Back by popular demand! Don’t miss this award-winning Broadway cast, followed by a Q&A with the actors, playwright Susan Charlotte, and legendary attorney Marty Garbus, who helped defend Lenny Bruce at his obscenity trial in 1964.
The People Versus Lenny Bruce is the third performance in “All the Court’s A Stage,” Food for Thought Productions’ series of one-act plays based on cases of legendary defense attorney Marty Garbus. Called “one of the world’s finest trial lawyers,” Garbus’ clients have included Philip Roth, Samuel Beckett, Igor Stravinsky, John Cheever, Daniel Ellsberg, Al Pacino, Susan Sontag, and Lenny Bruce.
In April 1964, Lenny Bruce appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with undercover NYPD detectives in the audience. As he left the stage he was arrested for obscenity, along with club owners Howard and Elly Solomon.
Bruce’s widely publicized trial lasted six months, during which was defended by Ephraim London and our special guest Marty Garbus.
Bruce and Howard Solomon were found guilty despite testimony and petitions of support from artists, writers and educators including Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Woody Allen, William Styron, and James Baldwin, along with Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced to four months in a workhouse, dying while on bail awaiting appeal. Solomon later saw Bruce’s conviction overturned.
Written by Susan Charlotte • Directed by Anthony Marsellis • Performed by 2x Tony Award Winner James Naughton, Bob Dishy, Penny Fuller, Larry Pine, Michael Citriniti, and Alex Purcell.
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About Playwright Susan Charlotte
Susan’s multi-faceted career started with Prism Blues. Based on her work as a prison counselor, the play earned her a place in Columbia’s MFA program and won the prestigious Joseph Kesselring Award. Her 60 full-length & one-act plays have been produced throughout the country. They include: The Shoemaker starring Danny Aiello, directed by Antony Marsellis; She’s Of A Certain Age; The Round Table (w/ Oscar & Tony winner Peter Stone), and When Truth Is Not Enough. Her play, Love Divided By, was produced by the Actors Studio and was made into a film with an original score by Philip Glass. The film reopened MoMA’s Titus II theatre. Her other films include: Something Like That, A Broken Sole, Come On (Hamptons Film Festival.) Her TV credits include; Did You Know My Husband? with Louise Lasser & Carole Shelley (PBS); The Comedy Zone with Patty Duke & Paul Reiser (CBS); Guiding Light and Loving (CBS).
Susan authored the acclaimed books Creativity and Creativity In Film and has written for NY Magazine and Playbill. She was also a professor at Columbia U., NYU, and City College. She is the founding artistic director of Food For Thought Productions and Cause Celebre.
About Food for Thought Productions
Food for Thought Productions was created by award-winning playwright Susan Charlotte to provide a home for the oft-neglected one-act play. FFTP has presented over a thousand shows with Oscar, Tony and Emmy award winning writers, actors and directors including Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Elaine May, Mary Alice, Elaine Stritch, Marian Seldes, Danny Aiello, Kathleen Turner, Tony Roberts, Carole Shelley, Peter Bogdonovich, Judd Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Bond Davis, Eric Stoltz, Kyra Sedgwick, Rosie Perez, Judith Light, Christine Baranski, Earl Hyman, Rita Moreno and so on. Food For Thought keeps going. As the world keeps changing and the unanswered questions continue to grow it is comforting to know that there is still something people can count on.
