(Feingold’s article appeared on Theatermania, 6/5.)
The late Judith Malina, who died on April 10, just as Broadway was gearing up for its vast outpouring of new productions in advance of award-nominations deadlines, was a hero to many theater people, myself included, but the word "exemplary," which some have applied to her life, makes me slightly uncomfortable. An exemplar is someone whose life can serve as a model — literally an example — to others, and I'm not sure that I would like to see large numbers of young theater people trying to duplicate what Malina did. The passionate consistency of belief, both aesthetic and political, that made her an inspiration (the correct word) to so many of us also led her into a chronicle of sufferings, mingled with triumphs, too long and harrowing to detail here.