TCG Books Releases Richard Foreman's THE MANIFESTOS AND ESSAYS

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces the publication of Richard Foreman's The Manifestos and Essays. This volume collects all of the avant-garde theatre pioneer's writings on the subject of "What is art?" from his early manifestos through his recent transition to the use of film, and provides a fascinating window into this singular artist's mind and creative process.

"Richard Foreman is as daring, uncompromising and entertaining in his prose as he is in his theatre productions. He's the Renaissance man of the avant-garde American theatre." - Robert Brustein

The included manifestos articulate Richard Foreman's strategies and his aim to identify what the experience of art can and should be, citing the thinkers he admires. The essays delve into the more personal, explaining the central relationship between his writing for the stage and the staging of his writing, expounding his distinct directorial style of showing "the mind at work, moment-by-moment." Clues to why Foreman has called it "paradise"-that elusive reality, the truth of art-can be found in these foundational texts.

"The more recent interviews included in this collection cover the broader range of influences on his work, including psychoanalytic theory. Concluding the volume is a selection of the notes that he kept while working on his recently released film Once Every Day.

The art experience shouldn't ADD to our baggage, that store of images that weighs us down and limits our clear view to the horizons. The art experience should rather (simply) ELIMINATE what keeps us moored to hypnotizing aspects of reality." -Richard Foreman

Richard Foreman has been leading the theatrical avant-garde in the United States and throughout the world since 1968, when he founded his Ontological-Hysteric Theater in NYC. He has written, directed and designed more than fifty of his own plays both in New York and abroad. He has received numerous Obie awards, a Lifetime Achievement in the Theater Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, among other notable citations. In 2004 he was elected Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.

For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 12 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org.

The Manifestos and Essays
by Richard Foreman

Paperback 224 pages

with drawings by the author
$16.95 978-1-55936-398-3
eBook 978-1-55936-652-6

November 2013

Also by Richard Foreman, available from TCG Books:

Bad Boy Nietzsche! And Other Plays
Paperback $17.95 978-1-55936-257-3

Love & Science: Selected Music-Theatre Texts

Paperback $13.95 978-1-55936-021-0

Unbalancing Acts: Foundations for a Theater
Paperback $18.95 978-1-55936-076-0

TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Orders: 800-283-3572. SAN number: 63170X. Individuals may call 212-609-5900 or visit our online bookstore at www.tcg.org. For postage and handling, add $6.50 for the first book and $1.00 for each additional copy.