I've Got the Shakes : Performing Richard Foreman

For more than half a century, no single artist has better embodied the spirit of experimental, “downtown” theatre than Richard Foreman, and he is one of the most important theater-makers living today. Beginning in 1968 with his founding of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Foreman helped to redefine the landscape of American theatre, writing and directing plays at the breakneck pace of one every year, creating a vast body of work that has expanded our understanding of what theatre can do and be. Infamous for their extravagant titles (including King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe!, The Gods Are Pounding My Head! (AKA Lumberjack Messiah), and I’ve Got the Shakes), abstract narratives, and rigorous pursuit of an utterly singular and uncompromising vision, these works also required unusual devotion and discipline from actors, who had to commit to months of rehearsals, six hours a day, six days a week.

Richard Foreman and His Theatre Artists offers a peek behind the curtain at the creative process of one of the most idiosyncratic theater-makers in history, along with the innumerable actors and other artists who helped bring his vision to the stage. Combining oral histories, written recollections, directorial notes, and other never-before-seen material—including four interviews conducted with Foreman from 2015 to 2022—it reveals what has drawn so many to his plays, the demands required of performers to bring his elaborate productions to life, and the restless, searching philosophy that animates all of his work.

Interviewees/contributors include: Richard Foreman, Willem Dafoe, James Urbaniak (Venture Brothers, Oppenheimer), David Patrick Kelly (John Wick I & II, 2024 production of Enemy of the People, Twin Peaks), Colleen Werthmann (Emmy-nominated writer, The Daily Show), and Patricia Ybarra (Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre, Brown University)