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"Io, it is history that I am writing."
-Judith Malina, May 18, 1959.
Order your copies of The Diaries of Judith Malina, volumes 1-4 here
The Diaries of Judith Malina publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of anarchist Jewish German-American theatre director Judith Malina from the most influential period of her career, 1947-1971. Malina (1926-2015) was a stage director, actor, and activist who co-founded The Living Theatre in 1947 with her first husband Julian Beck. The Living Theatre remains the longest-running American experimental theatre, and continues today.
A committed anarchist and pacifist, Judith Malina made theatre as a way to engage in revolutionary activism. Her exquisite and detailed diaries showcase her political and social observations, cultural commentary, deep self-reflection, and wit. In these diaries, she chronicles not only her life and that of her theatre, but vivid analyses of politics and culture and the people with whom she worked, studied, and socialized: Merce Cunningham, Bayard Rustin, Salvador Dalí, Martin Buber, Maya Deren, Jean-Louis Barrault, Dorothy Day, Erwin Piscator, James Agee, the Berrigan brothers, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, among many others. Her diaries are important primary sources that speak to her artistic practice and life. The diaries serve as a record of her company and also a dazzling example of literature.
This four-volume book, edited by theatre historian, director, translator, and dramaturg Kate Bredeson, brings together new editions—with new photographs and introductions—of Malina’s long out-of-print published diaries alongside two new volumes of previously unpublished diaries.
Volume One: A new edition of The Diaries of Judith Malina, 1947-1957 (Grove Press, 1984), edited by Judith Malina, with a new introduction and photos selected by Kate Bredeson.
Judith Malina’s newly restored diaries from a critical early decade in her personal, artistic, and political development
Judith Malina’s diaries from 1947 to 1957 are brought back into print in this volume, which charts her cofounding of The Living Theatre with husband and lifelong artistic partner Julian Beck. In these diaries, she narrates her developing political commitments and her expansive collaborations and personal relationships, as well as a moving account of her time in prison with activist Dorothy Day. This new edition features Kate Bredeson’s comprehensive introduction, which offers a detailed examination of Malina’s life and work in this period, along with additional historical context of these years and never-before-published photographs from Malina’s personal archives.
The Diaries of Judith Malina is a four-volume set that publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of radical theater director, actor, and activist Judith Malina from 1947 to 1971, the most influential period of her remarkable and storied career. A committed anarchist and pacifist, Malina made theater as a way to stoke revolutionary action. Her diaries showcase her political and social observations, cultural commentary, self-reflection, and wit. This expertly prepared set invites us to recognize Malina for her accomplishments not only as an artist and an activist but as one of the great literary diarists.
Volume Two: An edition of Malina’s previously unpublished diaries from 1957-August 1968, edited by, and with an introduction and photos selected by Kate Bredeson, with a forward by Thomas Walker.
A previously unpublished volume of diaries recording Judith Malina’s extraordinary life and career in a moment of cultural revolution
Judith Malina’s diaries from the pivotal years of 1958 to 1968 are presented here in print for the first time. Meticulously edited and with an essential introduction by Kate Bredeson that offers a detailed discussion of Malina’s life and works during this period, the volume includes additional historical context and never-before-published photographs from Malina’s personal archives, as well as an illuminating foreword by Living Theatre archivist and longtime company member Tom Walker. This decade covers some of the most important years of Malina’s life and in the history of The Living Theatre, from career-defining productions of The Connection and The Brig to the company’s self-imposed European exile, when they created their signature works, including Paradise Now, Antigone, and Frankenstein.
The Diaries of Judith Malina is a four-volume set that publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of radical theater director, actor, and activist Judith Malina from 1947 to 1971, the most influential period of her remarkable and storied career. A committed anarchist and pacifist, Malina made theater as a way to engage in revolutionary action. Her diaries showcase her political and social observations, cultural commentary, self-reflection, and wit. This expertly prepared set invites us to recognize Malina for her accomplishments not only as an artist and an activist but as one of the great literary diarists.
Volume Three: A new edition of The Enormous Despair: The Diary of Judith Malina, August 1968-April 1969 (Random House, 1972), edited by Judith Malina, with a new introduction and photos selected by Kate Bredeson.
A newly restored edition of Judith Malina’s legendary diaries narrating a key moment of social, political, and cultural upheaval
Originally published by Judith Malina as The Enormous Despair, this slim, gripping collection of diaries from a pivotal period between 1968 and 1969 follows The Living Theatre’s return to the United States after their years of self-exile in Europe, their increasing notoriety and frequent arrests, and their cross-country touring. In these pages, Malina wrestles with the company’s artistic and political efforts during a moment of societal crisis and grapples with their future. Kate Bredeson’s introduction contextualizes Malina’s life and work in this period, while additional historical context and never-before-published photographs add new detail and depth to a stirring account of American social and political history.
The Diaries of Judith Malina is a four-volume set that publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of radical theater director, actor, and activist Judith Malina from 1947 to 1971, the most influential period of her remarkable and storied career. A committed anarchist and pacifist, Malina made theater as a way to engage in revolutionary action. Her diaries showcase her political and social observations, her cultural commentary, her self-reflection, and her wit. This expertly prepared set invites us to recognize Malina for her accomplishments not only as an artist and an activist but as one of the great literary diarists.
Volume Four: An edition of Malina’s previously unpublished diaries from April 1969-September 1971, edited by, and with an introduction and photos selected by Kate Bredeson, with a forward by Ilion Troya.
Judith Malina’s never-before-published diaries describing a period of profound personal and professional transformation
The years 1969 to 1971 saw The Living Theatre’s greatest rupture, reckoning with its desire to leave its defining productions from the 1960s behind and move forward with new artistic works and practices. In these previously unpublished diaries, Judith Malina recounts these pivotal years, describing her transformative time in Brazil, including her experiences of daily life in jail while awaiting trial with her company members. This meticulously edited volume includes Kate Bredeson’s introduction, examining Malina’s life and work in this period, as well as additional historical context and never-before-published photographs. Living Theatre member Ilion Troya offers a foreword that provides new context for understanding the volume’s historical significance.
The Diaries of Judith Malina is a four-volume set that publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of radical theater director, actor, and activist Judith Malina from 1947 to 1971, the most influential period of her remarkable and storied career. A committed anarchist and pacifist, Malina made theater as a way to engage in revolutionary action. Her diaries showcase her political and social observations, cultural commentary, self-reflection, and wit. This expertly prepared set invites us to recognize Malina for her accomplishments not only as an artist and an activist but as one of the great literary diarists.
Together, Malina’s diaries tell the story of her theater company and its decades of defiance against capitalism and commercialism, and the struggles of making art to serve as a way to resist. These diaries resonate deeply now during ongoing struggles for racial and class justice and against capitalism. The diaries concurrently tell the story of Malina as a woman, mother, lover, and observer of and participant in a vibrant international scene of arts and politics. Malina is known for her exceptionally driven work as a stage director at a time when women were not accepted as professional directors, her devoted life in anarchism, and her thrilling work as an actor. She lived a bold life against norms, in non-monogamy, non-traditional motherhood, radical Judaism, and pacificism. To her, theater was a way to try to build a better world, and she started The Living Theatre with Julian Beck in service of this goal. Her diaries record her singular honesty and fearlessness alongside vivid lyrical descriptions of her surroundings. These volumes are crucial resources for students, scholars, artists, activists, and also appeal to the general reader.
Praise:
"The long-awaited, fascinating The Diaries of Judith Malina goes far in filling the gap in our understanding of and appreciation for the unique voice, experiences, achievements and perspectives of Judith Malina, the passionate artist-activist and cofounder of The Living Theatre, a groundbreaking ensemble that landed at the center of the zeitgeist during the decade these diaries span. In Malina’s intimate, sharply etched and riveting chronicles, astutely and sensitively edited by Kate Bredeson, we can "feel alongside her in the moment" as Bredeson writes in her illuminating, strongly argued introduction, tracking an extraordinary life of/in the theatre that can teach us volumes about a revolutionary time not so different from our own."
- Cindy Rosenthal, Hofstra University.
"This thrilling new installment in the publication of Judith Malina’s diaries brings readers into a tumultuous, largely nomadic, highly creative, and often contentious period of The Living Theatre. While the company constantly grapples with cops, creditors, critics, and the conflicts of communal living, this visionary artist also invents new forms, develops theories of political theater, exalts and agonizes over love affairs, and gives birth and tends to a daughter. Her sparkling, pithy descriptions of places ("gray roofs glowing in Paris"; "the busy vegetation of Cefalù") and people (Genet, Grotowski, Dorothy Day . . . ) bring every encounter to vivid life, and her honest questioning of all assumptions -- except her commitment to pacifism, whether audience members lift her up in triumph or spit in her face -- never cease to inspire."
- Alisa Solomon, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
"Judith Malina was an extraordinary artist whose copious diaries reveal her struggle between a love of the world and a desire to revolutionize it. At this moment in history, her soulfulness and fierce honesty, joined to radical politics and ideals, appear as a timely gift to a world theatre community searching for inspirational figures. In its use of archival material and reflections on the diary as a literary form, Kate Bredeson’s [writing] opens up new perspectives on this great woman of the American theatre who embraced livingness in all its splendor and turmoil in pursuit of her vision."
- Bonnie Marranca, editor, PAJ: a journal of performance and art, and author of Timelines: writings and conversations, Performance Histories, Ecologies of Theatre