Fred Newman's Theatre Work
Plays written and/or conceived by Fred Newman (in alphabetical order):
(All produced at the Castillo Theatre, NYC, unless otherwise noted)
A Demonstration: Common Women, the Uncommon Lives of Ordinary Women (1986) written with William Pleasant
All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret (2004)
Backstage (A Love-Hate Story of the Women's Movement)
Beyond the Pale* (1996)
Billie, Malcolm & Yusuf (1991)
Billie & Malcolm: A Demonstration (1993)
Carmen’s Community (1987), with excerpts from Carmen, music by Geo
Carmen’s Place (A Fantasy) (1998) music written with Annie Roboff, with excerpts from Carmen, music by Georges Bizet, words by H. Meilhac and L. Halevy
Castillo Improv (2003)
The Collected Emotions of V.I. Lenin (1986) written with Dan Friedman
Coming of Age in Korea (1996) music and lyrics written with Annie Roboff
Controluce (1995) conceived with Graziella Martinoli
Crown Heights (1998) written with Dan Friedman and Jacqueline Salit, music and lyrics by Dan Belmont, Browneyes, Dan Friedman and Lenny Moore
Dead as a Jew (Zion’s Community) (1992)
Demonstration! (1988) written with William Pleasant
Demonstration 2004 (2004)
Diary of a Mad Therapist (A New York Kind of Experience)* (2001)
From Gold to Platinum (1986) written with Dan Friedman and William Pleasant
Have You Ever Seen a Dream Rapping? (2005)
Home Movie & Hootenanny (2002)
Kansas on my Mind (1994) music and lyrics written with Annie Roboff
The Last Temptation of William Jefferson (1999) music by Annie Roboff
Left of the Moon (1994)
Lenin’s Breakdown (1994) written with Dan Friedman
License to Dream (2005), music by David Truskinoff
Life Upon the Wicked Stage* (1997)
Mantle, Maris and Mom (The Goys of Summer) (2001) music by Annie Roboff
Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday (1986)
The Myth of Psychology* (1999)
No Room for Zion (A Kaddish by a Communist Jew) (1989)
Odd Couple Seeks Professional Help: Marx and the Messiah in Therapy* (2003)
Off-Broadway Melodies of 1592 (The 400th Anniversary of the Centennial Celebration of Columbus’ So-called Discovery of America) (1992) music and lyrics written with Annie Roboff
Outing Wittgenstein (or Sunday in the Park with Ludwig) (1993)
Outing Wittgenstein (or Sunday in the Park with Ludwig) (1993)
Outing Wittgenstein (1994)
Revising Germany (1998)
Risky Revolutionary (1996)
Safe at Third (or, Josh Gibson Don't Bunt) (2009)
Sally and Tom (The American Way) (1995) music written by Annie Roboff,
Salvador (Fictional Conversations) (1997)
Satchel: A Requiem for Racism (1998)
Sessions with Jesus (The Story of Greatness Never Told) (2002)
Stealin’ Home (1997)
Still on the Corner (1993) music and lyrics written with Annie Roboff
The Store: One Block East of Jerome (1991)
The Story of Truth* (1998)
The Story of Truth (A Whodunit) (1999)
The Therapy Plays: Newman’s Postmodern Follies (2005)
This Is Your Ridiculous Life!! (2004)
To Be or Not To Be or Neither: A Performatory History of Developmental Theatre (In the Rough) (2000)
What is to be Dead? (Philosophical Scenes) (1996, Jan 2002, Oct 2008)
Who’s on First? (2001)
Yes! We Have No Bananas and Other Contradictions in the Life of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1993)
* performed at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association
** produced at the Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
Fred Newman Directing Credits (in chronological order):
(All written by Fred Newman unless otherwise noted)
A Demonstration: Common Women, the Uncommon Lives of Ordinary Women (March 1986)
From Gold to Platinum (June/Sept 1986)
The Collected Emotions of V.I. Lenin (Oct 1986, June/December 1990)
Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday (Dec 1986, March 1991)
Carmen’s Community (March 1987, Oct/Nov 1989, April 1992, May 1995)
Müllerschmerz/Müller’s Pain by William Pleasant (Sept 1987, Oct/Nov 1989)
Demonstration! (May 1988)
Demonstration! Aaron Davis Hall, City College of New York (Sept 1988)
No Room for Zion (A Kaddish by a Communist Jew) (Oct/Nov 1989, Dec 1990)
The Store: One Block East of Jerome (March 1991, April 1995)
Billie, Malcolm & Yusuf (Nov 1991)
Dead as a Jew (Zion’s Community) (May 1992)
Explosion of a Memory (Description of a Picture) by Heiner Müller (Oct 1992, May 2003)
Off-Broadway Melodies of 1592 (The 400th Anniversary of the Centennial Celebration of Columbus’ So-called Discovery of America) (Nov 1992)
Billie & Malcolm: A Demonstration (Jan 1993, Feb 1994)
It’s Going Around by Yosef Mundy (March 1993)
Yes! We Have No Bananas and Other Contradictions in the Life of Ludwig Wittgenstein (May 1993)
Requiem For Communism (1993) a collaboration with Amy Pivar and Bill T. Jones
Still on the Corner (Nov 1993, Dec 1994)
The Task by Heiner Müller (Jan 1994)
Who Will Dance With Pancho Villa? (Only a Crazy Revolutionary) by John and Gabriel Fraire (April 1994)
Outing Wittgenstein (June 1994)
Kansas on my Mind (Aug 1994)
Red Channels by Laurence Holder (Sept 1994)
Left of the Moon (Nov 1994)
A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire (Sept 1995)
Sally and Tom (The American Way) (Dec 1995, Oct 2005) directed with Gabrielle Kurlander
F by Laurence Holder (Feb 1996)
Hamletmachine by Heiner Müller (March 1996, Oct 2002)
Galileo by Bertolt Brecht (May 1996) directed with Gabrielle Kurlander
What is to be Dead? (Philosophical Scenes) (June 1996)
A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire, Sermac Festival, Fort-de-France, Martinique (July 1996)
Coming of Age in Korea (Dec 1996)
An Obituary – Heiner Müller: A Man Without Behind featuring writings by Heiner Müller (April 1997) directed with David Nackman
Salvador (Fictional Conversations) (Sept 1997) directed with Dan Friedman
Satchel: A Requiem for Racism (Jan 1998) directed with Dan Friedman
The Mission by Heiner Müller (May 1998)
Revising Germany (Sept 1998)
Crown Heights (Nov 1998) directed with Dan Friedman, Pam Lewis, and Diane Stiles
The Story of Truth (A Whodunit) (May 1999)
The Last Temptation of William Jefferson (Sept 1999)
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss (Feb 2000)
To Be or Not To Be or Neither: A Performatory History of Developmental Theatre (In the Rough) (Dec 2000)
Stealin’ Home (Sept 2000, Oct 2004) 2004 production directed with David Nackman
Mantle, Maris and Mom (The Goys of Summer) (Feb 2001)
Who’s on First? (May 2001)
Germania 3 Ghosts at Dead Man by Heiner Müller (Oct 2001)
Home Movie & Hootenanny (March 2002)
Sessions with Jesus (The Story of Greatness Never Told) (May 2002)
Castillo Improv (Feb 2003)
Demonstration 2004 (Jan 2004)
Mommsen’s Future featuring writings by Heiner Müller (April 2004)
Castillo on my Mind (July 2004) directed with Cathy Rose Salit
License to Dream (June 2005)
Sapphire’s Kiss by Maggie Zarillo-Gouldin (June 2006) directed with Mary Fridley
Backstage (A Love-Hate Story of the Women's Movement) (2009)
Safe at Third (or, Josh Gibson Don't Bunt) (2009)
Collaborations with other theatre artists (in chronological order):
Controluce conceived by Graziella Martinoli and Fred Newman (Oct 1995)
Requiem For Communism, a dance piece written with theatrical elements, written and directed by Fred Newman, a collaboration with Amy Pivar and Bill T. Jones (Fall 1993)
License to Dream, conceived by Fred Newman and David Parsons, book and lyrics by Fred Newman, music by David Truskinoff (June 2005)
Film
Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers) written and directed by Fred Newman (2003)
Public dialogues on theatre (in chronological order):
Culture Talk for A Season In the Congo (Sept 1995) with Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, chair, U.S.-Congo Friendship Committee, professor, Georgetown University; Roger Toumson, professor, University of Guyana
Culture Talk for Controluce (Oct 1995) with Graziella Martinoli, founder and artistic director of La Pinguicola Sulle Vigne, Genoa, Italy; Dr. Mimi D’Aponte, Executive Committee of CUNY Ph.D. program in Theatre, Baruch College Speech Department; Mario Fratti, playwright, theatre critic; Dr. Jane House, Academic Committee member, McGregor School of Antioch University, Professor, Lehman College
Culture Talk for Sally and Tom (The American Way) (Dec 1995) with Annette Gordon-Reed: writer, professor, NYU Law School; Dr. Jan Lewis; Dr. Herbert Sloan: writer, professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
Culture Talk for F / Left of the Moon (Feb 1996) with Laurence Holder, playwright, director; Judith Malina and Hanon Resnikov, Living Theatre; Jenneth Webster, Lincoln Center Out of Doors
Culture Talk for Hamletmachine (March 1996) with Stephan Suschke, artistic director, Berliner Ensemble; Jonathan Kalb; Sylvere Lotringer; Andreas Huysen
Culture Talk for Galileo (May 1996) with Bill Coco, Dramaturg, Actors Studio; Dr. Jay Lemke, Physicist, CUNY
Culture Talk for What Is To Be Dead? (Philosophical Scenes) (June 1996) with Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez, professor, Mt. Holyoke College, creative writer, cultural critic; Victoria McIlwaine
Ché as Cultural Icon (Sept 1996) with Janis Astor del Valle, Writer, actor, producer, Primary Stages; Alma Villegas, actress, director, Executive Director of Music Against Drugs, Inc.
Whore Goddess: Popular Culture and the African American Woman Artist (Nov 1996) with Kim Green, production manager, Mercury Records; Laurence Holder, playwright, director; Bertha Hope, jazz pianist, professor, New School; Sally Placksin, author, radio producer, NPR
Growing Up an “Ugly American” (Dec 1996) with Christine Choy, chair of the Graduate Film & TV Dept. at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts; Heinz Insu Fenkl, professor, Vassar College, Author; Sunghee Jung, director of New Hope Christian Theatre; Laurel Kendall, Curator, American Museum of National History, professor, Columbia University
American Democracy and American Sports (Feb 1997) with Vic Ziegel, columnist, New York Daily News; Lawrence Hogan; Ed Charles Third baseman, New York Mets; Joe Dorinsonl chairman, History Department, Long Island University
What’s Really Gay – and Does It Matter? (June 1997) with Dave DeChristoper: playwright
Culture Talk for Salvador (Fictional Conversations) (Dec 1997) with René, artistic director, Repertorio Español; Alberto Minero, Theatre Critic, El Diario, Village Voice
Culture Talk for The Store: One Block East of Jerome (Nov 1997) with Bina Sharif, playwright, director; Juliana Francis, performance artist; Penny Arcade, performance artist
Culture Talk for Satchel: A Requiem for Racism (Jan 1998) with Ed Bullins, playwright; Carl Clay, founder, Black Spectrum Theater
Culture Talk for Carmen’s Place (A Fantasy) with Michael Capaso, founder, general director, Dicapo Opera Theatre; David Esbjornson, artistic director, Classic Stage Company; Richard Kessler, executive director, The American Music Center; Tom O’Horgan, director, Vienna State Opera, New York City Opera
Performing a Revolutionary Poet in a Non-Revolutionary Time (May 1998) with Sean McGlynn, director; Joe Martin, artistic director, dramaturg, Open Theatre/T.U.T.A.; Zeljko Djukic, director, Open Theatre/T.U.T.A.
Revising Brecht (Sept 1998) with John Feugi, founder, International Brecht Society, author
Youth, Theatre, and History: A Dialogue between Elizabeth Swados and Fred Newman (Nov 1998)
The Myth of Race (Jan 1999) with Annette Gordon-Reed, professor, NY Law School, author, Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings An American Controversy; Dorothy Jefferson Westerinen, descendant of Thomas Jefferson; Shay Banks-Young, descendant of Thomas Jefferson
Revolution’s Breakdown (March 1999) with Jeremy Pikser, co-author Bulworth; Marketta Kimbrell, artistic director, New York Street Theatre Caravan
What’s Truth Got To Do With It? (June 1999) with Kenneth Gergen, postmodern psychologist, professor, Swarthmore College
Performing Politics (Sept 1999) with Pat Choate, author, 1996 Vice Presidential Candidate, Reform Party
Will It Ever Happen? (Dec 1999) with Milton Little, Jr., executive vice president, National Urban League; Lee Stringer, author, former editor, Street News
After Revolution Fails (Feb 2000) with Richard Schechner, professor, New York University, editor, The Drama Review
Memory, Motion, and Family (May 2000) with George Faison, choreographer
Culture Talk for Stealin’ Home (Sept 2000) with Larry Leon Hamlin, founder, producer and artistic director of the National Black Theatre Festival; Louis Johnson, Broadway choreographer and director; Roger Kahn, sportswriter, author of The Boys of Summer (Nov 2000)
Performance, Theatre, and Development (Dec 2000) with Dominic Chianese, actor, All Stars Project celebrity spokesperson
The Game Goes On (Feb 2001) with Roger Kahn: sportswriter, author of The Boys of Summer
You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’ (May 2001) with Susan Jaffe, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre
Müller in America Festival Presents… (Oct 2001) with Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator from Alaska and founder of Philadelphia II and Democracy Direct
What is to be Theatre? (Philosophical Scenes) (Jan 2002) with David Hersovits, artistic director of Target Margin Theater
Robert Wilson and Fred Newman: A Talk with 2 Directors (Feb 11, 2002), moderated by Richard Schechner at John Jay College of Criminal Justice
It’s Ridiculous, But is it Theatre? (March 2002) with John Vaccaro, founder of Ridiculous Theatre Company
Conversation with José Saramago (May 2002)
Ethics and Emotionality (May 2002) with G. Beaudin, founder and artistic director of thedramaloft
Many Hamlets, Many Machines (Oct 2002) with David Henderson, costume/scenic designer; John Troyer, founder, Praxis Group
Improvising New Ways of Seeing (Oct 2002) with Rosemary Quinn, director of NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing (ETW) at Tisch School of the Arts,
When (Theatre) Worlds Collide with David Esbjornson (Oct 2002)
Blooming Buzzing Confusion (with Dan Friedman) at the Cultural Politics of Heiner Muller Conference (April, 2005)
What are the Politics of Political Theatre, a symposium at the New School for Social Research
Muller Montage clip