JoAnne Akalaitis of Mabou Mines

Extract

JoAnne Akalaitis’ vital statistics are representative of other Mabou Mines members. Change the sex and weight, and her profile could well be used by other company members: they are middle-aged; all but one are parents (there are eight children with the company); they are actors who live on Manhattan's lower east side. However typical this may be for membership within the company, it is atypical of other avant-garde theatre groups, who tend to be in their twenties or early thirties and childless.

Another unique fact is the stability and duration of their professional and personal relationships. Akalaitis, Ruth Maleczech, Lee Breuer and William Raymond first met and worked together in 1962, David Warrilow and Frederick Neumann joined them in 1965. When they, along with Philip Glass, officially formed Mabou Mines in 1969, they had an extensive shared history of friendship and work on which to base the professional and business association.