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Finding aid to the Ivy Theatre records, 1996-2006
Coll2013.059
Coll2013.059
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Table of contents
Title: Ivy Theatre Records
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2013.059
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.3 linear feet.
1 archive carton + 1 archive flat box.
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1998-2000
Date (inclusive): 1996-2006
Abstract: Press material, theater production files, contracts, correspondence, clippings, financial records, photographs, a promotional
videocassette (VHS) and other material, 1996-2006, from the Ivy Theatre, a lesbian theatre founded in 1998 in Los Angeles
and named in honor of lesbian feminist activist, Ivy Bottini. Marian Jones served as artistic director.
creator:
Ivy Theatre.
The Ivy Theatre Company was a non-profit organization whose mission was to provide the opportunity for lesbian playwrights
to share their visions and voices; while also fostering the understanding and acceptance of diverse persons through education,
activism, and performing arts. The Ivy Theatre was founded in 1998 in honor of veteran lesbian feminist activist and performer
Ivy Bottini, as the first and only lesbian-focused theatre company in Los Angeles, California.
The Ivy Theatre was co-founded by Artistic Director, Marian Jones and Literary Director, Mary Casey. Casey served as Artist
in Residence at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center where she taught lesbian playwriting workshops and founded the Lesbian
Playwriting Festival in 1995. Los Angeles' premier gay theatre, The Gay and Lesbian Celebration Theatre in Hollywood, California,
produced some of the plays that came out of these workshops.
Shortly after Jones produced the 2nd Annual Lesbian Playwrights Festival in July of 1996 at Celebration Theatre, Robert Shrock,
the Artistic Director of Celebration, invited Jones to serve as Artistic Director of the Lesbian Theatre Initiative. After
agreeing, Jones teamed up with Casey to create a separate physical space for lesbian playwrights, actors, and technicians
under the umbrella of Celebration. That space became the Ivy Theatre Company, where productions such as Alicia Madrid's
Shame on the Moon, and Dee Jae Cox's
The Rape of Djuna Barnes would garner much critical acclaim. In addition to ongoing theatrical productions, the Ivy hosted the Lesbian Playwrights
Staged Readings Festival, directing and acting classes, and radio theatre broadcasted on KPFK 90.7FM. The Ivy's impressive
undertaking of lesbian outreach was largely thanks to a plethora of donations, including several grants from The City of West
Hollywood, The California Community Foundation's Gay and Lesbian Fund, and the Arch and Bruce Foundation. The Ivy Theatre
has been inactive since 2006.
Source:
[Box/folder #, or item name] Ivy Theatre Records, Coll2013-059, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California.
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Received by Yolanda Retter of the Lesbian Legacy Collection. Donor and exact date of acquisition unknown.
[Box/folder #, or item name] Ivy Theatre Records, Coll2013-059, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California.
Collection processed by Loni Shibuyama with the assistance of Simbree Touchstone, June 2013.
Ivy Bottini Papers, Coll2009-005, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
This collection comprises press material, theater production files, contracts, correspondence, clippings, financial records,
photographs, a promotional videocassette (VHS) and other material, 1996-2006, from the Ivy Theatre, a lesbian theater founded
in Los Angeles in 1998 and named in honor of lesbian feminist activist, Ivy Bottini. The collection includes production files
from
Letters Home,
The Rape of Djuna Barnes and
Shame on the Moon, plays produced by the Ivy Theatre between 1998-2000.
Press kits about the Ivy Theatre are at the beginning of the collection. The remaining folders are arranged alphabetically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bottini, Ivy, 1926
Jones, Marian
Advertising fliers
Correspondence
Drama
Homosexuality in the theater
Lesbian authors
Lesbian dramatists
Lesbian theater
Lesbian writings
Plays