ABSTRACT
The development of the avant-garde in the 1960s became inextricably bound up in the political and social sensibilities and upheavals of the decade, while a general spirit of iconoclasm, mixed with a gentle spirituality and a romantic longing for rituals that might re-instill a sense of meaning in an apparently disintegrating society. In general terms, the avant-garde theatre of the 1960s could be divided into two broad categories. One branch was the formalist work to be found in performance art and the creations of Jack Smith, Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, and others that was informed by Happenings, Cagean aesthetics, and influences from other arts. But another branch, the one most popularly associated with the 1960s, was founded on an Artaudian search for a non-literary theatre. This latter avant-garde was most often identified with theatrical collectives, sometimes referred to as ensemble theatres, consisting of associations of actors, playwrights, and directors dedicated to the creation of new work.
