Paul Foster (playwright)

Paul Roose-Evans Foster was an American playwright, theater director, and producer born in Penns Grove, New Jersey. He was a founding member and the first president of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.

Early life

Foster studied journalism at Rutgers University then moved to Manhattan at the age of 21 to study law at New York University School of Law. After serving in the Navy for two years, Foster developed an interest in theatre. While living in New York, he met Ellen Stewart, a fashion designer planning to open her own boutique. In 1962, Foster agreed to help Stewart with her boutique in exchange for using the basement space as a theater in the evenings. "...Stewart's enthusiasm for the theater project quickly eclipsed her own initial idea for the boutique", and La MaMa was born. The theater moved around Manhattan's East Village multiple times before settling into its current space at 74A East Fourth Street in 1969.

Career

Foster has written eighteen plays, including Elizabeth I and Satyricon, as well as the libretto and lyrics for the musical Silver Queen Saloon. Fourteen books of his plays have been published.
Foster has won numerous awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts, and a British Arts Council Award.

Selected works and credits

Before Breakfast Hurrah for the Bridge The Recluse Que Viva El Puente Balls The Recluse Balm in Gilead The Madonna in the Orchard The Hessian Corporal Tom Paine Dead And Buried Heimskringla! or The Stoned Angels Four Noh Plays by Tom Eyen Sprint Orgasmics Caution: A Love Story Heimskringla La Reclusa La MaMa Christmas Show Satyricon Thoughts Elizabeth I Play-by-Play Silver Queen Rags To Riches To Rags Marcus Brutus Zainamoh Da Nutcracker In Da Bronx Silver Queen Saloon Elisabeta I A Kiss Is Just A Kiss Hurrah for the Bridge Tom Paine The Dark And Mr. Stone; Part 2, Murder in the Magnolias Faith, Hope and Charity As Straight as a Corkscrew Kisses, Bites and Scratches

''The Kleenex Planet''