Magic Time at the Caffé Cino

From 1958 to 1968 the Caffé Cino in the West Village provided a safe haven to the adventurous performers and playwrights that invented the Off-Off- Broadway scene. Seated under a canopy of twinkle lights, among a clutter of curiosities that made up the Cino’s decor, audiences found themselves immersed in a play, as performers entered and exited scenes through the front door or from behind the coffee counter. The Broadway hit Dames at Sea, was, in fact, premiered at the Caffe Cino in 1966, as were other groundbreaking theater works by Sam Shepard, Doric Wilson, John Guare, Tom Eyen, and Lanford Wilson, among others. Artist and memoirist, Magie Dominic, the accidental archivist of the Caffe Cino, comes to the library to share remarkable stories of the birthplace of Off-Off Broadway, illustrated by one-of-kind artifacts from the Library’s Caffé Cino collection.