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Famous Like Me > Actor > C > Al Carmines

Profile of Al Carmines on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Al Carmines  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 25th July 1936
   
Place of Birth: Hampton, Virginia, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Reverend Al Carmines, born Alvin Allison Carmines, Jr. (25 July 1936-9 August 2005) was a key figure in the efflorescence of Off-Off-Broadway theatre in the 1960s.

He was born in Hampton, Virginia. Though his musical talent appeared early, he decided to enter the ministry, attending Swarthmore College, majoring in English and philosophy, and then Union Theological Seminary, earning a bachlor of divinity in 1961 and a master of sacred theology in 1963.

He was hired by Howard Moody as an assistant minister at Judson Memorial Church in Washington Square, to found a theater in the sanctuary of the Greenwich Village church in conjunction with playwright Robert Nichols.

Carmines began composing in 1962, and acted as well. His Bible study group grew into the Rauschenbusch Memorial Church of Christ, with Carmines as pastor.

He taught at Union Theological Seminary and received the Vernon Rice Award for his performance and the Drama Desk Award for Lyrics and Music and was awarded the Obie for Life Time Achievements.

His musicals reflected his ecclectic interests, including Abraham Lincoln, Christmas, Gertrude Stein, gay relationships, and St. Joan.

Carmines's Judson Poets' Theater, with other burgeoning theatres Café Cino, La MaMa E.T.C. and Theatre Genesis were experimental and vibrant challenges to the commercialization and conformity of Off Boradway and Broadway houses.

His 1973 musical The Faggot was a success d'estime which transferred from the Judson Memorial Church to the Truck and Warehouse Theatre and ran for 203 performances.

In 1977 he had a cerebral aneurysm that required months of therapy. He underwent surgery a second time in 1985, which only then cured his crippling headaches.

He died in St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, survived by his partner Paul Rounsaville.

Carmines found as much spiritual meaning in the theater as the church: "If you want to know how to live, go to church. If you want to know how your life is in its deepest roots, go to the theater."

Off-Broadway Credits

  • The Comedy of Errors - actor
  • Romance Language - actor
  • The Faggot - composer, lyricist, director, actor
  • Joan - librettist, composter, lyricist, actor, director
  • Promenade - composer, musical director
  • Peace - composer
  • In Circles - composer, actor
  • Gorilla Queen - songs
  • Home Movies & Softly Consider the Nearness - composer, actor
  • A Look at the Fifties - lyrics, music
  • Martyrs and Lullabies an opera featuring Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gertrude Stein, and Bessie Smith.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Al Carmines