Richard Foreman and His Theatre Artists

No single artist better embodied the spirit of experimental theater than Richard Foreman, one of the most important theater makers of the last century.

Beginning in 1968 with his founding of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Foreman helped to redefine the landscape of American theater, creating a vast body of work that expanded the possibilities for what theater can do and be. Infamous for their extravagant titles (including King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe! and Deep Trance Behavior in Potatoland) and pursuit of an utterly singular and uncompromising vision, these works required unusual devotion and discipline from actors, who had to commit to months of rehearsals, six hours a day, six days a week.

I’ve Got the Shakes offers a peek behind the curtain of the creative process with one of the most idiosyncratic theater makers in history, along with innumerable theater artists who helped bring his vision to the stage. Combining oral histories, written recollections, directorial notes, and other never-before-seen material-including four interviews with Foreman from 2015 to 2022-it reveals what drew so many to his plays, the demanding job of the performers in bringing his elaborate productions to life, and the restless, searching philosophy that animated all his work.

Shauna Kelly is a theater and film actor who worked in New York City from 1997-2009 and currently resides in Tokyo, where she has just finished working on a Warner Bros. film. She was a cast member in Richard Foreman’s King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe! In her studies writing she bridges her experience in the arts with her work in research and consulting. Her time has been otherwise spent traveling to places such as East Timor, Cambodia, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, and Portugal.