CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF ALTERNATIVE THEATRE

 1958 - 2008

“Implicit in Sam’s drama I’ve found “imprisonment” to be a central theme.

In “Krapp’s Last Tape,” Sam’s direction to me was full of...

 “Make his incarceration your own, Rick.” (-Samuel Beckett)


At San Quentin when we performed his trilogy (“Waiting for Godot” - “Endgame” - “Krapp’s Last Tape”) in the early 60’s and it was this universal constant that we’re all victims of Mother Earth and her gang of thugs.


Freedom therefore is not a Beckett theme however, in discovering his “true humanity” we can better judge our own.” - Rick Cluchey (Sept. 2007)

PART ONE-Lecture 2007

PART TWO-Lecture 2007

PART THREE-Lecture 2007

PART FOUR-Lecture 2007

POLAND 2006

      SQDW ARCHIVE

Los Angeles June 2008

Samuel Beckett & Alan Mandell 1980

“The guy (Rick Cluchey) who I had introduced the works of Beckett to had now introduced me to Samuel Beckett.”    -Alan Mandell

Our 50th Year is dedicated to:

   ALAN MANDELL

ALAN MANDELL won the Ovation Award, Garland Award, and LA Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in “Trying” by Joanna McClelland Glass. He is known for his roles in the works of Shakespeare, Beckett, and others, as well as productions on and off Broadway, throughout California and in Europe. He acted, directed, and was General Manager at both the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop and the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center. After co-founding the San Quentin Drama Workshop, he toured France and Germany with the original productions of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” and “Endgame” directed by the playwright, and then performed “Endgame” at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, and in London and Italy. He subsequently re-created Beckett’s direction for the filming of “Endgame” at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, and in London and Italy. He subsequently re-created Beckett’s direction for the filming of “Endgame”, in which he played the role of Nagg. He was Consulting Director for Los Angeles Actor’s Theatre where he directed and acted in Beckett’s “Company”, as well as “Rockaby”, “Ohio Impromptu”, “Footfalls”, Charles Marowitz’s “Artaud at Rodez” and Harold Lieberman’s “The Throne of Straw”. He also served as Consulting Director for Los Angeles Theater Center, directing “A rich Full Life”, “The Birthday Party”, “Happy Days”, “The Caretaker”, and Strindberg’s “The Dance of Death”, and appearing in “The Film Society”, “Anthony  and Cleopatra”, “Sarcophagus”, and “The Illusion”. While at LATC, he inaugurated a major Poetry Literary Series featuring such poets as Allen Ginsberg, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, W.S. Merwin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Adrienne Rich, and Nobel Prize-winner Czeslaw Milosz, among others. He co-produced a major revival of “A Streetcar named Desire”, starring Rosemary Harris at Lincoln Center, and Lois Nettleton on Broadway plus the Kennedy Center, as well as the Off-Broadway production of “I am Woman” starring Viveca Lindfors. Among his countless stage appearances are Prospero in “The Tempest” and Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” at The Grover Shakespeare Festival, “Denial” at the Long Wharf, “The Road to Mecca” and “The Cherry Orchard” at South Coast Repertory, the title role in “King Lear” at Orange County Shakespeare Festival, “The Cherry Orchard” at the Mark Taper Forum, “The Royal Family” and “Twelve Angry Men” at the Ahmanson Theatre, and “He Hunts” at the Geffen Playhouse. He just completed the national tour of “Twelve Angry Men”. having performed in twenty-eight cities for a total of 400 performances. His film roles include “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”, “The Marrying Man”, “Endgame”, “Midnight Witness”, and “Shortbus”. He appeared on television in Blind Ambition, Dark Victory, Enemies, 79 Park Avenue, and Eight is Enough. He is the recipient of LA Weekly’s first Lifetime Achievement Award.

POLAND 2006

POLAND 2006

Glasgow August 2008

Rick reads Oscar Wilde for Amnesty International Benefit DVD