Mabou Mines

From the beginning, the evanescence of performance and the dynamics of group work attracted Mabou Mines; the traditional process of play production did not. Like much avant-garde theater of the 1960's and '70's, most of their early pieces were never recorded, leaving little documentation of their foundational productions. Iris Smith Fischer provides this missing history, attempting to capture and describe the explorations of a group who set out to create indescribable performance. She makes visible once again the celebrated company's least documented work, and offers accounts of the decisions and events that defined Mabou Mines' ideas and methods, particularly their creative collaborations with visual artists, musicians, writers, and dancers. Focusing on the heady days of the company's founding and first ten years, the book traces Mabou Mines' intellectual and artistic roots, frames them within the 1970's avant-garde, and outlines their significance in contemporary performance. --Book Jacket.