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Rochelle Owens

ROCHELLE OWENS

  (1936 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Farber Literary Agency Inc.  

A central figure in the international avant-garde for over fifty years, Rochelle Owens is a playwright, poet, translator, and video artist. She is the author of four collections of plays, Futz and What Came After, the Karl Marx Play and Others, Futz and Who Do You Want Peire Vidal?, and more recently Plays by Rochelle Owens (Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.). She also edited Spontaneous Combustion: Eight New American Plays. She has published sixteen books of poetry, including New and Selected Poems 1961-1996 and Luca, Discourse on Life and Death. A pioneer in the experimental Off-Off Broadway Theatre movement, she is widely known as one of the most innovative and controversial writers of her generation, whose groundbreaking work has influenced subsequent experimental playwrights. Since its first publication in 1961, her play Futz, has become a classic of the American avant-garde Theatre and an international success. It was originally produced by Ellen Stewart at LaMama Experimental Theater Club, where it was directed by Tom O'Horgan and performed by the LaMama Troupe in 1967 and was made into a film, which has attained a cult following, in 1969. Her plays have been presented worldwide and in festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, Paris, and Berlin, and have been translated into various languages. . A French language production of Three Front was produced by France-Culture and broadcast on Radio France. Owens has been a participant in the Festival Franco-Anglais de Poesie, and has translated Liliane Atlan's novel Les passants, the Passersby (Henry Holt, 1989). A recipient of five Village Voice Obie awards and honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle, she has held fellowships from the NEA, Ford, Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and numerous other foundations. A member of the Dramatists Guild, she has taught at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Oklahoma and has held residencies at Brown University and the university of Southwestern Louisiana State. She has lectured and read widely in the United States and Europe.

"Rochelle Owens' risk-taking is more radical in certain respects than Beckett or Shepard." C W E Bigsby, Modern American Drama

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of Rochelle Owens's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Beclch         Chucky's Hunch         Coconut Folk-Singer         Emma Instigated Me         Farmer's Almanac         Futz         Game of Billiards         He Wants Shih         Homo         Istanboul         Karl Marx Play, The         Kontraption         Mountain Rites         OKCertaldo         Queen Of Greece, The         String Game, The         Sweet Potatoes         Three Front         Who Do You Want Piere Vidal?         Widow And the Colonel, The

Beclch

Beclch
Set in a colonial Africa of mythic dimensions, a white woman ruler of a tribe, arrogantly re-enacts rituals and defiantly explores the limits of her nature.

Notes:
Becich is one of the most provocative And genius-tormented plays of the decade. --Village Voice

1st Produced:
The Theatre Of The Living Arts, Philadelphia     1968

Organisations:
Southwark Theatre Company

1st Published:
in "Futz and What Came After", Random House, NY, 1968   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  6            Other:  play multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Chucky's Hunch

Synopsis:
about an untamed abstract painter and his perplexing relations with America in the shape of his ex-wife and mother is a triumph of sustained verbal fireworks! Not to be missed!" Village Voice. "the character of Chucky reaches truly heroic proportions. A p

Notes:
Village Voice Obie Award 1982

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Wordplays 2", Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1992   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
MonoDrama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Coconut Folk-Singer

Synopsis:
An encounter between a rich American woman and a young hustler on a beach in southern Europe leads to murder.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Earplay Radio     1973

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Karl Marx Play and Others", E.P.Dutton Co.,Inc. New York, 1974   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Emma Instigated Me

Synopsis:
the anarchist revolutionary Emma Goldman and the author Rochelle Owens challenge each other in a series of scenes that reveal the vulnerability and egotism of both.

Notes:
Owens Dramatic imagination And verbal creativity mark her As A notable postmodern writer --American Women Writers

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Performing Arts Journal I", NY, Spring 1977,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  various males playing multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Farmer's Almanac

Synopsis:
A ritual play: Search for the Cause of Evil; Held for Various Purposes Ecstatic Journeys. A vocal and physical exercise for a group gathered spontaneously or a trained ensemble

Notes:
Like the one Alert sentry before An enemy Attack, Owens uses images to jolt her public Awake And summon it to lifesaving responses to evil---Parnassus, Poetry in Review

1st Produced:
Actors Studio, NYC     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Karl Marx Play and Others", E.P.Dutton Co.,Inc. New York, 1974   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
ritual play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  7-10 m/f playing multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Futz

Synopsis:
"one of the most original and uninhibited pieces of Dramatic poetry ever written. No one seriously interested in theatre Arts will want to miss it." - Saturday Review; "Careens across the stage in joyous surges of energy" - New York Times

Notes:
Produced by LaMama ETC 1967, Lamama European Tour 1968 directed by Tom O'Horgan' presented At Edinburgh Festival 1968, long off-Broadway run 1968. Winner of three Village Obie Awards 1968.

1st Produced:
Tyrone Guthrie Workshop, Minnesota Theatre Co     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hawk's Well Press, New York, 1961   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Game of Billiards

Synopsis:
A successful married couple who practice dentistry become transformed by a visit to Jamaica.

Notes:
commissioned by Joseph Papp, the Public theatre. 1978

1st Produced:
Unproduced    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
musical comedy Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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He Wants Shih

Synopsis:
An epic Drama about the last empress of China and the renunciation of worldly power by the young emperor.

Notes:
An impressive And remarkable freewheeling poetic Drama--Village Voice

1st Produced:
New York Theatre Strategy, NYC     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Spontaneous Combustion", Eight New American Plays, Winter House Ltd, 1972   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  10-13 m/f play multiple roles

Further Reference:
-

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Homo

Homo
the most popular of the racial theories of western civilization is that which sets upon a pedestal the xanthotrichous, glaucoplan, dolichocephalic variety of homo leucodermaticus, called by some the Nordic man and by Nietzsche the blond beast.--Arnold Toynbee

Notes:
Don't understand me to quickly, Andre Gide once said of his work. I would say that Rochelle Owens' plays Are not to be quickly grasped or categorized. Her work is not realism it is real. It is the product of A complex imagination in which layers of the Author's subconscious emerge in wild gusts of stage imagery . . . I know of no contemporary playwright like Rochelle Owens" - Harold Clurman

1st Produced:
Stockholm (La Mama Etc European Tour)     1969

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Futz and What Came After", Random House, NY, 1968   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Istanboul

Istanboul
Set in fifteenth-century Constantinople. Getting riches, religion and love in the turbulent and doomed queen of cities. Exciting women roles won two awards for actresses in the fabulously rich part of St. Mary of Egypt. "Bristling with humor-CBS-TV. "A ra

Notes:
Three times Obie Award-winning play

1st Produced:
Judson Poets Theater, NYC     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Futz and What Came After", Random House, NY, 1968   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Karl Marx Play, The

Karl Marx Play, The
an irreverent look at the great man

Notes:
music by Galt MacDermot. First publication: one-act version, Best Short Plays, 1971, Chilton. American Place theater production toured Europe And was presented At the Berlin Film Festival, 1974 Honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle, 1974 . A feast of delerious logic" - Village Voice, "A rewarding play..it stays in the mind" - New York Times, "Tremendously Alive, rich in writing And theatricality And filled with intelligence And love" - Woman's Wear Daily

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Karl Marx Play and Others", E.P.Dutton Co.,Inc. New York, 1974   -

Music:
Original cast recording: Kilmarnock (72010) 1973

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama with music, full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  7            Other:  play multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Kontraption

Synopsis:
Abdal and Hortten, a black man and white man, experience, create and transform the reality of their lives. the roots of the play are wound up with cultural ideals, myths and sensibilities

Notes:
In the world of Kontraption Rochelle Owens has devised A language of high intensity And eroticism to express the extremes of human existence. the characters Are conjurers of words As well As visions--and the Word is made Flesh!: American Playwright -- Bonnie Marranca

1st Produced:
New York Theatre Strategy, NYC     1974

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Scripts 2, 1972   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  4            Other:  actors play multiple roles

Further Reference:
-

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Mountain Rites

Synopsis:
On a quest of discovery of ritual religious practice rooted in a pre-Christian past, a quirky professor of classics falls into a life-threatening crisis in a remote corner of Greece.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Erie Buffalo Workshop, NY    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Best Short Plays 1978", Chilton Press, 1978   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  2-5 m/f playing multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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OKCertaldo

Synopsis:
In a time warp a young woman and man are caught up in the stories of Giovanni Boccaccio a Tuscan storyteller. the past and present collide in astonishing ways.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Unproduced    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Karl Marx Play and Others", E.P.Dutton Co.,Inc. New York, 1974   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy/Drama with songs, full length Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  play multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Queen Of Greece, The

Synopsis:
A journey into the historic past of southeastern Europe and the Middle East that includes feuds, rivalries, battles, cultural domination and transformation.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in :I Am the Babe Of Joseph Stalin's Daughter, 1972   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  3-7 m/f playing multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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String Game, The

String Game, The
Cultural conflict set in Greenland between Inuit people and a catholic priest.

Notes:
the language is strong And vital.. .a moving, wonderful And stimulating theatrical event --Village Voice

1st Produced:
The Judson Poets'theater, NYC     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Futz and What Came After", Random House, NY, 1968   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sweet Potatoes

Synopsis:
A man is mugged and beaten badly by a thief and becomes obsessed with the terrible experience---and ultimately transformed.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
German Radio (German Translation     1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Three Front

Synopsis:
the play is about people living at the extremes of experience. It is told as much by its imagery and the sound values of the dialogue as it is by its plot.

Notes:
"Three Front, by one of the most inventive experimental playwrights in America, is tremendously Alive, rich in writing And theatricality." - Europe Plurilingue. Produced by France-Culture, Radio France, 1993 - translated by Liliane Atlan

1st Produced:
The Omaha Magic Theater     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
: in "Plays by Rochelle Owens", Broadway Play Publishing Inc., 2000   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  play multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Who Do You Want Piere Vidal?

Who Do You Want Piere Vidal?
A confrontation between a terrorist, a troubador and a Japanese-American university professor.

Notes:
Erotic, marvelous,explosive --Village Voice

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Futz and What Came After", Broadway Play Publishing Inc, 1986   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  play multi-roles

Further Reference:
-

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Widow And the Colonel, The

Synopsis:
concerned with the courtship of the tall, young frontier colonel George Washington, and the young widow Martha Custis. the action begins at a musical event attended by Martha Custis and her friend Mrs. Chamberlayne, at which the dashing Colonel Washington

Notes:
commissioned by the Voice of America - celebration of the bi-centennial year

1st Produced:
Voice Of America     1976

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Best Short Plays 1977", Chilton, 1977   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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