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Julie Bovasso and Cletus L. Gundy Present a Tempo Playhouse Production: Gertrude Stein's "The 13th of March": Selections From the First Reader [and] Jean Genet's "The Maids."

[Tempo Playhouse] [Playbill] Stein, Gertrude and Jean Genet

New York: Tempo Playhouse, [1955].

8vo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; 215 x 140 mm), [8] pages, in stapled wrappers.

A rare playbill for the first plays presented by Julie Bovasso's Tempo Playhouse in New York: Gertrude Stein's "The 13th of March: Selections From the First Reader," and Jean Genet's "The Maids." In fact, this was the first production of "The Maids" in the United States. Both plays were directed by Strowan Robertson, with sets and costumes by Lester Hackett. 

The 24-year-old Bovasso founded the theatre with $250 from the sale of a painting by Bovasso's husband, George Ortman. She rented an apartment at 4 St. Mark's Place in the East Village and built a small stage and a box office. (See Stephen J. Bottoms, "Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway Movement," pages 37-38).

The playbill doesn't give the opening date, but a small item in The New York Times of March 10, 1955, states the opening would take place on Saturday, March 12. The Times also placed the location of the opening at Steyer Hall Playhouse, 184 Eldridge Street, which must have been a temporary venue.

Bovasso played the role of Claire in "The Maids," which ran until mid-July 1955. The following year, the Village Voice initiated the Obie Awards for Off-Broadway. Bovasso won the first Obie for Best Actress and Tempo Playhouse received a special citation that year.

Bovasso's co-stars in "The Maids" were Joyce Henry as Solange and Fran Malis as Madame. Being the versatile actress that she was, Bovasso also apparently played Solange at times.

For the Stein production -- which was actually two plays: "In a Garden," and "Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters" -- the actors were Herbert King (Philip), Stanley Pitts (Kit Raccoon), Nancy Ponder (Lucy Willow), Anne Edwards (Helen), and Marcia Pavia (Ellen).

Just like playbills for the Living Theatre, the Tempo playbill lists paintings and sculptures for sale at the theatre. Painters include Joan Mitchell, Perle Fine, Lois Dodd, Angelo Ippolito, Michael Goldberg, Margaret Barlett, George Ortman, and Miles Forst, and the sculptors Marisol Escobar and William King. 

This playbill is rare. OCLC shows no institutional holdings, although a separate search turns up a copy at the University of Florida. RARE. 

CONDITION: Some creases and folds but clean and unmarked. A Very Good or better copy. Item #2089

Price: $500.00