Lives in New York, NY
Born 1939, Cleveland, OH
Performer, Director, Adaptor
When I am making something - either as a performer or as a director - I try to follow my nose. I attempt to throw nothing away for a long time. I let my mind get cluttered and keep things messy for as long as I can. When it comes time to make decisions about what is in and what's out I keep what I've grown to love and put the rest in a future jar in case I need some of that material after all. I am most trusting of a lack of form and a loss of control. As a performer, this surfaces as a kind of unsureness as to whether I am performing or not; often I am surprised that what I am doing elicits a response from those watching.
1956-1957 University of California, Los Angeles
1970- Co-founder and Co-Artistic Director, Mabou Mines
2007 Director, Song for New York: What Women Do While Men Sit Knitting, premiered on a barge anchored at Gantry State Park, Long Island City, NY (written by Karen Kandel, Migdalia Cruz, Imelda O'Reilly, Patricia Spears Jones and Maggie Dubris; music by Lisa Gutkin)
1999 Director, Belén: A Book of Hours, premiered at the XV Festival del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México, Claustro de Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Mexico City, Mexico; also performed at Performance Space 122, New York, NY; ToRoNaDa, New York, NY; Mexican Fine Arts Center, Chicago, IL; California State University, Northridge, CA; Brava Theater, San Francisco, CA; Teatro La Capilla, Coyoacán, Mexico (written by Catherine Sasanov; music by Liliana Felipe)
1996 Performer of Winnie, Happy Days, premiered at La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, CA; also performed ToRoNaDa, New York, NY (written by Samuel Beckett; directed by Robert Woodruff)
1990 Performer of Lear, Mabou Mines Lear, premiered at The Triplex Theater, New York, NY; also performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; Harbor Front Center, Montreal, Canada. (written by William Shakespeare; directed by Lee Breuer)
1989 Performer of The Mother, The Screens, premiered at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN (written by Jean Genet; directed by JoAnne Akalaitis)
1983 Performer of Annette, Through the Leaves, premiered at Women's Interart Theatre, New York, NY; also performed at The Public Theater, New York, NY; Festival des Ameriques, Montreal, Canada (written by Franz Xaver Kroetz; directed by JoAnne Akalaitis)
1983 Performer, Hajj, premiered at The Public Theater, New York, NY; also performed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; Seoul, Korea; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, Brazil; La Foret Gallery, Tokyo and Toga-Mora Festival, Toga-Mora, Japan; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN; California Institute for the Arts, Valencia, CA (written and directed by Lee Breuer)
1981 Director and Adaptor, Wrong Guys, premiered at The Public Theater, New York, NY (written by Jim Strahs)
1983, 1984, 1990 OBIE Awards for Performance
1989 National Endowment for the Arts Distinguished Artist Fellowship
1980 OBIE Award for Design (with Julie Archer)
1985 Festival des Ameriques Award for Interpretation
