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In 1968 The Living Theatre, an anarcho-communalist troupe led by Julian Beck and Judith Malina, returned to America from years of self-imposed exile in Europe with what would become their best-known production: “Paradise Now,” a post-Artaud play that sought to completely dissolve the boundaries of human interactions through a practice of live collective creation, forging a revolutionary harmony between actors and audience. “The purpose of the play is to lead to a state of being in which non-violent revolutionary action is possible," wrote Julian, and he meant it. What happened each night onstage—and offstage, and then out into the streets—was a series of purposefully provocative and interventionist actions, from marijuana smoking and full-body group nudity to screamed declarations, intense arguments, dance and (yes) orgies, sometimes involving audience members. They attracted the attention of the police, the derision of mainstream critics, and the devotion of many, including The Doors’ Jim Morrison, who followed them from performance to performance up the West Coast.
Paradise Now: The Living Theatre in Amerika collects two major contemporaneous films documenting the Living Theatre during this sensational period—Marty Topp’s masterful “Paradise Now,” a filmic, intense collage of inflammatory performance footage and soundtrack (including music by the MC5) produced by poet/mystic/mylar photographer/filmmaker Ira Cohen (The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda), and Gwen Brown’s “Emergency!,” a fly-on-the-wall documentary featuring interviews and priceless footage of theatre members composing scenes, building sets, taking care of their toddlers and battling skeptical members of the press—as well as new interviews with Judith Malina and other Living Theatre members, texts and art by Julian Beck, Antonin Artaud and others that informed “Paradise Now,” an alternate soundtrack for “Emergency!,” two large posters, a short film documenting a recent revival of “Paradise Now,” and much more.
“Paradise Now”: In 1968, nobody had seen anything like it. Now, you can.
Further Information:
Includes a 36-page full color magazine and posters unearthed from the vaults.
| Catalog Number: MC-1168 |
Type: Shorts Compilation |
Genre: Documentary, Art / Artist, Political / Social |
| Copyright: 1969 |
Length: 180 minutes |
Format:
Book+DVD |
| TV System: NTSC |
ISBN: |
UPC: |
| Label: |
Notes: Four + hours of features fully restored, early radical never before distributed films revolutionary maps and action guides.
This is a Microcinema Exclusive title.
Wholesale Purchasing:
Program MC-1168 is available for wholesale from Microcinema DVD. Contact info[at]microcinema.com or call at +1-415-447-9750
Exhibition:
Program MC-1168 may be licensed for Exhibition.
Films In Compilation
Paradise Now directed by
Living Theatre in Amerika
USA,
Documentary,
1969,
B&W,
00:49:00
A film by Marty Topp, produced by Ira Cohen Filmmaker Marty Topp followed the Living Theater as they outraged and inspired their way across America; his intense film collages and distills their performances into a poetic documentary that mirrors the radicality and sheer full-onness of the Living Theatre's rites of outrage, liberation and communion. With music by Jilala, MC5 and others.
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Emergency: The Living Theatre directed by
Living Theatre in Amerika
USA,
Documentary,
1968,
Color,
00:34:00
This little-seen documentary film by filmmaker Gwen Brown combines footage of Living Theatre productions Mysteries, Paradise Now, and Frankenstein with interviews with Living Theatre members and behind-the-scenes production footage. See the LT interact with the press, build scenes and stages, and practice being free.
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Love & Politics directed by
Living Theatre in Amerika
USA,
Art / Artist,
2010,
00:00:00
an introduction to the themes and personalities at the heart of the work of The Living Theatre, including scenes from The Living Theatre's repertory and poems and texts by Malina, Reznikov and Julian Beck. With an introduction by Ira Cohen.
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Permanent Revolution Change! directed by
Living Theatre in Amerika
USA,
Political / Social,
2007,
Color,
00:19:00
A film by Will Swofford and Georg Gatsas. In August 2007, The Living Theatre restaged “Paradise Now” in New York's Union Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the execution of anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti wrongly convicted for murder. This film documents the event.
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2010-05-25
By Gene Youngblood
"A riveting return to a revolutionary moment in art and life. Powerful and inspiring. A real gift to us all."
| 1969-04-01 The Drama Review number 43
By Stefan Brecht
“Like an astonishing portion of the country's popular music, the spectacles of The Living Theater proved to be in content and form outside the social system--not structured by it nor, except as outlet, implementing it: liberated territory.”
| 1970-07-01 East Village Other
By Don Snyder
“Joyous, brutal, exploding with the kinetic energies of psychic catharsis…Marty Topp's PARADISE NOW has captured the essence of this extraordinary theatrical experiment. It is unquestionably one of the finest artistic documentaries to come out of the United States cinema. Its heartfelt sincerity should be sheer inspiration to the many young people throughout the country who are struggling to make meaningful and influential work. It is the reverberation of a crucially important message that must not be neglected, for the consequences are too terrible to endure. Marty Topp's achievement is not just in the making of a great film, but in making us remember again, Paradise as a reality.”
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Variations VII by John Cage
MC-749, 2008
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In 1966 ten New York artists and thirty engineers and scientists from Bell Telephone Laboratories collaborated on a series of innovative dance, music and theater performances, 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, held in October at the 69th Regiment... more >
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