Experimental Theater Wing (ETW) 1978 - 2003

  • Head of Movement 1981-1984

  • Studio Head Director 1985 - 1990

  • Associate Director 1991 - 2003

  • Master Teacher (Ret.) 2004

The Experimental Theater Wing (ETW) grew out of Ron Argelander’s undergraduate classes on the Avant Garde offered as electives to drama students in the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department. These courses began in the mid-1970’s and by 1976-77 Ron was inviting members of the experimental theater companies which surrounded NYU’s Washington Square campus in downtown Manhattan to teach sections of his course as practical demonstrations of how their work was made. These companies included The Performance Group, Charles Ludlum’s Ridiculous Theater, Mabou Mines, Joe Chaikin’s Open Theater to name only a few. A full history of this program has yet to be fully documented, let alone an accurate narrative written or published. Please have a look at a documentary self-produced by the studio in 1990 (link below) which includes statements by ETW founder Ron Argelander and core faculty and students at the time. The documentary also includes clips of studio productions illustrating the ethos, enthusiasm and mission of the program in the years 1977-1990. In the Fall of 1977, Mary Overlie was invited to teach a full semester course as part of a new studio, ETW. I followed Mary into the program as a member of her company and continued to teach there until 2003. I have written an unpublished memoir article on my experiences at ETW which you can access below. I have included some ephemera, photos and some other documents covering the development of ETW’s movement curriculum which for many years was shared by myself, Mary Overlie, Paul Langland and Nina Martin. All of us had been members of Mary Overlie’s early company. There have been a succession of movement teachers and many styles taught at ETW in addition to this core of teachers.

More Document and Media Links:

Essential Syncretism: Radical Education for Radical Times: The Experimental Theater Wing (ETW) and The Viewpoints 1977-1990 (2020), Wendell Beavers

  • This extended essay is a first draft of a narrative from my own perspective as a participant in the early development of ETW as I experienced it.

The Impact of the Six Viewpoints on ETW at NYU: Working with a Horizontal Vision inside a Vertical Structure (2020), Kevin Kuhlke

ETW Notes on Movement Goals and a Movement Training Narrative (2002), Wendell Beavers

  • These are notes from a self-study/review of ETW’s curriculum that the faculty convened at a moment of change. The notes are a good summary of my own goals and sought after outcomes as a teacher of movement in the program from 1978-2003.

Experimental Theater Wing Self-Produced Documentary (1990) Produced and Directed by Wendell Beavers with Paul Langland and Sally Kaplan (52 Min)

  • A portrait of a moment in the life of ETW in its 15th year. There are many clips of student and faculty work and substantive statements by students and the core faculty at the time: Mary Overlie, Paul Langland, Saskia Noordhoek Hegt, Kevin Kuhlke, Steve Wangh, Cecil McKinnon, Lisa Sokolov, Wendell Beavers