literary Award for Biography and the Theatre Library Association Award for Outstanding Theatre Book of the Year "David Kaufman makes a persuasive case for Ludlam's being a genius ... As a record of Ludlam's life and the theatrical world in which he was both guru and grandmaster, this book is informed and passionate." Mel Gussow, The New York Times "A fascinating portrait of an authentic stage genius and the New York avant-garde scene in which he toiled with such demented and dedicated diligence." Playbill "The phenom who inspired everyone from Bette Midler and Madeline Kahn to Tony Kushner and Paul Rudnick was no box of chocolates which, as reading experiences go, makes his story all the sweeter." Vanity Fair "This is one helluva piece of work." Marilyn Stasio, Variety.com

Download or read book Ridiculous Theatre written by Charles Ludlam and published by Theatre Communications Grou. This book was released on 1992 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Never widely available in his lifetime, Ludlam's essays and opinions of theatre reveal a complex mind focused on theatrical invention.

Download or read book Charles Ludlam and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company written by Rick Roemer and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-07-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 1960s, Charles Ludlam (1943-1987) brought his unique brand of theatre to New York audiences. Based in part on traditional comic characters, his "ridiculous" school included such inspirations as Hollywood B movies, camp, drag, and opera. His shows were also a study in self-collaboration; Ludlam acted as playwright, director, designer, and actor in his own Off Broadway theatre--the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Critically, Ludlam's works were often overlooked or misunderstood, and since his death The Mystery of Irma Vep is the only one of his 29 plays consistently performed in regional theatres. This work provides an overview of Ludlam's life, explores the theatrical underpinnings of his work and goes on to cover the entire Ludlam canon. The book includes examinations of such plays as Le Bourgeois Avant-Garde, Bluebeard, Galas and Stage Blood. It concludes with a look at Ludlam's work in the 1980s when he focused on presenting new plays, many of them original farces.

Download or read book Charles Ludlam Lives! written by Sean Edgecomb and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2017-06-15 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Playwright, actor and director Charles Ludlam (1943–1987) helped to galvanize the Ridiculous style of theater in New York City starting in the 1960s. Decades after his death, his place in the chronicle of American theater has remained constant, but his influence has changed. Although his Ridiculous Theatrical Company shut its doors, the Ludlamesque Ridiculous has continued to thrive and remain a groundbreaking genre, maintaining its relevance and potency by metamorphosing along with changes in the LGBTQ community. Author Sean F. Edgecomb focuses on the neo-Ridiculous artists Charles Busch, Bradford Louryk, and Taylor Mac to trace the connections between Ludlam’s legacy and their performances, using alternative queer models such as kinetic kinship, lateral historiography, and a new approach to camp. Charles Ludlam Lives! demonstrates that the queer legacy of Ludlam is one of distinct transformation—one where artists can reject faithful interpretations in order to move in new interpretive directions.

Download or read book The Mystery of Irma Vep written by Charles Ludlam and published by Samuel French, Inc.. This book was released on 1987 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover title: The Ridiculous Theatrical Co. presents Charles Ludlam's The mystery of Irma Vep.

Download or read book Theatre of the Ridiculous written by Bonnie Marranca and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a theatrical form, the "ridiculous" thrived in the 1970s and early 1980s, playfully subverting dramatic and social convention in its mix of camp, role-playing, literary and cinematic allusions--and anticipating the current interest in gender, cross-dressing, and popular culture. Originally published in 1979, THEATRE OF THE RIDICULOUS (now revised and updated) was the first book to document this innovative and challenging form.

Download or read book Charles Ludlam and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company written by Rick Roemer and published by McFarland. This book was released on 1998 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ludlam (1943-1987) first brought his unique brand of theater to New York audiences in the late 1960s. Based in part on traditional comic characters, his ridiculous school included such inspirations as Hollywood B movies, camp, drag, opera and theatrical artifice. The author provides an overview of Ludlam's life, exploring the theatrical underpinnings of his work and then the whole Ludlam canon. A look at Ludlam's work in the 1980s concludes the work. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR