Archives & Collections

The Sam Shepard Papers consist of notebooks, drafts, publication proofs, screenplays, scripts, production and publicity material, correspondence, printed material, photographs, and awards belonging to the American playwright, author, and actor Sam Shepard.

The Sam Shepard collection consists of manuscripts, notebooks, printed material, correspondence, photographs, and other items.

The Sam Shepard Papers document the middle years of Sam Shepard’s literary and acting career, from 1980-1999. The collection is comprised of the following series: Plays, Novels, Short Stories, Films, Literary Criticism, Notebooks, Correspondence, Clippings, Awards, Interviews, Readings, Published Compilations, Works by Others, and Framed Posters.

The Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark Collection spans 1972-2011 and documents the men’s forty-plus year friendship. The collection is arranged in five series: Correspondence, Dialogues, Photographs, Audio Material, and Video Material.

The Sam Shepard collection is a group of seven incidental items spanning the dates 1968-1979, related to the dramatic work of this American playwright, which includes three playscripts, two programs, a contract, and a poster.

Carol Benet (b. 1939) is an American writer, educator, and critic of the arts. The Carol Benet collection of Sam Shepard research materials dates from 1970 to 1995 and holds scholarly articles, reviews, scripts, programs, recorded interviews, notes, dissertation drafts, and correspondence relating to the playwriting career of Sam Shepard. Material in this collection was gathered by Benet for her dissertation, The German Reception of Sam Shepard (1987).

The material in this collection pertains not only to an individual, Richard Schechner, but also to TDR, The Drama Review, a scholarly journal concerned with the broad range of performance in society and in the arts. Schechner, a renowned scholar, director, writer, and educator, edited The Drama Review from 1962-1969 and again from 1986 to the present date. Particularly in the 1960s, and again in the 1990s, both Schechner and TDR challenged traditional, prevailing ideas about theater-what it is, how it should be presented, and the ritual and ideals behind it. Schechner argued for thinking of “performance” as an all-encompassing genre with “theater” as one of its sub-categories. He is widely recognized as the founder of “performance studies” as an academic discipline. In the process of working out what performance studies is, Schechner and his colleagues at New York University created new ideas and new ways of thinking that still affect today’s world of performance, theater, dance, and the social sciences. As “the journal of performance studies,” TDR did much to shape the new discipline.

Founded in 1961 by theatre legend Ellen Stewart, La MaMa is the only original Off-Off-Broadway venue still in operation. Ellen established La MaMa as a haven for underrepresented artists to experiment with new work, without the pressures of commercial success. The Collective/Access Digital Archive holds 113 archived and digitized Audio/Visual, Documents and Photographs of Sam Shepard encompassing his time with the theatre.

The Magic Theatre records contain the administrative, production, financial, and publicity records of a theatre company that grew from a handful of graduate students to a well-respected company known for its support of new theatrical works. The collection, which spans the period of John Lion’s tenure as Artistic Director and General Director. Includes documents relating to the relationship between the Magic Theatre and Sam Shepard, who followed Michael McClure as an important playwright for the company.

Ecco Press was an independent small-trade publisher known for presenting distinguished new work in international poetry and fiction writing through its books and its journal Antaeus, and for reissuing neglected classics in a variety of fields, including travel and food writing.

Circle Repertory Company, originally named Circle Theater Company, was founded in July 1969, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W. Mason, playwright Lanford Wilson, director Rob Thirkield, and actress Tanya Berezin. The plan was to establish a pool of artists- actors, directors, playwrights and designers- who would work together in the creation of plays.

Michael Townsend Smith (b.1935-) is an American playwright and director for Off-Off Broadway and alternative theatres. The collection holds Smith’s scripts and the scripts of other playwrights.

The Paul Cranefield Papers, 1824-2002 [bulk years 1951-2002], document medical doctor and theater enthusiast Paul Cranefield’s interest and contribution to New York City’s theatrical world, and in particular the Off-Off Broadway movement. The collection consists of administrative files created by the La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and the Circle Repertory Theatre, in which Cranefield served as a board member for several years. They include correspondence, meeting minutes, notes and agendas, legal and financial records, grant applications, leaflets and brochures, production inventories, and Cranefield’s writings on subjects related to theater and collecting. There are also scripts, photographs, clippings, and a considerable number of programs and posters from productions created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, as well as from productions of the 1800s, collected by Cranefield.