Christ Church Parish House and various venues, Cambridge, MA
1950 - 1968
various venues
1987 - present
Edward Gorey was a founding member of the Poets' Theatre, among them John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, V.R. 'Bunny' Lang, Alison Lurie, William Matchett, Thornton Wilder and William Carlos Williams. Gorey designed sets for their first play - Frank O'Hara's one-man show "Try, Try" in 1951. Gorey's illustration, seen to the right, has since been the theater's logo. Two of Gorey's plays were performed in the February 20-21, 1952 program "An Entertainment". Gorey is credited as artist, but also directed, credited as Mr. Ector Gasmantle.
Experimental plays were staged until their Cambridge venue burned down in 1968. After allowing the ashes cool for almost 20 years, members of the Poets' Theatre threw a commemorative party, a memorial ceremony, in 1986. Gorey called it "A Wake" on the announcement poster. However, not all life was extinquished from the fire eighteen years previous, and in 1987, the Poets' Theatre began anew. It continues today.
Visit the Poets' Theatre page at Brandeis University Department of Philosophy by Andrew Teuber
TRY! TRY!
by Frank O'Hara
set design by Edward Gorey
1951
PROLOGUE: THE CHILDRENS HOUR
by Miss Mary Manning and Mr. Edmund Godelpus (Edward Gorey)
February 20-21, 1952
THE TEDDY-BEAR, A SINISTER PLAY
by Mr. Egmont Glebe (Edward Gorey)
February 20-21, 1952
UNDINE
by Mr. Eldritch Gorm (Edward Gorey)
February 20-21, 1952
