The Ghost in the Room

Jack Logan’s poster - TOSOS - 1974

Robert Patrick is high on my list of favorite playwrights. He arrived at the Caffe Cino just I was leaving and it wasn’t until November of 1974 when TOSOS, as it’s second production, presented The Haunted Host, that I met his wonderful, wicked and wise plays. Peter del Valle directed, and Joe Pichette, the Olivier of off-off Broadway, was Jay, the host. Joe had played Frank, the guest, in various productions before, and he was determined to have his way with Jay. His performance indeed haunts me to this day. William M. Hoffman, the playwright, (way back when he was pretty and blond) was the first Frank. The TOSOS Frank was Jeff Morehead (also pretty and blond).

The Haunted Host premiered at the Caffe Cino in 1964. Along with my Now She Dances! (1961), Lanford Wilson’s The Madness of Lady Bright (1964), and Robert Bob Heide’s The Bed (1965), these plays heralded the beginning of a new theatre liberated from self-hate and self-destruction. Modern Queer Theatre had been born. The prevailing stereotypical characters which had amounted to little more than nasty nelly jokes were about to become real people who had to be reckoned with. As was made abundantly clear a few years later at Stonewall

(visit Robert Patrick's Cino pages - link at the right)

TOSOS

Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwright Project

Kathleen Warnock, director

presents

6:30 - Saturday, June 20, 2009

in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall

Christopher Borg (Penny Penniworth)

& Jesse May (Pig Tale)

in a reading of

Robert Patrick’s historic comedy

The Haunted Host

directed by Mark Finley

admission free - ART/NY - The Mitchell Room, 3rd floor

520 Eighth Avenue (between West 37th & 36th)

SEATING IS LIMITED

Please reserve by email: tosos@nyc.rr.com or calling 212 563-2218