Arthur Magazine

On Thursday August 23rd, 2007, in the south plaza of New York’s Union Square The Living Theatre presented Paradise Now in the streets marking the 80th anniversary of the capital executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti - Italian immigrants unjustly executed for their anarchist political convictions.

Witness the restaging of their landmark play Paradise Now in New York’s Union Square on the site of a historic mass protest by over 500,000 supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti on the fateful day in 1927 when they were electrocuted by the State of Massachussets.

- TWO DOUBLE SIDED 14 x 19 POSTERS 1) THE MAP OF PARADISE as drawn by Julian Beck and 2) AN INFRARED ODYSESSY a stunning montage of photographs by Don Snyder from Paradise Now at Brooklyn Academy of Music

- 36 PAGE FULL COLOR MAGAZINE BOOKLET including texts by Antonin Artaud, Allan Graubard, Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Ira Cohen, Don Snyder, photographs, stills from the films, ephemera and much more

- INTERVIEWS with directors Julian Beck*, Judith Malina, Hanon Reznikov, company member Steve Ben

Israel, and producer Ira Cohen

*(courtesy of Mark Ari)

- THE SPINNING WHEEL by Steve Ben Israel,

soundtrack to EMERGENCY sourced from

agit-prop radio broadcasts

- LOVE & POLITICS, an introduction to the themes and personalities at the heart of the work of The Living Theatre, including scenes from The Living Theatre repertory and poems and texts by Malina, Reznikov, Julian Beck. Filmed at The Pink Pony NYC and LaMama ETC with an introduction by Ira Cohen

- FULL THEATRICAL SCRIPT SLIDESHOW of Paradise Now, A Collective Creation of The Living

Theatre, as written down by Julian Beck and Judith Malina documenting more than 100 performances of the event

- MYSTIC FIRE GALLERY of excerpts from Living Theatre documentaries including Sheldon Rochlin’s watershed documentary, Signal Through the Flames

- AKASHIC VIDEO GALLERY of excerpts from current and forthcoming Arthur DVD releases

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In 1968 The Living Theatre, led by Julian Beck and Judith Malina, triumphantly

returned to America from years of self-imposed exile in Europe with their

theatrical breakthrough Paradise Now. The

play introduces the practice of collective creation, dissolving the boundaries

of human interactions and forging a harmony between the actors and audience. Of

this process, Julian Beck writes, “Collective creation is the secret weapon of

the people… This play is a voyage from the many to the one and from the one to

the many. It’s a spiritual voyage and a political voyage, a voyage for the

actors and the spectators. The play is a vertical ascent toward permanent

revolution, leading to revolutionary action here and now.  The revolution

of which the play speaks is the beautiful, non-violent, anarchist revolution.

The purpose of the play is to lead to a state of being in which non-violent

revolutionary action is possible.”

The result of this shared voyage is the spontaneous creation of a temporary

anarchist collective- free from the enslavements of war, violence, the State,

money and the self.

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“Paradise Now is possibly The Living Theatre’s greatest achievement …

unsurpassable!” — Ira Cohen

“This past spring, in a group art show at New York’s Swiss Institute, an old

black-and-white television played a grainy print of bodies writhing to the tune

of distant drumming. ‘As long as you have people working for money and not love,

there will be violence,’ intoned a tall, angular man on the screen. The bodies-

women in scant bikinis and men in what looked like loincloths-piled together in

an orgiastic tribal dance, some simulating (or perhaps actually having) sex as

the voice continued: ‘Psycho-sexual repression is impeding the revolution.’ What

looked like an underworld-of the 1960’s counter-cultural variety, in this case-

is the Living Theatre’s Paradise Now, as documented in the 1969 Ira

Cohen-produced film  Paradise Now: The Living Theatre in Amerika … soon

to be released on DVD from Arthur Magazine.” — CAN THEATER STAGE A REVOLUTION?

- Traci Parks, Fall ‘07 Preview, V MAGAZINE

“Joyous, brutal, exploding with the kinetic energies of psychic catharsis…

Marty Topp’s PARADISE NOW: The Living Theatre in Amerika 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.  It’s 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.” - PARADISE ON FILM - Don

Snyder, July 1970, East Village Other

“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.” — Revolution at the Brooklyn Academy - Stefan Brecht, The Drama

Review number 43: Spring 1969, The Living Theater Issue

Founded in 1947, The Living Theatre has staged more than 80 productions

performed in eight languages in 25 countries on four continents - a unique body

of work. Visit their new space on Clinton St. in NYC - more

info:www.livingtheatre.org

Inquiries: editor at universalmutant dot com