Ubu Repertory Theater Script Collection
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Abstract
Ubu Repertory Theater, founded in 1982 by Franse (Francoise) Kourilsky, is the only US theater dedicated to presenting contemporary French-language plays in English translation. For its first ten years of existence, it operated from a small, second-floor theater in Chelsea and has since moved into offices at 95 Wall Street. Ubu has remained committed to cultural cross-fertilization as an essential element to the welfare of the theatrical community. The Ubu Repertory Theater Collection is comprised of plays, monologues, anthologies and criticism in French and English.
Historical Note
Ubu Repertory Theater, founded in 1982 by Franse Kourilsky, is the only US theater dedicated to presenting contemporary French-language plays in English translation. An arena for cross-cultural exchange, Ubu calls on translators, playwrights, actors, directors, and theater professionals to nurture international collaboration.
Ubu commissioned and published the first English translations of plays by well-known writers such as Aimire, Jean Tardieu, Simone Schwarz-Bart, and Jean-Claude Grumberg. Ubu also introduced American readers to playwrights like Sony Labou Tansi, Bernard-Marie Koltand Tilly, all highly regarded in their own countries but just beginning to be known abroad.
In the last decade, Kourilsky took the idea of creating a theater that provides Americans with a unique window onto the stages of Francophone cultures, from Paris, Montreal, Brussels, Dakar, and Antanantarivo, to name a few. By making this new and challenging material accessible to Americans, Ubu has lived up to the inspiration of its name. As Ubu believes that cultural cross-fertilization is essential to the welfare of the theatrical community, it has no doubt strengthened the contemporary, international repertory.
After ten years of operating exclusively in a small, second-floor theater in Chelsea, Ubu Repertory Theater has moved into offices to 95 Wall Street and embarked on a series of larger Off-Broadway productions at the French Institute Alliance Franse's Florence Gould Hall and La MaMa E.T.C.'s Annex Theater. It also officially launched its own Ubu Bilingual Company. Since 1995, Ubu Repertory Theater has evolved a bilingual troupe as it presented critically-commended bilingual productions such as Jean-Paul Sartre's "Huis Clos/No Exit" (1985) and Albert Camus' "Le Malentendu/The Misunderstanding" and "Les Justes/The Just" (1998). The new company will also feature a design team whose ten-year body of work at Ubu will feature some of the most outstanding international theater productions in New York.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically by author heading.
The files are grouped into two series.
- Series I: French Manuscripts
- Series II: English Manuscripts
Scope and Contents
The Ubu Repertory Theater Script Collection is a part of the Downtown Collection at the Fales Library, New York University. The Fales Library is the primary special collections division of the NYU libraries, housing nearly 200,000 volumes of English and American literature from 1700 to the present. Strengths of the collection include the development of the English and American novel, with an emphasis on the Gothic and the Victorian novel.
The Ubu Repertory Theater Collection is comprised of plays, monologues, anthologies and criticism in French and English. Many of the manuscript submissions to Franse Kourilsky and the Ubu Repertory include correspondence, publicity brochures and articles pertaining to the playwrights and their work. Many of the works are by playwrights in exile, women writers, and francophone playwrights from around the world.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Series 1: Plays in French: consists of plays and manuscripts in French which make up 23 boxes. They are listed in alphabetical order by author and by title when there is no author listed.
Series 2: Plays in English: made up of plays and manuscripts in English and French-language plays in English translation. Series 2 contains 10 boxes. Translators and adaptors are listed on the folder only. Series 2 is also listed in alphabetical order or by title if there is no author.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Ubu Repertory Theater Script Collection; MSS 120; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Provenance
The Ubu Repertory Theater Script Collection was donated to the Fales Library in 2001.
Separated Materials
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In March 2016, all boxes were renumbered to numerically follow boxes in Series I . Researchers with citations to previous box numbers may contact fales.library@nyu.edu for assistance with identifying new box numbers.
