La MaMa European Tour #1

In July 1964, a troupe of actors in Bogata (organized by Edgar Negret and Paul Foster) were invited to the Theatre Festival in Erlangen, Germany to play QUE VIVA EL PUENTE, which is HURRAH FOR THE BRIDGE in Spanish. A director in Aarhus, Denmark, named Jens Okking saw them He translated THE RECLUSE and HURRAH FOR THE BRIDGE into Danish and performed them at Svalegangen Theatre in Aarhus. Ellen Stewart and Paul Foster went there to see it.

At about this same tim, Marie Claire Charba and Jacques Lynn Colton were performing since May 1964 THE WHITE WHORE AND THE BIT PLAYER by Tom Eyen at Shakespeare and Co. Bookshop in Paris. From these first beginnings in Denmark and Paris, the idea for the first La MaMa tour was conceived.

We selected some of the best plays presented since 1962 and made up a repertory for our First European Tour. Tom O'Horgan and Ross Alexander were the two directors of the troupes. Tom was to play in Copenhagen for six weeks and Ross to play in Paris for six weeks, then each group was to switch cities. The Ross Troupe ran into trouble and the audience was poor. They returnred to New York since there were no salaries and the only money to live on came from whatever tickets were sold. Tom's troupewent well and they played both cities. They eventually settled, for the period of September 1965 to February 1966 in Copenhagen.

They played in repertory at small theatres such as The Comedie Huset, Copenhagen University, Svalegangen in Aarhus, etc. The plays were: CHICAGO by Sam Shepard, THIS IS THE RILL SPEAKING by Lanford Wilson, THE RECLUSE by Paul Foster, THANK YOU MISS VICTORIA by William Hoffman, BIRDBATH by Leonard Melfi, THE CIRCUS by Gerald Schoenwolf, WAR and AMERICA HURRAH by Jean Claude Van Itallie and THE CIRCLE by Alex Civello. The players were: Kevin Oconnor, Michael Warren Powell, Victor LiPari, Mari-Claire Charba, Jaque Lynn Colton and Tom O'Horgan. Meanwhile La MaMa in New York continued on.

BANG