The fifth presentation of the Cosmic Mass, a “pageant” and an “active meditation,” took place in New York, October 22 and 24, 1975, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as part of the World Spiritual Summit Conference V at the United Nations. The Mass incorporates dramatized vignettes, mudras, and movements, meditation, pantomime, tableaux, and processions; a didactic narrative superimposed overall affirms and celebrates the unity of all religious and spiritual paths. Earlier versions of the Mass were performed in Boston (March 1974), Los Angeles (April 1974), San Francisco (December 1974), and 1800 meters high in the mountains of Chamohix-Mont Blanc, France (July 1975). The Mass was first conceived in 1973 by Pir Vilayat Khan and Saphira Barbara Linden For each presentation of the Mass,Linden has directed, Pir Vilayat Khan has narrated the script, and Allauddin Mathieu has composed and arranged the musical score.

Between November 1890 and March 1892. the Théâtre d'Arstaged seven productions. It was during these two years that it became associated with the symbolist poets and finally came to represent the symbolist poetic in theatre. The staging of pierr Quillard's play La Fille aux Mains Coupées (The Girl with Cut-off Hands), the first stage production of Maurice Maeterlinck's plays L'Intruse (The Intruder) and Les Aveugles (The Blind), the recitation of poetry from the stage, and the staging of Song of Songs-all at the Théâtre d'Art—represent four different aspects of symbolist performance.

The Girl with Cut-off Hands, a mystery in two scenes performed on March 19th and 20th, 1891, was the first distinctly symbolist production in regard to its mise-en-scene and design. To a great extent it influenced the staging practice of Théâtre d'Art. The play was performed on a stage separated from the audience by a gauze scrim immediately behind the footlights.

Walking from the Disneyland plaza into Tomorrowland, it is difficult to comprehend at first that the Carousel Theatre, partly visible behind the PeopleMover and the Mission to Mars, is a completely circular building. Once you arrive at the point where a view of the theatre is not blocked by any other structure, your proximity to the wall of the theatre reduces its curve and makes it appear straighter, just as proximity to the earth's surface causes it to seem flat. As a result it is mildly perplexing to pass the turnstiles, after depositing an 85-cent ticket, and follow the metal guide rails that lead to the outer wall of the theatre. However, it is at most a four-minute wait until the entire theatre turns itself and brings a door in front of the spot where you are standing. This door opens automatically, and you are permitted to enter a comfortable 240-seat auditorium just in time for the beginning of America Sings, regardless of what time it is.

The Marilyn Project, a new play by David Gaard, was being presented in a special performance for the Directors’ Unit of the Actors’ Studio. Richard Schechner, who had directed The Marilyn Project, was moving about watching the actors from various vantage points. He stopped to talk quietly and briefly with one of the spectators. “This,” he said as he moved away, “is my contribution to the Structuralist movement.”

In what sense could Gaard's script and Schechner's staging of it be called “structuralist”? Of course, the answer will depend on how we define the term. If structuralism in theatre means that particular emphasis has been given to the structure of the presentation or that something unusual has been done with the structure, The Marilyn Project fits the definition.

When the spectator climbed a long flight of stairs at the Performing Garage and entered the large rectangular room, he saw a single row of seats along three of the walls.

As Robert Wilson's theatre is more widely publicized, he is inadvertently developing a reputation as an experimental “therapist.” Several newspaper articles have pointed to his work with brain-damaged children in Texas, his early involvement with Headstart programs and his work with the aged and terminally ill at Goldwater Memorial Hospital. Although this work was done many years ago, his reputation as a “therapist” continues to grow because of his continuing collaboration with Christopher Knowles, a brain-damaged youth, and, earlier, his work with Raymond Andrews, a deaf-mute. However, Wilson is not a therapist and does not consider himself one.

According to Webster, therapy is “a remedial treatment of bodily disorder” or “an agency (as treatment) designed or serving to bring about social adjustment.” If we accept this definition, then what Wilson has done is very different; in fact, almost the opposite.

The Mabou Mines staged Samuel Beckett's short novel The Lost Ones at the Theatre for the New City in New York in October, 1975. The piece, lasting about 45 minutes, was part of an evening of three Beckett works, which included Play and Come and Go. Play, the first of the three works to be performed, was presented on a proscenium stage. Come and Go, the second piece, was performed in a balcony above the audience and was reflected by a mirror to appear as though it was taking place in an area beneath the stage, such as an orchestra pit. For The Lost Ones, directed by Lee Breuer, spectators were asked to remove their shoes and then were led to a small rectangular room off the main theatre area. Upon entering, they stepped on a thick, foam rubber flooring; this gave the feeling of sinking downward.

The dramaturg's profession, which began in eighteenth-century Germany, has only recently been instituted in the United States. During the past decade, new resident and ensemble theatres around the country have added to their staffs the first generation of American dramaturgs. Generally these dramaturgs hold the less Germanic title of Literary Manager or Literary Advisor; but like their European counterparts, they serve as criticsin-residence for non-commercial, subsidized theatre companies.

Delayed arrival of the profession is partially due to America's late development of permanent, non-commercial theatres. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Germany's first important dramaturg, began his career in 1767 when the nation's first permanent, subsidized repertory company hired him to write about its productions at Hamburg. Though the permanence of the Hamburg National Theatre is questionable—it lasted about two years—its plan to develop a repertory of new plays led the theatre to hire Lessing, a playwright/critic who both carefully evaluated new scripts and wrote them.