SOURCE: Sainer, Arthur. “The Several Stages of the Embattled Living Theatre.” Theater 16, no. 2 (spring 1985): 52–7.

In the following essay, Sainer traces the shifting reliance The Living Theatre has had on the pre-written text as the basis for its productions.

By the winter of '84-'85, the Living Theatre had made the decision to settle (if that is the word) once again in New York City. Until the previous summer, it had hopes of establishing a two-cities base, performing six months in Paris and six months in New York, but events, not the least of which is Julian Beck's serious illness, have forced the company to reappraise what is possible. Julian, who originally came to theater from painting, has been eyeing his early canvases—indeed they fill the Becks' living room walls with their massive yellows, with their bright, sculpture-like forms—and sensing a desire to return to his early...