Elizabeth LeCompte

Elizabeth LeCompte (born April 28, 1944) is a founding member and the theater director of experimental theater collective The Wooster Group (emerged 1975, founded 1980).

Biography

In 1970, Elizabeth LeCompte began her experimental theater work when she joined Richard Schechner's theater troupe The Performance Group (1967–1980) at its home the Performing Garage. While working with The Performance Group, she began developing a series of performances based on the experiences of fellow group member Spalding Gray. In 1975, beginning with the production of Sakonnet Point, the new experimental was distinct from the methods of The Performance Group. In 1980, with Schechner's resignation, The Performance Group ceased to exist and was replaced with The Wooster Group which continues to stage new productions at the Performing Garage. As director of The Wooster Group, Elizabeth LeCompte, along with others has "conceived and constructed fifteen works for the theatre, six works for film and video, three radio pieces and four dance pieces".^{[citation needed]}

She has a son, Jack (born 1982), with Wooster Group actor Willem Dafoe.

She was named a 2007 Rockefeller Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by United States Artists, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.

See also

• Speculations: An Essay on the Theater
• Mac Wellman
• The Flea Theater
• Performance art
• The Wooster Group
• Ontological-Hysteric Theater
• Richard Foreman
• Richard Schechner
• Happenings
• Allan Kaprow
• Fluxus
• Intermedia
• Dick Higgins
• Marina Abramović
• Experimental theatre
• Avant-garde