The New York TImes - The Arts - Friday, September 22, 2006

Off Off Broadway When It Was Just Downtown

By STEVEN MCELROY

To affix an exact date to the beginning of any ''movement'' is to risk offending those who came before and may have paved the way (or fancied doing so). Fastening a date to the genesis of the Off Off Broadway scene is no exception. But we can come pretty close. Stephen Bottoms, the author of ''Playing Underground'' (2004, University of Michigan Press), is among those who consider Nov. 24, 1960, a landmark date: the first time The Village Voice included events listings titled ''Off Off Broadway.''

Forty-six years later, the Off Off Broadway company Peculiar Works Project is marking the work of those early downtown theatrical pioneers with ''Off Stage: The West Village Fragments,'' a walking tour, performance and history lesson that will meander through Greenwich Village during the next few weekends, stopping at key locations. Some 50 actors and a dozen or so directors will offer scenes from some of downtown theater's most influential plays, mainly from the 1960's. ''The idea is to celebrate the early days and explore the confluence of events that came together to make this movement happen,'' said Catherine Porter, one of the group's three artistic directors. (Ralph Lewis and Barry Rowell round out the team.)

The show opens Sunday and then runs Thursdays through Saturdays until Oct. 7, presenting three tours nightly, at 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. Tickets are available through theatermania.com or by calling (212) 352-3101. Here are some notes on stops on the tour. STEVEN McELROY

TEXT FROM GRAPHIC:

1. WOMEN'S HOUSE OF DETENTION
(former site) Avenue of the Americas at West Ninth
Street Mae West was one of several risk-taking artists to do time in the jail (for indecency!), which was located here from 1932 to 1974. The Living Theater's Judith Malina and Ellen Stewart, the founder of La Mama, also spent time in this pokey during the 1960's.

2. SHERIDAN SQUARE PLAYHOUSE
(former site) 99 Seventh Avenue South
The Open Theater and other groups took advantage of a Monday night series at this Off Broadway house, which encouraged new, experimental work. Megan Terry's ''Calm Down Mother'' and Jean-Claude von Itallie's ''I'm Really Here'' were among the results.

3. GREENWICH HOUSE MUSIC SCHOOL
46 Barrow Street
Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch founded Greenwich House in 1902 and the music school a few years later, moving to this location in 1914. Alumni include John Cage and others who went on to collaborate with Off Off Broadway folks. A more recent alumnus is Robert Lopez, half of the team (with Jeff Marx) that wrote ''Avenue Q.''

4. CHERRY LANE THEATER
38 Commerce Street
The scenic designer Cleon Throckmorton converted a box factory here into an Off Broadway theater in 1924. Years later, Richard Barr, Clinton Wilder and Edward Albee ran a Monday-night series here, producing many new writers.

5. CAFFE CINO
(former site) 31 Cornelia Street
Joe Cino opened his cafe in 1958, and soon after offered readings and productions in the cramped back room, creating a gathering place that many consider the true genesis of Off Off Broadway. Lanford Wilson, whose play, ''The Madness of Lady Bright,'' is excerpted on the tour, got his start here.

6. WASHINGTON SQUARE METHODIST CHURCH
(former site) 135 West Fourth Street
The church, built in 1859-60, became a gathering place in the 1960's for activists, including theater people. Richard Schechner and the Performance Group first presented one section of ''Dionysus in 69'' here. The show included completely naked performers -- and audience volunteers.

7. PROVINCETOWN PLAYHOUSE
133 MacDougal Street
In 1960, Edward Albee's ''Zoo Story'' played here on a double bill with Samuel Beckett's ''Krapp's Last Tape,'' marking Mr. Albee's New York debut. Though it was an Off Broadway theater, the playhouse is a key location: Rosalyn Drexler's ''Home Movies,'' after a successful run at the Judson Poets Theater, moved here (from ''Off Off'' to ''Off'') in 1964.

8. CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE DOWNTOWN
(former site) 159 Bleecker Street
Circle was an Off Broadway house from its inception in 1951, at Sheridan Square, but Edward Albee held a writing workshop here.

9. THE VILLAGE GATE
(former site) 158 Bleecker Street
When Sam Shepard moved to New York in 1963, his high school friend Charles Mingus III got him a job as a busboy at this jazz club. Ralph Cook, a headwaiter, planned to open a new company called Theater Genesis, and asked Mr. Shepard (whose 1966 play ''Red Cross'' is featured on the tour) to write for him.

10. JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH
55 Washington Square South
The Rev. Al Carmines started the Judson Poets Theater here in 1961, creating a popular performance space for avant-garde artists of the day, including the playwright Maria Irene Fornes, who started out as a costume designer here. Eventually, Reverend Carmines produced some of her first plays.

Photo Credits: Mae West, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences; Sam Shepard, Susan Johann; “Bed,” Alice Garrard; Caffe Cino, James D. Gossage, from the collection of Robert Patrick