Surrealist Playwright H.M. 'Harry' Koutoukas Dies at 72

H.M. "Harry" Koutoukas, a surrealist playwright, actor, and teacher from the beginnings of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, died on March 6 in his apartment at the age of 72.

Koutoukas shared his work in the Greenwich Village in spaces like La MaMa and Cafe Cino. His companions were Lanford Wilson and Sam Shepard who later became more commercially successful. Koutoukas' writing often strayed from the "rules," and were written and rehearsed quickly, sometimes even using people taken from the street to be the actors. Some of his plays included MEDEA IN THE LAUNDROMAT, CHRISTOPER AT THE SHERIDEN SQUARED, TIDY PASSIONS, TURTLES DON'T DREAM, and AWFUL PEOPLE ARE COMING OVER SO WE MUST PRETEND TO BE HARD AT WORK AND HOPE THEY WILL GO AWAY.

"[Cafe] Cino would come to photograph playwrights," he said, "and say, 'Do you have a play for me this week?' There was a need for a different play each week, so you'd have a play ready."

The playwrights plays were typically very "out-there" with exaggerated characters and strange situations.

Koutoukas' real name was Haralambos Monroe Koutoukas. He was born on June 4, 1937, in the small town of Endicott, NY. When he moved to Manhattan in the 60s he created his own theater workshop whose members includEd Gerome Ragni, James Rado, Tom O'Horgan, and Harvey Fierstein. The workshops names was the "School for Gargoyles."

In 1966 he received a Village Voice Obie Award for "Assaulting Established Tradition."

Koutoukas was unique- wearing capes and jewelry, bleaching his dark hair white, writing suicide notes as a child for attention, and thinking of bombing the theatre where his play was running.
Koutoukas once said of playwriting, "It's the only way for me. I could write a play with the time and energy it takes to fill out an application for one of those foundation grants."

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