Archive of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company by LUDLAM, Charles - 1992

New York, 1992. Hardcover. Near Fine. A collection of signs, posters, broadsides, flyers, transparencies, and photographs from The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, the New York theatrical company founded by Charles Ludlam, notorious for its subversive and satiric stage productions featuring many of the city's top drag and camp performers of the 1970s and 80s. Overall the material is near fine with light wear to most items including bumping or creasing at the edges, some glue residue or waviness on some of the original art, and one poster moderately creased.

The Ridiculous Theatrical Company was founded by actor and playwright Charles Ludlam in 1967 following a disagreement with Theatre of the Ridiculous founder John Vaccaro. The two theatre groups took separate paths with Vaccaro pursing confrontational avant-garde works while Ludlam favored queer themes with irreverent humor and satire. Ludlam, who often produced, directed, and starred in the productions, tackled many different genres from dime novels and film noir to adaptations of classic literature and opera, often reinterpreted in a broad acting style that encouraged camp, improvisation, cross-dressing, and nudity. The theater gained wide prominence in the 1980s winning several Drama Desk and Obie Awards for its productions and Ludlam was selected for both Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships. Sadly, just as he was breaking through to the mainstream, with roles on *Miami Vice* and the Hollywood film *The Big Easy*, Ludlam fell victim to AIDS, dying in 1987, with Ludlam's partner and fellow actor Everett Quinton assuming leadership of the theater.

This archive includes a large handpainted wooden sign for the theater company that hung over the stage; a poster for *Eunuch of the Forbidden City*; a maquette and original art for posters and flyers for *Stage Blood*, *The Mystery of Irma Vep*, *How to Write a Play*, *Punch & Judy*, etc.; the poster and flyer maquette for *The Secret Lives of the Sexists*; transparencies for *The Mystery of Irma Vep*, one of the company's most popular productions; a window display and transparency for *Salammbo: An Erotic Tragedy*, an adaptation that *The New York Times* attacked as "lurid and grotesque"; a 25th Anniversary poster; two sets of penciled storyboards for "Charles Ludlam Productions," and a dozen photographs from various shows including *Salammbo*, *Stage Blood*, *The Secret Lives of Sexists*, and *Der Ring Gott Farblonjet*.

A nice group of visual material from this important and influential New York theater company. A detailed list is available.