The New York Poets Theatre
New York: The American Theatre for Poets, n.d. [1964].
A rare playbill from the New York Poets Theatre, announcing plays by LeRoi Jones ("The Eighth Ditch"), Diane di Prima ("Murder Cake"), and Frank O'Hara ("Loves Labor, an eclogue).
Jones (later Amiri Baraka) and di Prima were two of the founders of the New York Poets Theatre, which operated in locations on the Lower East Side.
"The Eighth Ditch" was Jones's first play and was originally presented at the New York Poets Theatre in 1961. The play derived from his larger work, "The System of Dante's Hell," which ignited enormous controversy because of its explicit sexual content.
In fact, Jones and di Prima were arrested in 1961 on charges of sending obscenity through the mail after they had published "The Eighth Ditch" in their literary magazine, "The Floating Bear." (They also had published Williams S. Burroughs's "Routine: Roosevelt after Inauguration" in the same issue of June 1961.) In any case, the charges against Jones and di Prima were eventually dropped. (See Steven Clay and Rodney Phillips, A Secret Location on the Lower East Side, page 75).
The playbill presents biographies of the writers and listings of casts. There are also brief commentaries on each of the plays by directors Alan Marlowe on Jones and James Waring on di Prima. The playbill includes O'Hara's comments on his own play.
Playbills of the New York Poets Theatre are extremely uncommon in the market. Many were cheaply printed and probably thrown away. In addition, OCLC shows no institutional holdings of this playbill. None in commerce.
PHYSICAL DETAILS: Printed wrappers measuring 8.5 x 7 inches (217 x 177 mm), 8 mimeographed pages, unbound.
CONDITION: Sunning to extremities, vertical crease. About Very Good. Item #3067
Price: $250.00