Martin Worman papers, 1960-2008

Links

• View catalog record
• View PDF finding aid (142.17 KB)

Creator

Worman, Martin

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division

Extent

• 15 linear ft. (29 boxes)

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Scope/Contents Note

The collection documents Worman's theatrical and academic careers, the history of the Cockettes, drag, travesty theatre, and San Francisco in the early 1970s. The extensive production files relate to the Cockettes and Worman's other theatrical endeavors, as writer, actor anddirector, while the academic files chronicle his activities as student, instructor and scholar. A small amount of personal papers in the collection survey his childhood, youth, military career and adult life. The collection contains correspondence, biographical materials,writings, military and legal documents, scripts, sheet music, publicity materials, programs, photographs, research materials, and recordings of performances, rehearsals and demos of songs. Notable is Worman's research for his dissertation on the Cockettes, which includes 80 taped interviews with former Cockettes among them Sylvester, Goldie Glitters, Kreemah Ritz and John Rothermel. The collection also includes transcripts of these interviews along with draft versions of Worman's dissertation.

Biographical/Historical Note

Martin Worman was an actor, playwright, lyricist, director,female impersonator, activist and academic, working primarily in San Francisco and New York from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. A Vietnam veteran born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1945, Worman hitchhiked to San Francisco ca. 1969 and joined The Cockettes, a cross-dressing improvisational theatre troupe. He acted with them and wrote book and lyrics for several of their most renowned shows including Hot Greeks and Vice Palace featuring John Waters' superstar, Divine. After the troupebroke up, Worman continued his musical collaboration with Cockette Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn, writing musical revues and plays, most notably the 1972 musical Rickets: A Day in the Life of the Counterculture. In 1975 he co-founded the San Francisco-based Gay Men's Theater Collective whose award-winning play Crimes Against Nature was brought to New York. Worman moved to New York in 1979 where he worked with directors Robert Wilson and Jack O'Brien, directed shows of his own, wrote adaptations of the stories of Meridel LeSueuer and Sherwood Anderson and worked toward a doctorate in performance studies at New York University. He taught at NYU, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Antioch College. Worman died of AIDS in 1993 while working at Antioch.

Controlled Access Terms

• Worman, Martin.
• Schechner, Richard, 1934-
• Cockettes (Theatrical troupe)
• Actors -- Interviews.
• Female impersonators -- United States.
• Theater -- History -- 20th century.
• Experimental theater -- New York (State) -- New York.
• Theater -- California -- San Francisco.
• Gay military personnel -- United States.
• Gay men -- Sexual behavior.
• Transvestites -- California -- San Francisco.
• Transvestism.
• AIDS (Disease) -- United States.
• Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco)
• San Francisco (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• Photographs.
• Posters.
• Sound recordings.
• Video recordings.

Additional Creator Name

• Croonquist, Robert.