Squat Theatre

SQUAT THEATRE, Paris
Place des Abbesses, 1976

PIG CHILD FIRE!
© 1977 by Eva Buchmuller

ANDY WARHOL'S LAST LOVE
© 1978 by Eva Buchmuller

The expatriate Hungarian theatre company known as Squat Theatre became a major presence within the contemporary at world downtown New York, shortly after their arrival in 1977. They rented a building on west 23rd Street where they lived and worked. Performances in the building's storefront window with the street as its backdrop became their trademark.

Squat Theatre Book

Squat Theatre, a book by Eva Buchmuller and Anna Koós, commemorates an homage exhibit of Squat Theatre at Artists Space.^[1] Published in 1996 by Artists Space, New York, 1996, First Edition, ISBN 0-9636372-2-3. LCCN 96-83937.

Plays amd Films

• Pig, Child, Fire! , 1977, is a play in 5 parts. The first, a drama based on the confessions of Nikolai Stavrogin in Dostoyevsky's Demons. The second, is inspired by 40's gangster movies. The third is a reading of Antonin Artaud's letter to Andre Breton. The fourth part is a mother and her children having supper on stage. The last part is a comic act.
• The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, 1975-79. Three men dressed in white play the sisters. A prompter reads the lines, the actors repeat the words expressionless.
• Andy Warhol's Last Love, 1978, Ulrike Meinhof meets Andy Warhol in 3 acts: Aliens on the Second Floor, An Imperial Message ( a 16mm B&W film) and Interview with the Dead.
• Mr. Dead & Mrs. Free1981.

Archives

The work of the Theatre including sets, manuscripts and video documentary of the performances are located at:

• University of California, Davis Special Collections

Ms. Daryl Morrison, Head, Special Collections / dmorrison@ucdavis.edu / 530 752 2112, videos, documents, set pieces.

• Országos Színháztörténeti

National Theatre History Museum and Institute. manuscripts, videos

• Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center video archive collection
• Electronic Arts Intermix, EAI, video archive collection

Andy Warhol's Last Love, 1978-81, 60 min, b&w and color, sound

Pig, Child, Fire!, 1981, 60 min, color, sound

Mr. Dead & Mrs. Free, 1982, 83 min, b&w and color, sound

References

External links

• Official Website
• Stephan Balint, 64, a Founder of the Squat Theater, Dies New York Times, Dec. 2, 2007
• Gussow, Mel, Evoking Bohemian Memories The New York Times, January 20, 1989
• Squat's Storefront Theater Panic Narrative
• Squat Brings Its Fiery Theater Style To Chicago In `Dreamland Burns` Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1986.
• Squat Theatre Bends Limits Of Stagecraft Chicago Tribune May 16, 1986.
• Squat Theatre--hungarians Take A Stance On America LA Times
• SQUAT THEATER and The Art of Living Don Shewey
• Squat Theatre PERFORMA 13
• Squat Theatre at Electronic Arts Intermix WHITNEY MUSEUM
• Rituals Of Rented Island, 1970–1980 WHITNEY MUSEUM
• Squat Theatre and Crisis Jacket 40
• Squat Theater: Dreamland Burns The Kitchen, NYC
• Revolutionizing Theater Mtrack 83
• Legacy of Squat Theatre: Budapest + New York Segal Theatre Center, December 2, 2013
• Squat Theatre - Staging Life/Living on Stage/Anna Kos Project Muse
• Squat Theatre Works EAI Electronic Arts Intermix
• PIG! CHILD! FIRE! Rooster Gallery, NYC
• PLAYS BY SQUAT THEATRE Artpool, Hungary.
• Mr. Dead & Mrs. Free: A History of Squat Theatre (1969-1991) Artists Space, NYC
• You Don’t Know Squat, La Rocco, Claudia ARTFORUM, November 13, 2013
• The Quirky Invincibility of Mr. Dead and Mrs. Free HYPERALLERGIC