Rochelle Owens

Rochelle Owens in a café in the Ardèches during a riverboat cruise up the Rhone.

Rochelle Bass Owens (born April 2, 1936 Brooklyn, New York) is an American poet and playwright.

Life

She is the daughter of Maxwell and Molly (Adler) Bass. A native New Yorker, Owens studied at the New School for Social Research (now The New School) and University of Montreal. After a brief marriage to David Owens, she married poet George Economou on June 17, 1962. She has taught at Brown University, the University of California-San Diego, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

A pioneer in the experimental Off-Broadway Theatre movement and also influential to the poetry at St.Marks Poetry Project and Deux Megots as a founding participant as well as being involved in the ethnopoetics movement, Owens is widely known as one of the most innovative and controversial writers of her generation, whose ground-breaking work has influenced subsequent experimental playwrights and poets. Since its first publication in 1961, her play "Futz" has become a classic of the American avant-garde and an international success. Toronto banned it, an Edinburgh paper dubbed it "lust and bestiality play" but New Yorkers queued around the block when it was first produced in the sixties. In 1969, it was made into a film, which has attained a cult following. Her plays have been presented worldwide and in festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, Paris and Berlin. Owens' important literary contribution has been the subject of a wide range of scholarship. During the 1960s and 70s Owens' plays premiered in New York City at The Judson Poets Theatre, LaMama ETC., Theatre for the New City and The American Place Theatre. "Three Front" was produced by Megan Terry and Joanne Schmidman at the famed Magic Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska. Owens was a founding member of The New York Theater Strategy and the Women's Theater council. In 1984 after relocating to Norman, Oklahoma, she hosted "The Writers Mind", a radio interview program from The University of Oklahoma featuring creative artists. She currently lives in Philadelphia, PA and Wellfleet, MA.

In 2006 she was celebrated for her achievements at LaMama Theatre in New York in its series, Coffeehouse Chronicles. Her autobiography is published in "Contemporary Authors", Volume 2; Gale Research, 1983. Owens has lectured and read widely in the United States and abroad and has been a participant at the Franco-Anglais Festival de Poesie, Paris. A member of ASCAP, New Dramatists Alumni, and The Dramatists Guild, her poetry and plays have appeared in many journals and magazines including Upstairs At Duroc, Simbolica, Scripts, Yale Theatre, 'Yugen, Plumed Horn, Nomad, Midwest, Floating World, Exile, Sulfur, Partisan Review, Trobar, First Intensity, Golden Handcuffs, Mandorla, Another Chicago Review, Temblor, The Cafe Review, and the on-line publication New Verse News. Com. Her controversial poem, "Chomsky Grilling Linguica" has been nominated for two On-line Awards for Best Poetry.

Awards

• 1965, 1967, 1982 Village Voice Obie Awards
• 1984 honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle.
• 1971 Guggenheim Fellowship
• The New York Creative Artists in Public Service Program
• 1976 The National Endowment for the Arts
• 1965 The Rockefeller Foundation grant
• 1993 Rockefeller Fellowship at Bellagio Center
• 1973 ASCAP Award
• 1994 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist

Works

Plays

• The String Game, Judson Poet's Theatre, New York City, 1965, published by Methuen, 1969.
• Futz, Tyrone Guthrie Workshop Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 1965, then Cafe La Mama Theatre, New York City, 1966, published by Hawk's Well Press, 1962, and Methuen, 1969.
• Istanboul. Hawk's Well Press. 1968.  Judson Poet's Theatre, 1968, then Actors Playhouse, New York City, 1971
• Homo, Cafe La Mama Theatre, 1966, later Ambiance Theater, London, 1966, published by Hawk's Well Press, 1968.
• Beclch, Theatre for the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA, then Gate Theatre,New York City, 1968, published by Hawk's Well Press, 1968.
• Futz and What Came After. Random House. 1968.  produced in New York City, 1968
• The Karl Marx Play and Others. Dutton. 1974.  American Place Theatre, New York City, 1973
• He Wants Shih, produced in New York City, 1971, published by Dutton, 1974.
• O.K. Certaldo, published by Dutton, 1974
• Kontraption, published by Dutton, 1974, New York Theater Strategy, 1976
• Coconut Folk-Singer, published by Dutton, 1974
• Farmer's Almanac, published by Dutton, 1974
• Emma Instigated Me, produced in New York City, 1976, published in Performance Arts Journal, 1976.
• Owens, Rochelle (1977). The Widow And The Colonel. Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. ISBN 9780822212522. http://books.google.com/books?id=_ZAhT9ybotEC&dq=Rochelle+Owens&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=2NwlDvDNuK&sig=r0QbPYravSpUM2k-yoLJoHzMSsI&hl=en&ei=SK5CSqaVFceGlAe04czsCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3.  produced in New York City, 1977, published in Best Short Plays, 1977.
• Who Do You Want, Piere Vidal?, Theatre for the New City, New York City, 1982.
• Chucky's Hunch, Theatre for the New City, New York City, 1981, Harold Clurman Theatre, New York City, 1982.
• Plays by Rochelle Owens: Chucky's Hunch, Futz, Kontraption, Three Front. Broadway Play Publishing. 2000. ISBN 9780881451726. 
• Mountain Rites, Alexander Street Press, 2003
• Sweet potatoes, Alexander Street Press, 2003
• Queen Of Greece, Alexander Street Press, 2003, La Mama E.T.C., New York City, 1969

Screenplays

• Futz Commonwealth United, 1969.

Poetry

• Not Be Essence That Cannot Be. Trobar. 1961. 
• Salt and Core. Black Sparrow Press. 1968. 
• I Am the Babe of Joseph Stalin's Daughter: Poems, 1961-71. Kulchur Press. 1972. 
• Poems from Joe's Garage. Burning Deck Press. 1973. 
• The Joe Eighty-Two Creation Poems, Black Sparrow Press, 1974.
• Owens, Rochelle (1977). The Joe Chronicles II. Black Sparrow Press. ISBN 9780876852965. http://books.google.com/books?id=yr-LwaRxoHMC&pg=PA2&dq=Rochelle+Owens+joe%27s+garage&lr=.  (David R. Godine Publisher, 1979 edition)
• Shemuel. New Rivers Press. 1979. ISBN 9780898230062. 
• French Light. Press with the Flexible Voice. 1984. 
• Constructs. Poetry Around. 1985. 
• Anthropologists at a Dinner Party. Chax Press. 1985. 
• W.C. Fields In French Light, Contact 2 Press, 1986
• How Much Paint Does The Painting Need, Kulchur Press, 1988
• Black Chalk, Texture Press, 1992
• Rubbed Stones and Other Poems, Texture Press, 1994
• New And Selected Poems 1961-1996, Junction Press, 1997
• Luca,Discourse On Life And Death, Junction press, 2000
• Triptych, Texture press, 2006
• Solitary Workwoman, Junction Press, 2011

Anthologies

• Leroi Jones, ed. (1962). Four Young Lady Poets: Carol Bergé, Barbara Moraff, Rochelle Owens, Diane Wakoski. Totem-Corinth Press. 
• Paris Leary, Robert Kelly, ed. (1965). A Controversy of Poets. Doubleday. 
• Technicians of the Sacred, Doubleday, 1969
• Inside Outer Space, Anchor Books, 1970.
• Poems For The Millenium, Vol. Two, 1998
• North American Women's Plays from Colonial times to the present, Alexander Street Press, 2003
• The Best Short Plays, 1971, Chilton
• The Best Short Plays, 1977, Chilton
• The Best Short Plays, 1978, Chilton
• All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 60's, Univ. of Calif.,2003
• Deep Down, The new Sensual Writing by Women, Faber & Faber, 1989
• The New Underground Theater, Schroeder, Bantam books, 1968
• New American Plays, Vol.2, Hoffman, Hill and Wang, 1968
• The Off-Off Broadway Book, Poland, Mailman, Bobbs-Merrill, 1972
• No More Masks, Howe, Bass, Anchor, Doubleday, 1973
• America A Prophecy, Rothenberg, Quasha, Random House, 1973
• A Big Jewish Book, Rothenberg, Lenowitz, Doubleday, 1979
• A Century In Two Decades, Burning Deck Press, 1982
• Exiled In The Word, Copper Canyon Press, 1989
• Light Years, Spuyten Duyvil, Awareing Press, 2010
• Psyche: The Feminine Poetic Consciousness, Segnitz, Rainey, Dial Press, 1973
• Rising Tides: 20th Century American Women Poets, Chester, Barba, Washington Square Press, 1973
• Scenarios: Scripts to perform, Richard Kostelanetz, Assembling Press, 1980
• The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry, Kale, Granger, Columbia Univ. Press, 2002

Radio Plays

• Sweet Potatoes, 1977.
• The Widow And The Colonel, 1976 (Commissioned by the Voice of America Celebration of the bi-centennial year)

Videos

• Oklahoma Too, 1987
• How much Paint Does The Painting Need, 1991
• Black Chalk, 1994

     Sound Recording

• A Shaman's Notebook, Broadside Records, 1968
• The Karl Marx Play (lyrics), Rochelle Owens, (music), Galt MacDermot; Kilmarnock, 1974
• Black Box 17
• San Francisco State University, Poetry Center, American Poetry Archives, 1987

Translation (English)

• The Passersby, Rochelle Owens, Henry Holt Pub., 1993 from the French, Les Passants, Liliane Atlan,

Novel

• Journey To Purity, Texture press, 2009

Editor

• Spontaneous Combustion: Eight New American Plays, Winter House, 1972

Reviews

From the Village Voice

The genius of Owens' work lies not in ideological commitments but in her access to the subconscious. One of our most courageous and insightful artists...and perhaps the most profound tragic playwright in the American theater.

Mathias Svalina has said of her:

She’s a poet I had never heard of, but one whom I recognized the moment I read a poem of hers. She is the 60s [...] poet with a wild sense of humor that I didn’t know I wanted in my life. But I do & I’m glad she’s here with me now.

From The New York Times

A rare and daring dramatic imagination.

From Library Journal

For more than 40 years Owens has been at the center of America's avant-garde. Important for any large or modern literature collection."

Marjorie Perloff has said about "Luca, Discourse On Life and Death"

Rochelle Owens' writing is 'sui generis', brilliantly inventive, immensely learned, sophisticated and witty in its conceits. Hers is a universe of stark gesture, lightning flash, and uncompromising judgment, a poetic microstructure in its superb modulations of rhythms and internal rhymes, its ironies and paradoxes. An astonishing body of work.

From Parnassus, Poetry in Review

Like the one alert sentry before an enemy attack, Owens uses images to jolt her public awake and summon it to lifesaving responses to evil.

Jerome Rothenberg has said:

There is a voice in Owens' work ... like a fierce and unrelenting force of nature. She combines a landscape with a poetics, the organic living world, sharp and visual—from which arises a construct and a fused vision: poetry and life. "Solitary Workwoman" A remarkable sense of form unfolding and expanding in the very process of composition, in the way she picks up, then releases, and again picks up key words and images—a truly dazzling display over the near epic-length of the entire work. There is no one quite like her. That "Solitary Workwoman" is also Owens' most personal and tragic work is its deeper secret and well worth noting.

Karl Young has said:

... truly ahead of her time. In the early sixties Owens foreshadowed several literary movements that followed at least a decade later.

...she was doing some of the most adventurous work of the second half of the century.

From The Times

One of the best known American playwrights in Britain on the strength of her play 'Futz' is Rochelle Owens. There is no question of her independence of imagination or its relevance to America.

From American Women Writers

Owens' dramatic imagination and verbal creativity mark her as a notable postmodern writer.

From Saturday Review

"Futz" is one of the most original and uninhibited pieces of dramatic literature ever written.

From Modern American Drama 1945-1990

Owens' risk-taking is more radical in certain respects than Beckett or Shepard.

From New York Post Chucky's Hunch

A funny wonderful play. Rochelle Owens' comic flame has never burnt so bright, but like the eye of the tiger, it is savage!

Marjorie Perloff has said about "Solitary Workwoman"

Rochelle Owens'inventiveness and imagination are always amazing, brilliant insight. The narrative poems in a language both subtle and devastating, another remarkable accomplishment—like the Grimm brothers turned inside out.

From "Rain Taxi"

"Solitary Workwoman", a book-length poem is the latest deployment of Rochelle Owens' highly original intuitive intelligence. It is a potent postmodern mythic vision of Everywoman...Owens' language is luxurious, gem-incrusted, over the top, fearless in revelation of desire to be reborn, to search for utopia and to face up to finding apocalypse....Rochelle Owens writes poetry like nobody but nobody else.

References

9. Marquis Who's Who

Sources

1. Drama Trauma, Timothy Murray, Routledge, 1997
2. The Theater of Transformation, Kerstin Schmidt, Rodopi, 2005
3. International Who's Who in Poetry and Poets Encyclopedia, Dennis McIntire, Routledge,2001
4. International Who's Who of Authors and Writers, 2004, Europa, 2003
5. Rochelle Owens papers, Columbia University Libraries
6. The Chronology of American literature, Daniel S. Burt, Houghton Mifflin, 2004
7. Feminine Focus, Enoch Brater, Oxford Univ., 1989
8. Modern American Drama, C.W.E. Bigsby, Cambridge Univ., 1992
9. American Playwrights: A Critical Survey, Marranca and Dasgupta, Drama Book, 1981
10. Twentieth-Century Drama, Chadwyck-Healey Literature Collections
11. Galatea Resurrects #9, Modern Ironists by Rochelle Ratner, 2008
12. Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
13. LaMama Experimental Theatre Archives
14. University of California at Davis, Special Collections, Performing Arts
15. "Ecstatic Journeys": the theatre of Rochelle Owens 1958-78 (dissertation Ph.D.) Elaine Stoloff Shragge University of California; Davis
16. NY Public Library Performing Arts Research Collections
17. Women and the Avant-garde Theater, J. Goulianos, The Massachusetts Review, 1972
18. Betsko-Koenig Women Playwrights Collection
19. Cyclopedia of World Authors
20. The Karl Marx Play: Masterplots II, Drama Revised edition
21. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, The Karl Marx Play
22. Critical Survey of Drama
23. ProQuest 20th Century Drama
24. Oxford Encyclopedia of Theater and Performance, Oxford Univ. Press
25. The Androgynous Muse: An interview with Rochelle Owens, C.B. Coleman, Theater, Duke University Press
26. "An interview with Rochelle Owens", The Dramatist, Dramatist Guild of America; Gregory Bossler July/August 2006 Vol.8,No.6
27. Moody Street Irregulars, The Women's Issue, Spring #24,25,26 1991
28. Taproot Reviews, Susan Smith Nash, #4 Spring 1994
29. The Poetry Project, Maureen Owen, Vol.15 April/May 1995
30. Right Brain Vocation Photos, The Magic Theater Fdtn. Barnhart Press, 1992
31. The Texas Observer, Paul Christensen, Vol.94 #1, 2002
32. World Literature Today, Susan Smith Nash, Summer/Autumn 2001
33. Rain Taxi, Review of Books, Susan Smith Nash, Vol.6 #4, Winter 2001-2
34. Another Chicago Magazine, #35, Cynthia Davidson, Left Field Press, 1999
35. American Book Review, Fred Muratori, Vol.20 #1, Nov/Dec, 1998
36. American Book Review, Corinne Robbins, May/June, 2002
37. Provincetown Arts, Cynthia Davidson, Vol.17, Annual issue, 2002-3
38. Talisman, A Journal of Contemporary poetry and Poetics, Susan Smith Nash, #12, Spring 1994
39. Women Writing Plays: Three Decades of the Susan S. Blackburn Prize, Alexis Greene
40. The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in The United States, Davidson, Martin, 1995
41. Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off-Broadway, Alexis Green, Proscenium Pub., 2004
42. A Companion to 20th Century American Drama, David Krasner, Blackwell Pub., 2005
43. Ellis Nassour Broadway Stars, February 28, 2008
44. American Drama 1945-2000, David Krasner, Blackwell Pub. 2006
45. Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre, Colin Chambers, 2006
46. New Theatre Quarterly 49 vol.13 Part 1, Clive Barker, Simon Trussler, 1997
47. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama Vol.2, Gautam Dasgupta, 1984
48. A Readers Guide to Modern American Drama, Sanford V. Sternlicht, Syracuse Univ. Press., 2002
49. The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights, Brenda Murphy,Cambridge Univ.Press., 1999
50. African American Women Playwrights: A Research Guide, Christy Gavin, Routledge, 1999
51. The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, Don B. Wilmeth, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007
52. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, Martin Banham, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995
53. The Voice in the Margin: Native American Literature and the Canon, Arnold Krupat,Univ.of CA,1989
54. Stealing the Language, Alicia Ostriker, Beacon press, 1986
55. Kulchur Queen, Lita R. Hornick, Giorno Poetry Systems Books, 1977
56. How I Became Hettie Jones, Hettie Jones, Grove Press, 1996
57. The State of the Language, Michaels, Ricks, University of California press, 1980
58. The Development of Black Theater in America, Sanders, LSU Press, 1988
59. Girls Who Wore Black:Women Writing the Beat Generation,Johnson,Grace,Rutgers Univ.Press,2002
60. Breaking The Rule Of Cool, Grace, Johnson, University Press Of Mississippi, 2004
61. Hearts And Minds, Michael Bibby, Rutgers University Press, 1996
62. The American Film Institute Catalog Of Motion Pictures Produced In The United States Feature

  Films 1961-1970 Part 2, University Of California Press, 1997

1. Playback Magazine, ASCAP, Stepping Out, Spring 2007
2. Facts On File Companion To American Drama, Jackson R, Bryer, M. Hartig, 2010
3. Encyclopedia Of Literature and Criticism, Martin Coyle, Taylor & Francis, 1990
4. Writing Size Zero:anorexia in contemporary world literatures,Isabelle Meuret,Peter Lang,2007
5. Oxford Companion To American Theatre, Bordman, Hischak, Oxford University Press, 2004
6. Remembering Ellen Stewart LaMama ETC Founder, Ellis Nassour, January 17, 2011
7. Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the U.S. Playwrights: 1975 to Present
8. New York Innovative Theatre Awards Celebrating Ellen Stewart, 1919-2011,Doug Strassler
9. Differentials, Poetry,Poetics,Pedagogy, Marjorie Perloff,University of Alabama Press,2004
10. The Queen of Greece:A Curtain Raiser,1969, Owens,Theater 2:92-101,Duke University Press
11. Works by Women, Ellen Stewart and her pushcart, Alexis Greene 2011
12. Cafe Cino Pictures, Cino People at LaMama, LaMama Troupe
13. American Drama: The Bastard Art,Susan Harris Smith, Cambridge University Press, 2006
14. Cambridge paperback Guide to Theatre, Stanton, Banham, Cambridge University Press, 1996
15. Off-Off Broadway: The Second Wave 1968-1980, Christopher Olsen, CreateSpace, Publisher, 2011
16. Fringe Of Fury; Outrageous Acts at Festival, Sunday Mail, Glasgow, Scotland, August 2009
17. Flannery O'Connor And Cold War Culture, John Lance Bacon, Cambridge University Press, 1994
18. Imperialism And Theatre, J.Ellen Gainor, Routledge, 1995
19. The Heritage of Black Poetry Series 1962-1975, Lauri Ramey, Ashgate, 2008
20. The Age Of Hair:Evolution And Impact..., Barbara Lee Horn, Greenwood press, 1991
21. The Drama Is Coming Now, Richard Gilman. Yale University Press, 2005
22. Press 1 Vol. 5 # 2 "Solitary Workwoman" review by Susan Smith Nash Sept-Dec 2011
23. Women,Modernism and Performance, Penny Farfan, Cambridge University Press, 2004
24. Apocryphal Lorca, Jonathan Mayhew, University Of Chicago Press, 2009
25. Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets, Terence Diggory, Infobase Pub.,2009
26. Censorship of the American Theatre The 20th Century, Houchin,Cambridge Univ.2003
27. The New Yorker, Theatre "Cruel To Be Kind", Hilton Als, November 21, 2011
28. Greenwich Village 1963, Avant-garde Performance, Sally Banes, Duke University Press, 1993
29. San Francisco Film Society, San Francisco International Film Festival, Albert Johnson, 2011
30. Encyclopedia Of Beat Literature, Kurt Hemmer, Info publishing, 2007
31. Rain Taxi, A personal View, "Solitary Workwoman," Rochelle Owens, Reviewed by Jane Augustine
32. Feminism in Literature, 20th Century, Jessica Bomarito, Jeffrey W. Hunter,Thomson Gale,2005
33. Radical Coherency,Selected Essays On Art And Literature,David Antin,Univ.of Chicago Press,2011

External links

• "Rochelle Owens", Penn Sound
• "ROCHELLE OWENS PAGES", Light and Dust Poets, Curated by Karl Young
• "Rochelle Owens", doollee
• Rochelle Owens at UbuWeb, Giorno Poetry Systems, "Totally Corrupt"
• The Languages of Rochelle Owens, Texture Press
• Poems and Poetics, "Song From Out Of Ur", "Solitary Workwoman"
• Lortel Archives The Internet Off-Broadway Database
• http://www.jiffynotes.com
• Golden Handcuffs Review; Susan Smith Nash, review of "Chomsky Grilling Linguica"
• WorldCat.org
• Amazon.com (books by title)
• Abebooks.com
• Shearsman Books
• American Poems
• Internet Theatre Database
• Internet Book Database
• New Verse News.com "Chomsky Grilling Linguica", "Going Global", "Sovereignty"1-4, "Woman From Tibet","Death Rattles Gauguin" "Imus Superstar", "Out Of The Digital Age", "Priestly Litany", "Goethe As A Foetus",

"Ode To A Gila Monster", "The Glacier", "Horishi", "Sacred Place", "Woman Of Jesus", "Museum Curator
In A Cube", "Eye Of The Botanist", "Poeming The Bambino", "Never Having Seen A Wave" 

• Roeesuffrin.com (from: "Solitary Workwoman")
• Theater.dukejournals.org
• Metaphile Rochelle Owens, Author
• The New York Times, Rochelle Owens (since 1851)
• That Theatre Site
• Geometry.Net
• Ask Jeeves Encyclopedia {Persondata
• Village Voice, Rochelle Owens
• Mitra Images, Photos Rochelle Owens