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The Wooster Group The Wooster Group
Past Work

The Town Hall Affair

2015–2019

The Town Hall Affair is based on Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s film Town Bloody Hall, which documents a raucous 1971 debate on Women’s Liberation held at Town Hall in New York City. The debate participants included a panel of writers, provocateurs, and thinkers: cultural critic Diana Trilling, feminist author Germaine Greer, radical lesbian journalist Jill Johnston, and Norman Mailer acting as immoderate moderator.

In The Town Hall Affair, The Wooster Group both re-inhabits the original film and derails it, redirecting Mailer’s pugnacious propensities onto himself and spinning out into Jill Johnston’s vision of a radical future.

Media & Ephemera

Maura Tierney and Ari Fliakos in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Paula Court, 2016.
Scott Shephers, Ari Fliakos, Kate Valk, Greg Mehrten, and Maura Tierney in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Steve Gunther, 2017.
Kate Valk and Maura Tierney Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Steve Gunther, 2017.
Maura Tierney, Ari Fliakos, Scott Shepherd, and Greg Mehrten in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Steve Gunther, 2017.
Erin Mullin and Kate Valk in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.
Maura Tierney, Ari Fliakos, and Greg. Mehren in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.
Maura Tierney, Ari Fliakos, Scott Shepherd, Greg Mehrten in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.
Ari Fliakos, greg Mehrten, Enver. Chakartash, Scott Shepherd, and Maura Tierney in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.
Ari Fliakos, Maura Tierney, Scott Shepherd in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.
Erin Mullin and Kate Valk in The Wooster Group's THE TOWN HALL AFFAIR. Photo: Prudence Upton, 2018.

Production History

Additional Credits

Thanks to Matthias Neckermann, Sheena See, and Wendy vanden Heuvel.

Made possible by support from: piece by piece productions; the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works program; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Performances at Festival d’Automne à Paris, Kanagawa Arts Theater, and the Kyoto Experiment were supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Kanagawa Arts Theater and Kyoto Experiment performances also were supported by a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to advance international understanding through cultural exchange in the arts.

Sources
Town Bloody Hall a film by by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker, 1979, 88 min, color.

Excerpts from the film Maidstone, 1970, 110 min, color, by Norman Mailer, courtesy of the Norman Mailer Estate. Maidstone is an independent film directed by Norman Mailer with D.A. Pennebaker as one of the cinematographers. In Maidstone, Norman Mailer plays a famous film director, Norman Kingsley, who is running for President while making a movie about his campaign.

Additional text by Jill Johnston from Lesbian Nation (“Tarzana from the Trees at Cocktails” and “On a Clear Day You Can See Your Mother”) © Jill Johnston.

Selected Press