Portraits in Words

PORTRAITS IN WORDS t'd a\g d t on I de tta e iqe d' a e spent ufotet at\ ememef , et caite \, tet. \to,*te V-19 oine tewaStca, oVda1 andave a5 n avilng aa\ectlng Sbe Vhad 'Nas tovnd c ,\3use \N was Nent O dden\ ' azi -b, oe0 ev sas% no \OngW JOE PA pp About tw ev to f ago we ere fourtben y s Where from in a Ee r Wed both spsomeplace ElIenturned to , spoke and sometime g in her y a had that Me, e gets, and she tshe eatre going to b sId to there Man., I fel k I agra sprinkling s-elt as if Wre Me- She I some kif she were began t loked so conv ds On 0eant believ She InI with such a eve itSe a gdea e deal of said it great f el o f feelng, Or k fshe siorr ;j HARVEY FIERSTEIN Getting a production out of Ellen is no mean feat. After six months of wheedling and favor-doing she finally consented to present International Stud. As soon as the date was set director Eric Concklin took me aside and said, "Tell her it's part of a trilogy so we won't have to go through this for another three years." Hence the birth of Torch Song Trilogy. The play was a hit! Several days after Stud opened, Ellen grabbed me on the stairs of La Mama and said, "Baby, you'd better give me a script of that play of yours. The New York Times is on their way over here to interview me about how I discovered this wonderful new writer and I'd better have the script laying on the table." I said I'd bring one up immediately for her. "Fine," she said. "By the way, what's it about?" JOHN VACCARO Many people have often wondered what was my attraction to La Mama. The attraction is Ellen Stewart. I have had the most intense love/hate relationship with Ellen through the many years that I have known her-and know that that is the great joy of the friendship. Once in Amsterdam, as the PlayHouse of the Ridiculous was about to embark on a lengthy tour of Europe, my madness took over and I was a mess. The set for one of the plays we were performing was a 16-foot-long cock and It was not made for traveling. I was trying to tell the crew how to construct it and they looked at me dumbstruck . Ellen sensed me about to erupt, stepped In and said: "Get out of here, John, I know more about cocks than you do!" From then on, she had a cab drive her all over Holland for the materials she needed, and built it herself . Needless to say-it was perfect. KEVI o,CONNijOR K Ee p'ractice of sitting Ellen had the Ithe old La Mama on the steps O new) while a play (and en e specIal ule was in pror elwen ue openin9 nGit nra and Esperanza BovassO's the ANTA Theatre, moved tois t ewart sittingthos there was Miss Stewr 5jtngo the backstage staihrsoufh thse Broadway theatre, many othe opening nigh andma"ote eed. This act I -now performances- most of her "bid. she repeate tor mmerc dies" moves to more rnmO she venturest because o i es some stais for i smelled Out sme airs ie From La MhmEverm doing a rn whenever that A1 sanyhere, an ome El en is out there sitin Os steps for me and all Of us. RON LINK Mostly I remember being broke, and she would give me $5 or $10. The way she would do it is: "Mr. Link, here's that money I owe you.LIZ SWADOS I Was Studyi Grotowski ing acting With this P rostOn i e acher a t B e n ington this Bein atuenn was killing mega gu ,any i don't you Wr. S0 he said, why play? He write music for my I-was doing Everymy and I was study Soung Everyan vina, so 1 put S0 uth Indi EverYMan...