Richard Foreman

Richard Foreman graduated from Brown University (B.A. 1959), and received an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama in 1962.[1] As an undergraduate, he was instrumental in the formation of Production Workshop, Brown University's student theatre group, while taking part in other student theatre, including set-designing Brownbrokers' 1958 production of Down to Earth.[2] In 1993, Brown presented him with an honorary doctorate.[3] In 1968 he founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, which began as an art-oriented project in the New York district of Soho, and later moved to a semi-permanent "home" at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. From 1992 to 2010, the non-profit organization was in residence at the theater at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.[4]

Foreman's dramatic works are driven by the notion of a constant reawakening of the audience; he is one of the major artists creating substantial works in the avant garde performance movement, now largely referred to as post-dramatic theater. Instead of focusing on conflict to shape his theatrical structure, Foreman's work draws on design, text and the live performance of actors equally, to create a different focus and relationship between the stage and audience. He describes his works as "total theater". The goal of his performances is a "disorientation massage", in contrast to Aristotle's goal of catharsis.[5]