Greenwich Village Theater History And Its Effects part 2 Essay

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... was used as background. This created very interesting effect, when actors lines were not being associated with their personalities.
One of plays character was a poem, which used to refer to itself as purely metaphysical idea, entitled with consciousness: I am the
poem of this place and moment, I am a pause amid the seas of motion, I have no body I am Proteus, I flicker like a candle off and on
(Goodman). While watching the play, viewers were being required to apply their own ideas to plays message, in order to refine its
semantic properties. Although today theatrical experimentations became quite common, in early sixties authors used to take a great
risk, while choosing in favor of theatrical unoconventionalism.

This risk, however, would be greatly reduced, if performance was to take place in Greenwich Village, because of its association with
ideological non-conformism. This was the reason why spiritually liberated authors strived to see their plays being staged in one of
Villages many theaters. This, of course, does not mean that Villages theatrical life in sixties can only be discussed within a context of
general marginalization of American culture. Many highly credited actors had started their careers in obscure Villages theaters,
when only very lazy critics were not ridiculing their affiliation with theatrical non-conformism, as something utterly unbeneficial. For
example, Al Pacino gained recognition of his actors talents, while playing a part in Israel Horowits play The Indian Wants the Bronx,
which was staged in Astor Place Theatre in 1968. The play became instantly noted by critics, because, apart from promoting some
controversial ideas, it also featured flashes of naked bodies, on the part of few actors.

Another famous actor, Robert DeNiro, was also able to make an amazing acting career, because he dropped out of school at the age
of 16 to perform in Villages off-Broadway theaters. Today, he often admits that it was during his Greenwich Village years that he
became fully familiarized with secrets of acting, because the fact that he was not subjected to a strict acting discipline, allowed him to
become mentally associated with his characters. In 1963, The Open Theater presented viewers with a Gertrude Steins play Doctor
Faustus Lights the Lights, which is now considered as a complete breakthrough from classical theatrical traditions. Stein embarked
on creating an artistic effect by manipulating with audiences emotional reactions to the rapid changes of illumination. During the
course of play, the powerful projectors illuminate stage from constantly changing angles, which according to the author, was meant to
instill them with the idea of illusory essence of human existence. In his article Gertrude Stein Interprets Faust, Stephen Holden,
suggests that staging Steins play is still being considered as very risky enterprise by many theaters, because the majority of viewers
consider it as being totally deprived of any sense altogether, or being filled with such a deep meaning that it becomes almost
impossible to understand it: When Gertrude Stein created Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights, her whimsical play based on the Faust
legend, she made the invention of the light bulb the brilliant central metaphor for the human assumption of godlike power.

Viewers need to adopt a metaphoric way of thinking, in order to understand plays message (Holden). This again, provides us with
insight on the extent of spiritual freedom, associated with off-Broadway theaters in Greenwich Village, in sixties. At the same time,
the freedom of artistic pursuits does not always correspond to their quality. A great number of plays that were performed at the time
of American cultural revolution in Greenwich Village did not leave a historical mark. Apparently, it had to do with the fact that,
despite the bohemian atmosphere in Village, many of its residents artistic sophistication, was purely artificial. Just like Kazimir
Malevich, who never got tired of praising his own masterpiece Black Square as such that was full of hidden ideas, despite the fact
that his painting could easily be reproduced by any 3 years old child, the Villages progressive dramatists, also kept on insisting that
their plays represent a great value, even though that many of these plays were being written in the state of drug-induced stupor. This
also explains why many Greenwich Villages poets, artists, and dramatists used to be genuinely attracted to Marxist ideas.

They thought of them as such that are being essentially progressive, even though that these ideas practical implementation resulted
in deaths of millions of people. Therefore, we can say that, despite the fact that Greenwich artisticism of early sixties, in many
instances, turned out to be productive, it would be wrong to discuss it within a context of cultural breakthrough alone. (3) When we
look at poorly designed car, we rarely praise it because of its ugliness. However, this often been the case with politically correct
pushers of Liberal agenda, who suggest that any other opinions, apart from the one which considers the genre of avant-garde as such
that possesses an objective value, simply does not have the right to exist. The matter of fact is that bohemian progressiveness, which
is still being strongly associated with Greenwich Village, paved the way for metaphysical insanity to become a basis for the social
policies in this country. Therefore, it is hard to agree with Rex Roberts, who in his book review When Greenwich Village was a
Bohemian Paradise implies that it is because of Greenwich Village,
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