Squat Theatre


Squat Theatre was a Hungarian experimental theatre company from Budapest, which left Hungary for Paris, France, and then New York City, where they built a reputation for experimental theatre.
Originally, the Company was known as Kassák Haz Studió and was located at Uzsoki-utca 57, Budapest). For political and aesthetic reasons the Company emigrated to Paris then to the United States where they arrived in New York City first living at the Hotel Chelsea and then at 256 West 23rd Street where they lived, worked and performed from 1977 to 1985. Several members left Squat Theatre in 1985 when they lost the lease to their space on 23rd Street including Anna Koós, Péter Halász, Eric Daille, and Agnes Santha. The rest of the Company continued until 1991. Squat Theatre's last play was Full Moon Killer, 1991 and performed at The Kitchen in New York City.
The space on 23rd Street had a large window with a street entrance, and spectators sat in the back of the store facing the storefront window and the street beyond. Events took place with the street as backdrop, with the intention of unsettling the events, the relationship among the members of the group, and the audience. This set-up was first used in Rotterdam at 129a Van Oldenbarneveltstraat in the show Pig, Child, Fire! which was commissioned by the Toneelraad Rotterdam.
The six founding members of Squat Theatre are Peter Berg, Marianne Kollar, Péter Halász, Anna Koós, Stephan Balint and Eva Buchmuller. Members of Squat Theatre were: Eric Daillie, Agnes Santha, Klara Palotai, Eszter Balint, Boris Major, Rebecca Major, Judith Galus Halasz, Simon Daillie, and Cora Fisher. Important contributing actors were Sheryl Sutton, Sandi Fiddler, Kathleen Kendall, Nico, Yossi Gutmann, Shirley Clarke, Richard Leacock, August Darnell, Mark Boone Junior, Sue Williams, Jane Smith, Larry Solomon, Ivan Jakovits and Jan Gontarczyk. Boris and Rebecca Major are the daughters of János Major.

History

In 1969 Anna Koós, Péter Halász and Stephan Balint from the University Theatre of Budapest created an independent theatre group called Kassák Haz Studió.
In 1972 they were censored by the Hungarian authorities for "political and esthetic radicalism", and banned from performing in public. In the next four years they wrote 36 performance events: plays, sketches and improvisations. These were shown in apartments, staircases, streets, beaches, and in the countryside. "Manifesto" by István Bálint on behalf of Studio Kassak was published in Schmuck, Hungary,
March–April, 1973 issue.
Various plays were performed in 1973 including Alice and Her Sisters with and by Eva Buchmüller, Marianne Kollár, Anna Koós and István Bálint. Tribute to Miron Bialoszewski with Péter Halász, Péter Breznyik and Anna Koós, performed at the Polish Cultural Center in Budapest. Birds and Red Epaulets. featured live statues situated along the chapel perimeter: Éva Buchmüller sings a Jewish song sitting like the Virgin Mary holding a young man on her lap, in the position of Michelangelo's Pieta. A mother sings a partisan song to her baby.
The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov was performed for the first time at Dohány utca 20, Budapest. They used as text the abridged version of the original play limited to the lines of the three sisters. The company left Hungary for the West.
While living in Paris in 1977, Tamas Szentjoby suggested the company change its name to Squat Theatre. The company created their first play for a Western audience: Pig, Child, Fire! It was set in a storefront in Rotterdam, a setting that became their trademark. After touring Nancy, France, Shiraz, Baltimore, Paris, the company arrived with their goat at the Hotel Chelsea in New York City.
Andy Warhol's Last Love opened on 23rd Street in 1978. The Company went on tour to Hamburg, Rome. Milan, Florence, Belgrade, Rotterdam and Brussels. It won a Grand Prix at the Belgrade International Theatre Festival, and the Italian Critics’ Award for the Best Foreign Performance.
Squat Theatre opened a Nightclub Club With Live Music in 1979 managed by Janos Gat and staffed by members of Squat Theatre featuring jazz, blues, rock and new wave.
In 1981 Mr Dead & Mrs Free premiered in Cologne, Germany. Commissioned by Ivan Nagel director of Theater der Welt and shown at Cologne’s “Theatres of the World” festival, Mr. Dead & Mrs. Free was filmed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder as part of his first and only documentary Theater in Trance. It was also shown in New York City and Amsterdam. The show had a year-and-a-half performance run on 23rd Street. It was awarded an Obie Award for the Best New American Play. It received a The Villager Award. An open-air version of the show, The Battle of Sirolo was performed in August in Polverigi, Italy.
In 1981 Vincent Gallo ran a film night at Squat Theatre. In the monthly schedule he wrote funny insightful critiques of the films he curated. And before and between films he DJ'd rare records. Those who remember Gallo's film night say it was the best curated film series ever put on. A photo of Vincent Gallo and his iconoclast industrial noise band Bohack is featured on the back cover of the Bohack LP titled "It Took Several Wives"
In the summer of 1985 the theatre lost their eight-year lease of their home and performance space on 23rd Street.

Plays