TNC to Tribute Norman Glick, Celebrate Ronald Tavel's New Andy Warhol Book, 11/30

On November 30 at 8:00, Theater for the New City will present a tribute to director/actor Norman Glick (1946-2015) and the book launch of Ronald Tavel's last book, "Andy Warhol's Ridiculous Screenplays" (which has a forward by Marc Siegel). The evening will include video of noted performances of Tavel plays and a medley of "Gorilla Queen" and other Theater of the Ridiculous tunes by Norman Marshall. The evening will be hosted by Chris Kapp, who was the long-time director of "Coffeehouse Chronicles" at La Mama.

Ronald Tavel (1936-2009) collaborated with Andy Warhol over three years in the mid-1960s, writing seventeen screenplays for the artist, including Screen Test #2, The Life of Juanita Castro, Horse, Vinyl, Kitchen, Hedy, and two sections ofThe Chelsea Girls, an important chapter in the Warhol filmography. In addition to his intimate, often hilarious take on Warhol and the colorful denizens of the famous Factory, Tavel depicts the parallel emergence of the Theatre of the Ridiculous.

David Glick will pay tribute to his late bother Norman, the husband of Ronald Tavel's brother Harvey Tavel, who generously supported publication of this book. Berlin-based scholar Marc Siegel will introduce Ronald Tavel and the book and show video of the author in action. Many who knew Tavel and Warhol are expected to share their reflections. The event is free and open to the public.

"Andy Warhol's Ridiculous Screenplays" is a fascinating first-person account of writer Ronald Tavel's experiences collaborating with the artist on his films from the winter of 1964 through the summer of 1967. During this period, Tavel wrote seventeen screenplays for Warhol, including some of the most significant works in the artist's filmography and in American underground film more broadly: "Screen Test #2," "The Life of Juanita Castro," "Horse," "Vinyl," "Kitchen" (all 1965), "Hedy," and two sections of "The Chelsea Girls" (both 1966). The nature of filmmaking in Warhol's Silver Factory of the mid-1960s meant that Tavel's role as screenwriter was not restricted to a film's pre-production. In most cases, he was responsible as well for directing, performing, and facilitating the performance of the screenplays during filming itself.

Norman Glick died February 11, 2015, shortly after directing "Two by Tavel," a double-header of Tavel's "Kitchenette" and "Life of Juanita Castro," presented by Theater for the new City. These two ridiculous masterpieces, originally drafted as scenarios for Andy Warhol's Film Factory, originally found their way to the stage in 1965 when Warhol suggested that Ronald Tavel try them out as theater.

This brilliant idea led to the birth of a genre to be named Theater of the Ridiculous, whose one-sentence manifesto, penned by Ronald Tavel, declared "We have passed beyond the Absurd, our position is totally Ridiculous!" A movement was formed which eventually split into three directions: (1) Ronald Tavel's plays, directed by his brother Harvey Tavel, many presented at Theatre of the Lost Continent in the Jane West Hotel; (2) the productions of director John Vaccaro (who staged plays by Ron Tavel, Rosalyn Drexler and Charles Ludlam) and (3) The Ridiculous Theatrical Group, which enjoyed a long run of Ludlam's plays in the Sheridan Square Playhouse during the 1990s under the leadership of Everett Quinton. With cross-gender casting and drag queens as actors as two of its signature elements, Theater of the Ridiculous is now seen as the progenitor of glam rock and the Rocky Horror cult.

Norman Glick acted in Tavel's plays "Gorilla Queen," "Nutcracker in the Land of Nuts" and "Shower" and in the Warhol film "Horse" and was involved in almost every Tavel production in some capacity, from stage manager to house manager to set construction. He built the Theatre of the Lost Continent, where most of Tavel's original plays debuted, in the Jane West Hotel.

Norman Glick was Harvey Tavel's partner for 52 years and his husband from 2009 to 2012, when Harvey died.

Theater for the New City presented many of Ronald Tavel's plays and even presented "The Life of Juanita Castro" three times: in 1971 directed by John Vaccarro (TNC was then producing in the Lost Continent Space); in 1994 directed by Harvey Tavel and in 2014, directed by Norman Glick.

Andy Warhol's Ridiculous Screenplays
(ISBN 978-0-9887162-9-2,200 pp, $15)
will be on sale at the event or can be ordered from bookstores and online booksellers or direct from the publisher:
Fast Books
P. O. Box 1268
Silverton, OR 97381
(Add $5 for mailing.)
Fast Books are edited and published by Michael Smith.

Pictured: (top) Norman Glick directing "The Life of Juanita Castro" at Theater for the New City, 2014. (L-R): Norman Glick, Kika Child (Raul), Jorge Acosta (Che), Agosto Machado (Juanita). Ruby Lynn Reyner (Fidel). Photo by Jonathan Slaff; (bottom left) Harvey Tavel and Norman Glick at their wedding.