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The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1965 by Robert Kalfin, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. It opened its doors in a church in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1968, where it was in residence for ten years. ==History== Kalfin, the artistic producer, wanted to do the kind of work that had marked commercial off-Broadway in its prime but which, as a result of escalating production costs, could no longer realize a profit. By 1969, he was working with two new dynamic partners, also Yale graduates, Michael David, executive producer, and Burl Hash, production manager. They made it possible for him to realize the work he envisioned. In the 1970s, the Chelsea produced plays that were unfamiliar to most spectators, even to many theater professionals. These included unusual European classics, new plays, and major works by well-known playwrights that were too complex and expensive for most non-profit theaters and too limited in audience appeal for most commercial producers. For instance, the Chelsea staged the first uncut production of Jean Genet's seven-hour long ''The Screens'' and the first New York production of Peter Handke's ''Kaspar''.〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 70-88 (The Screens), 104-110 (Kaspar) |publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 The theater introduced New York audiences to the works of England's new generation of Royal Court Theatre playwrights, including Edward Bond, Christopher Hampton, David Storey and Heathcote Williams〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 50-57 Saved, Total Eclipse 141-145, The Contractor 111-114, AC/DC 59-63) |publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 It unearthed works that had been lost to contemporary audiences, such as Kleist's ''The Prince of Homburg''; Witkiewitz's surrealistic plays, ''The Crazy Locomotive'' and ''The Water Hen''; John Gay's ''The Beggar's Opera'' and ''Polly''; and Isaac Babel's ''Sunset''. .〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 185-212 Kliest, 208-215 Locomotive, 93-96 Water Hen, 85-86, Beggar's, 170-174 Polly, 101-103 Sunset) |publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 With ''Kaddish'', a play based on a screenplay inspired by a poem by Allen Ginsberg, the Chelsea transformed two other genres into a multi-media theatrical event. With ''Yentl the Yeshiva Boy'', it metamorphized a short story by Isaac Singer into a powerful dramatic production. Then with ''Candide'', it integrated staples of commercial musical theater with experimental environmental staging.〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 82-89Kaddish; 151-163, 170, 172; 118-132|publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 The Chelsea captured the imagination of critics who gushed over triumphs and excused failures as necessary steps to breaking new ground. Some performers left Broadway shows to appear on the Chelsea's stage in Brooklyn, and well-known artists such as Frank Langella, Meryl Streep and Hal Prince were anxious to work at the Chelesea. .〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 16, 32, 185, 187, 195, 198, 218, and back cover blurb Langella; back cover blurbs also provided by Glenn Close and New York Times culture editor, Tom Lask; 168, 214-215, Streep; xiv (foreword to book, 116-131, 144, 260 Prince) |publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 Others who worked at the Chelsea early in their careers would become well known, including Glenn Close, Brent Spiner and Des McAnuff.〔Napoleon, Davi, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', pages 201, 211, 256, back cover blurb, Close; 177, Spiner; 95, 208, 211, 222, 228-229, 233-235, McAnuff|publisher=Iowa State University Press |date= |accessdate=2013-06-11〕 As described in Davi Napoleon's chronicle, ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater'', actors were extremely loyal to the Chelsea. The entire company of ''Strider, the Story of a Horse'' (based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy) petitioned Actors' Equity Association to permit it to rehearse without remuneration when the Chelsea had no money to continue production; in a rare move, the union agreed. After the golden years in Brooklyn, funding sources for the non-profit theater decreased radically and the Chelsea could not adjust. The theater moved out of Brooklyn, attempting to find a wider audience in Manhattan for the work it wanted to do, but it eventually met with defeat. In the process, they opened the off-Broadway Westside Theatre. The company folded in 1984. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chelsea Theater Center」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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