INVENTORY OF THE FIREHOUSE THEATER COMPANY ARCHIVES, 1963-1974
Lola Aguilar
Department of Special Collections
General Library
University of California, Davis
100 North West Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292
Phone: (530) 752-1621
Fax: (530) 754-5758
Email: speccoll@lib.ucdavis.edu
June 2004
©2004
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Note
INVENTORY OF THE FIREHOUSE THEATER COMPANY ARCHIVES, 1963-1974
Collection number: D-064
Department of Special Collections
General Library
University of California, Davis
Davis, California
Contact Information:
- Department of Special Collections
- General Library
- 100 North West Quad
- University of California, Davis
- Davis, CA 95616-5292
- Phone: (530) 752-1621
- Fax: (530) 754-5758
- Email: speccoll@lib.ucdavis.edu
- Processed by:
- Lola Aguilar
- Encoded by:
- Melissa Tyler
- Date completed:
- June 2004
©2004 The Regents of the University of California
Descriptive Summary
Title: Firehouse Theater Company Archives,
Date (inclusive): 1963-1974
Collection number: D-064
Creator:
Firehouse Theater Company
Extent:
4.7 linear feet
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
100 North West Quad
Davis, California, 95616-5292
Abstract: In the summer of 1963, University of Minnesota graduate student Marlow S. Hotchkiss, artist James F. Faber, actor John Shimek,
and actor and director Charles Morrison III renovated an 1894 fire station in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Firehouse Theater.
The group conceived the theater as a venue for avant-garde drama and as a vehicle for new playwrights in the Twin Cities area.
The company relocated to San Francisco in 1969. The Firehouse Theater Company Archives (1963-1974) includes scripts, scores,
director's notes, posters, programs, photographic prints, films, workshop notebooks, reviews, correspondence, legal and financial
documents, blueprints, and promotional material.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research under regular Reading Room rules and copyright restrictions.
Publication Rights
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis 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 by the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Firehouse Theater Company Archives, D-064, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University
of California, Davis, California.
Acquisition Information
In 1974, Nancy Walter donated this collection to the Library. Additional material was donated in 1984 by Ms. Walter under
her changed name, Norah Holmgren.
Processing Information
Lola Aguilar processed this collection and created its finding aid. Melissa Tyler encoded the finding aid.
History
Administrative History
In the summer of 1963, University of Minnesota graduate student Marlow S. Hotchkiss, artist James F. Faber, actor John Shimek,
and actor and director Charles Morrison III renovated an 1894 firestation in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Firehouse Theater.
The group conceived the theater as a venue for avant-garde drama and as a vehicle for new playwrights in the Twin Cities area.
The Firehouse Theater Company's first play
The Connection by Jack Gelber, opened on August 22, 1963. The evening included a post-play discussion between the audience and the cast
and director, which became a regular feature of Firehouse Theater productions.
The Firehouse Theater Company changed direction in 1965 with the departure of Shimek and Morrison. Marlow Hotchkiss, now managing
director, brought on Sydney Schubert Walter, a member of the Open Theater in New York, as artistic director. The theater group
reincorporated as a non-profit organization and acquired grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment
for the Arts. Hotchkiss and Walter also increased the number of original plays they produced and conducted workshops for the
ensemble's personal development.
American playwright Sam Shepard premiered his play
Fourteen Hundred Thousand in 1966 at the Firehouse Theater. In the same year, the group also performed Open Theater playwright Megan Terry's new play,
Viet Rock. In 1968, the Firehouse Theater Company premiered Terry's new play,
Jack-Jack at the Firehouse Theater and in-house playwright Nancy Walter's first play,
Rags. In addition to new plays, the Firehouse Theater Company continued presenting plays by Ionesco, Brecht, Beckett, and other
Theater of the Absurd playwrights. Audience participation developed as part of the group's experimentation with acting as
a shared discovery.
After losing their lease at the old fire station in Minneapolis in 1969, the Firehouse Theater Company relocated to San Francisco,
where they opened a theater on California Street at Polk and experimented with communal living. Their first season in San
Francisco opened with
Blessings on March 20, 1970.
By 1974, many of the original Firehouse Theater group had left to pursue other interests. Sydney Walter returned to school
to complete a doctorate in psychology. Marlow Hotchkiss decided to concentrate on films. He also moved out of the commune.
Nancy Walter continued writing plays and books. The company's original group of actors also moved on. The Firehouse Theater
Company no longer produced experimental works. Instead, they turned towards other styles of theatrical productions.
Sources:
Aronson, Arnold.
Avant-garde Theatre: A History. London: Routledge, 2000.
Schechner, Richard. "Six Axioms for Environmental Theatre." In
The Drama Review: Thirty Years of Commentary on the Avant-garde, ed. Brooks McNamara and Jill Dolan, 151-171. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1986.
Shank, Theodore.
American Alternative Theater. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1982.
Szilassy, Zoltan.
American Theatre of the 1960s. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois Press, 1986.
Walsh, Richard.
Radical Theatre in the Sixties and Seventies. Halifax, England: British Association for American Studies, 1993.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Firehouse Theater Company Archives is arranged in three series: 1. Plays, 2. Business Records, and 3. Memorabilia. Items
span the years 1963 to 1974. The first series is devoted to plays performed by the Firehouse Theater Company and includes
scripts, scores, director's notes, posters, programs, films, photographic prints, and reviews. Scripts and scores primarily
relate to Firehouse Theater playwright-in-residence Nancy Walter's plays. Business records include general correspondence,
grant proposals and related correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, building records, workshop material, and
promotional material. Memorabilia includes a scrapbook and a manuscript.
Related Collections
Other materials related to Firehouse Theater Archives may be found in the following collections at Special Collections:
D-055: Cole, Toby Archives
D-187: Living Theater Archives
D-061: San Francisco Mime Troupe Archives
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online access catalog:
Subjects
Firehouse Theater Company
Faber, James F.
Hotchkiss, Marlow
Morrison, Charles
Shimek, John
Walter, Nancy, 1939-
Walter, Sydney Schubert
American Drama--20th century
Dramatists
Experimental theater
Theater--Political aspects
Theater of the absurd
Series 1.
Plays, 1963-1974.
Physical Description:
201 folders
Scope and Content Note
Arranged alphabetically by play title. Includes posters, programs, photographic prints, reviews, scripts, scores, director's
notes, and films.
Box 1:1-4
Acts without Words,1967,1969.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:5-7
Antigone,1969.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:8-9
Baal,1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:10-13
The Birthday Party,1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:14-17, Folio Box 5:1
Blessings,1970, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:18-19
The Brass Butterfly,1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:20-21
The Brig, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:22-23
The Caretaker, 1963, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:24-26
Carne Man, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:27
The Connection, 1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:28-29
The Dance of Death, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:30-31
Danton's Death, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:32-33, Folio Box 5:1
Doomeager, 1973.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:34-36, Folio Box 5:1
Dreamscapes, 1972-1973.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:37-39, Folio Box 5:2
Endgame, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:40-44, Box 4:1
Escape by Balloon, 1970-1972, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:45-48
Faust, 1969, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:49
A Few Skits and Songs about Things Right and Wrong with the World, the Church, and You, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:50-51
Fourteen Hundred Thousand, 1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:52
The Future is in Eggs, 1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:53-54
The Gloaming, Oh My Darling, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:55
Grab and Grace, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:56-58
Happy Days, 1968.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:59
A House by the Stable, 1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:60-62
The Hostage, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:63-64
The Immoralist, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:65-68, Box 4:2, Folio Box 5:3
Iphigenia Transformed, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:69
It Should Happen to a Dog. 1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:70-71, Box 4:3, Folio Box 5:4
Jack or the Submission, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:72-77
Jack-Jack, 1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:78-83
Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool, Dry, Place, 1965,1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:84-87
Krapp's Last Tape, 1967, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:88
Look Back in Anger, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 1:89-91, Box 4:4
Lord Halewyn, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:1-4
A Man is a Man, 1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:5
The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:6-9
Mortality or the Passion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:10-12
Mysteries, Miracles, and Moralities, 1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:13-14
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:15-17, Folio Box 5:5
Peer Gynt, 1967, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:18-21
The People vs. the Ranchman, 1967, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:22-24
The Play, 1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:25
Psychedelic Voyage, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:26-33
Rags, 1968-1969, 1971, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:34-35
Red Eye of Love, 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:36
Santa Claus, 1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:37-39
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:40-44
The Sideshow, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:45-48, Folio Box 5:6
A Song for All Saints, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:49-52, Folio Box 5:1
Stab and Dance, 1973-1974.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:53-56, Box 4:5, Map Case III:Drawer P
Still Falling, 1971.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:57
Sweeney Agonistes, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:58-61
The Thing Itself, 1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:62
The Three Men of Gotham, 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:63-66, Folio Box 5:1
Traveling Light, 1972, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:67-71
Trunity, 1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:72-74, Box 4:6-7, Folio Box 5:7
Victims of Duty, 1967, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:75-79
Viet Rock, 1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:80-84
Waiting for Godot, 1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:85-87, Folio Box 5:8
Where's de Queen, 1966, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:88
The Window, 1972.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 2:89-95, Folio Box 5:1
Woyzeck, 1968, 1971, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Series 2.
Business Records, 1963-1974.
Physical Description:
44 folders
Scope and Content Note
Divided into seven subseries: General Correspondence, Grants, Legal Documents, Financial Documents, Building Records, Workshops,
and Promotional Material.
Box 3:1
Subseries 2.1.
General Correspondence, 1967-1974, n.d.
Physical Description:
1 folder
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically. Does not contain correspondence relating to grants.
Subseries 2.2.
Grants, 1965-1974, n.d.
Physical Description:
4 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes grant proposals and correspondence relating to grants.
Box 3:2
Grant proposal, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:3
Correspondence, Rockefeller Foundation, 1966-1970.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:4-5
Correspondence, National Endowment for the Arts, 1966-1974, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Subseries 2.3.
Legal Documents, 1963-1965.
Physical Description:
3 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes insurance and corporation records with enclosed memoranda.
Box 3:6
Insurance Records, 1963.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:7-8
Corporate Records, 1963-1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Subseries 2.4.
Financial Documents, 1963-1972.
Physical Description:
11 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes ledgers, account books, bank records, and financial statements. Folders 16-19 are restricted. Access through Head
of Special Collections.
Box 3:9
General Ledger and General Journal, 1963-1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:10
Bank Records, 1969-1970.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:11
Petty Cash, 1969
Physical Description:
Note
Folio Box 5:9
Firehouse Theater Inc., Cash Receipts and Disbursements Journal, 1963-1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:12
Operating Expenses, 1967-1968, 1971-1972.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:13
Joseph C. Mangin, CPA, Financial Statements, Dec. 31, 1968.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:14
Mangin & Brodkorb, CPA, Report on Examination of Financial Statements, Dec. 31, 1967.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:15
Mangin & Brodkorb, CPA, Financial and Operating Statements, Dec. 31, 1968.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:16-19
Other Financial Documents, 1966-1969.
Physical Description:
Note
[Restricted]
Subseries 2.5.
Building Records, 1970-1973, n.d.
Physical Description:
3 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes blueprints, building permits, and construction and architectural reports for the theater in San Francisco.
Box 3:20
Firehouse Theater-San Francisco, Addendum No. 1 to Osborn Construction Co., Oct. 1970.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:21
San Francisco Building Permits, 1971, 1973.
Physical Description:
Note
Map Case III: Drawer P
San Francisco Building Blueprints, 1970-1972, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Subseries 2.6.
Workshops, 1969, n.d.
Physical Description:
10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes workshop notebooks and one film.
Box 3:22-29
Workshop Books no. 1-8, n.d.
Physical Description:
8 notebooks
Note
Box 3:30
Workshop Book,
Faust, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 4:8
ESP Workshop on Beach, a film by Marlow Hotchkiss, 1969.
Physical Description:
Note
Subseries 2.7.
Promotional Material, 1963-1973, n.d.
Physical Description:
14 folders
Scope and Content Note
Includes mailers, pamphlets, press releases, articles, one poster, and company photographs.
Box 3:31
Season Ticket Mailer, First Season, Aug. 1963-Jan. 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:32
Season Ticket Mailer, Second Season, Feb.-July 1964.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:33
Season Ticket Mailer, Third Season, Aug. 1964-Jan. 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:34
Season Ticket Mailer, Fourth Season, Feb.-July 1965.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:35
Season Ticket Mailer, Fifth Season, Aug. 1965-Jan. 1966.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:36
Firehouse Theater, Minneapolis pamphlet, 1968-1969.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:37
Firehouse Theater, San Francisco pamphlet, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:38
Firehouse Theater, Press Releases, 1966-1973, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:39-40
Company Photographic Prints and Contact Sheets, 1966-1969.
Physical Description:
Note
Map Case III: Drawer P
Firehouse Theater poster, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:41
Articles, 1967-1972, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
Box 3:42
"Marlow Hotchkiss-Sydney Walter." Interview by Todd S. J. Lawson and Joan Polzin,
Plaintiff, (Fall, 1966): 18-21.
Physical Description:
Note
Series 3.
Memorabilia, 1963-1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
2 items
Scope and Content Note
Includes a scrapbook and a manuscript.
Box 3:43
Donicht, Mark Allen. "A Search for Theater, a Search for Magic, a Search for Truth..." n.d.
Physical Description:
Note
[manuscript]
Legal Size Box 6
Firehouse Theater scrapbook, 1963-1968, n.d.
Physical Description:
Note