OUT-AND-ABOUT THEATRE:
An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Out-and-About Theatre, creator. | |
| Title: | Theater records. | |
| Dates: | 1977-1984. | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Articles of incorporation, bylaws, minutes, correspondence, several scripts, programs, reviews and articles, photographs and slides, a video recording, newsletters and fliers, a poster, and other records of a theater founded in 1977 to seek out and produce plays that dealt with the gay/lesbian experience in a positive way. | |
| Quantity: | 0.85 cubic feet (1 box), 1 master video file: MOV (26.5 GB), and 1 user video file: MP4 (1.2 GB). | |
| Location: | 142.F.18.2F |
HISTORICAL NOTE
Out-and-About Theatre was founded in 1977 to produce plays and musicals dealing in a positive way with the gay and lesbian experience. The impetus for its formation came from a summer 1976 production of The Faggot, by Al Carmines, which the theater's founder, Richard Rehse, directed at Minneapolis's Theatre in the Round (TRP). The production broke TRP's twenty-five-year box office record, indicating that there was a need and a place for gay and lesbian theater in the Twin Cities.
Since the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) routinely refused to grant tax-exempt status to gay organizations at that time, Out-and-About Theatre was originally formed in May 1977 as a sole proprietorship, privately owned by Richard Rehse. By 1980 when the IRS had changed its policy, the theater was incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, with Richard Rehse continuing as artistic director and business manager accountable to a board of directors.
The theater produced over forty-five plays and musicals during its six-year lifetime, including numerous local and world premiers. Despite critical praise from local and regional press and some successful grant applications, by 1983 the theater had fallen into considerable debt. In February 1984, the board of directors voted to cease operation of the theater and file for relief under Title 11 (bankruptcy), Chapter 7 (liquidation) of the U.S. Code.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Out-and-About Theatre. Theater Records. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 15,585; 15,928
Location of Master Files
Digital master of video are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.
The original video was disposed after it was digitally reformatted into a digital MOV file.
Processing Information:
Processed by: Lara D. Friedman-Shedlov, June 2000; Deborah Kahn, September 2006.
Digital video transferred from videocassette by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (March 2019).
Catalog ID number: 990017365140104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| 142.F.18.2F | 1 | Articles of incorporation and bylaws, undated and 1980. | |||||||||
| Minutes and related materials, 1979-1981, 1983-1984. | |||||||||||
| Chapter 7 bankruptcy declaration, February 1984. | |||||||||||
| Correspondence and miscellaneous related records, undated, 1977-1983. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Includes several scripts. | |||||||||||
| Theater programs/playbills, 1977-1983. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
| Newsletters, fliers, and other promotional materials, undated, 1979-1983. | |||||||||||
| Poster, 1981. | |||||||||||
| Picture You, Picture Me at the Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. | |||||||||||
| Reviews and articles, 1977-1981. | |||||||||||
| Reviews, programs, etc. of other productions, undated, 1977-1983. | |||||||||||
| Materials concerning productions by other theaters, possibly collected to identify plays Out-and-About Theatre may produce in the future. | |||||||||||
| Promotional photographs, undated, 1977-1981. 60 items in 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Black-and-white cast shots, contact sheets of head shots, and individual head shots that were used in theater programs and other promotional materials. | |||||||||||
| Cast photographs (color), undated. 24 items. | |||||||||||
| Color slides, 1979-1983. 2 boxes. | |||||||||||
| Individual slide containers in the boxes are identified by production title. | |||||||||||
| Internet | Boy meets boy. Minneapolis: Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, September 1, 1979. 1 master video file (1 hour, 56 minutes): MOV (26.5 GB) and 1 user video file: MP4 (1.2 GB). | ||||||||||
Digital video
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CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Gay theater -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Lesbian theater -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Theater management -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Theater -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Finance.
- Document Types:
- Theater programs.
- Playbills.
- Posters.
- Scripts (documents).
- Photographs.
- Color slides.
- Video recordings (physical artifacts).
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