Off Broadway Theatre records with papers of Jeremy Gadd, ca. 1970-1993

MLMSS 9615
SLIDES 306

fonds

1970-1993

Textual Records, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Graphic Materials, Architectural and Technical Drawings, Clippings, Photographs

1122735

0.48 metres of textual material (3 boxes), some files contain photographs
94 slides

In 1979 NSW Local Government building ordinance 70 was revised to no longer permit theatre groups to perform in unlicensed spaces. In order to provide a licensed space, in December 1980 theatre practitioners Jeremy Gadd and his wife Sarah Grant purchased a run down Baptist Church in Bay Street Ultimo N.S.W. to become The Off Broadway Theatre. At a public meeting in 1981, two companies were created, one for ownership of the property, and another Theatre Company Broadway Limited, to administer and renovate the venue. The theatre was built with the assistance of corporate sponsorships and government funding and became a 220 seat performance space for alternative theatre in inner-city Sydney. It operated until 1989 and presented 30 theatre productions.

References:
Compiled from the collection

MLMSS 9615
BOX 1
Folder 1
Bunraku Tour 1972 – programs (Adelaide + Canberra), press clippings, set drawings, lighting designs
Ephemera associated with the Jane Street production of King Edward with Gordon Chater, 1971
Ephemera associated with the West Australian Ballet Company’s inaugural eastern states tour 1972
Flyer for Synchronous 1972, Conservatorium of Music, Sydney 1972
Programme for the original production of the Rocky Horror Show, theatre upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London 1973
Ephemera & photos associated with Nida productions of a Midsummer Night’s Dream 1970 & The Beggar’s Opera, 1971
Script and ephemera associated with production of Jeremy Gadd’s More Champagne at the living room theatre, Sydney, 1978, with Denis Scott
Letter written by Paul isles relating to 1978 Nimrod production of Treasure Island and Martin Sharp designed ‘mo’ sticker
Material relating to Sam Wanamaker’s 1973 Bankside Globe season (London)

Folders 2-3
Publicity and documentary photographs, architectural plans, newscuttings, financial records, correspondence, fund-raising event programmes relating to building and initial running of Off Broadway Theatre, 1981-1985

BOX 2
Folders 1-2
Theatre programmes, posters, ephemera, press reviews relating to Off Broadway theatre productions including Realities, Loot, Love and the Single Teenager, Peggy Sue, Conversations with a Fainthearted Feminist, Fly Away Peter, Prisons and Dreams, Silkwood, You Must Remember This, Pure Puppet Theatre, ca. 1984-1985

Folders 3-4
Financial records, company documents, building plans, business and legal correspondence, ca. 1980-1993

BOX 3
Jeremy Gadd PhD thesis, 2005: Politics on the Australian stage: an analysis of how theatre has reflected Australian social and political debate 1956-2002 based on the television archives of the ABC. With appendix
JG Master of Arts Thesis, 1998: John Clark’s dramaturgical contribution to the production of David Williamson’s Don’s Party at the Jane Street Theatre in 1972
JG research paper, [undated]: The influence of the Jane Street Theatre seasons on the development of Australian drama
JG research paper, 2007: Language versus physicality: Physical theatre: performance, politics and postmodernism (or how Postmodernism made political performance palatable)
Data CD-ROM of JG’s PhD research: List of theatre performance segments in film and video archives of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1956-2002
Published books by JG including Selected Poems, 2013; Escaping the Triad, 1998 [1st + 2nd edition]; Country : stories from rural Australia, 2007; Under Centauri, 2013; Twenty six poems, 2000

SLIDES 306
94 colour slides, chiefly Kodachome, relating to:
Off Broadway Theatre, ca. 1980-1989, photography by Warren Scott & Sarah Grant
Bunraku Australian Elizabethan Trust Tour, 1972, photography by Jeremy Gadd

Access via appointment - Applies to SLIDES 306

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which Jeremy Gadd owns copyright.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales