Jim Neu Papers
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Abstract
Jim Neu (1943-2010) was an American playwright and actor, based in New York City, who was best known for his experimental plays. The Jim Neu Papers (1960-2012) contain materials created and collected by Neu and focus largely on his theatrical career. Materials include drafts and finished copies of plays and screenplays; drafts of unfinished plays; promotional materials for his works such as posters, flyers, performance cards, and programs; photographs and slides of performances; audiocassettes, video tapes, and digital copies of Neu's productions; correspondence and reviews; research materials for Neu's plays; and administrative papers such as performance logistics, finances for his plays, and grant funding. The collection also contains materials related to writing workshops, personal correspondence, notebooks, agenda books, and the works of some of Neu's colleagues.
Biographic Note
Jim Neu (1943-2010) was an American playwright and actor, based in New York City, who was best known for his experimental plays. Neu was born in Brooklyn on November 18, 1943. He graduated from the State University of New York at Oneonta in the early 1960s and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. Instead of being sent to fight in Vietnam, Neu was stationed in Korea. After being discharged in 1967, he moved to Manhattan's Lower East Side and between 1970 and 1975, Neu performed with Robert Wilson's Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds.
In 1976, Neu briefly re-located to California and alongside his friend and collaborator, sk dunn, he began creating works for the Napa Valley Theater Company (NVTC). While at the NVTC, Neu also collaborated with composer Michael Galasso and choreographer Liz Pasquale. Together they created one of Neu's notable plays, Echo Ranch, in 1977. This piece was later performed at the Green St. Gallery and PS 1 in New York City.
Neu returned to New York City in the late 1970s and began to collaborate with several downtown Manhattan performance spaces including the Kitchen, the Westbeth Theater, PS122's Avant-Garde-Arama, and the Soho Reperatory Theatre. He also began to participate in theater festivals in both the United States and in Europe. In 1991, Neu became friends with Ellen Stewart, founder of the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, and began his long-term working relationship with La MaMa.
Over the course of his career, Neu wrote many plays including Him or Me (1979), Basic Behavior (1982), Duet for Spies (1987), The Floatones (1995), Mondo Beyondo (1997), and Target Audience (2003) -- many of which were staged at La MaMa. He also wrote screenplays for two films, Doomed Loved (1983) and The Big Blue (1988), both of which were directed by Andrew Horne and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
Between 1985-1987, Neu was the receipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. In 1994 he was awarded a New Works grant by the New York State Council on the Arts and spent time at Andy's Summer Playhouse in New Hampshire mentoring young playwrights. In 2000, he was awarded an Arts International performance grant for the Exodus Festival in Lljubljana, Slovenia and conducted a playwriting workshop at the Mladinsko Theater.
Jim Neu died on July 19, 2010 from lung cancer.
Arrangement
The materials in the collection are arranged in a single file listing with all material listed alphabetically by topic.
Scope and Contents
The Jim Neu Papers (1960-2012) contain materials created and collected by Neu and focus largely on his theatrical career. The collection contains documents relating to many of Neu's plays including: Echo Ranch (1977), Aerobia (2001), Basic Behavior (1982), An Evening with Jesse James (1988), Him or Me (1979), Duet for Spies (1987), The Floatones (1995), Mondo Beyondo (1997), Mutual Narcissism (1984), Live Witness (1992), Kiss Shot (2002), Target Audience (2003), Optissimo Lounge (1991), La Vie Noir (2007) and more. The collection also contains documents relating to Neu's two films Doomed Loved (1983) and The Big Blue (1988).
These materials include drafts and finished copies of plays and screenplays; drafts of unfinished of plays; promotional materials for his works such as posters, flyers, performance cards, programs; print and digital photographs, as well as slides of performances; recordings of Neu's productions; correspondence and reviews; research materials for Neu's plays; and administrative papers such as performance logistics, finances for his plays, and grant funding. Together, these materials demonstrate Neu's active participation within the experimental theater community, the types of theatrical productions he participated in as an actor and playwright, his artistic style, and the venues he had relationships with in New York City and beyond.
The collection also contains the works of some of Neu's friends and collaborators including sk dunn, Mike Galasso, Andrew Horne, Ed Leighton, John Nesci, and Lenny Pickett.
Neu was heavily influenced by jazz music and often incorporated elements of it into his works. To this effect, the collection contains research materials focused on jazz and musicians including Duke Ellington. In addition to jazz recordings, the collection contains audiocassettes and videocassettes with interviews, music, and sound effects that were most likely used in Neu's performances. All of these have been listed with the original titles found on their containers.
In addition to Neu's plays, the collection contains materials related to writing workshops he participated in both domestically and internationally; notebooks, and agenda books; and personal correspondence. These materials represent Neu's life outside of his plays.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Jim Neu, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Jim Neu Papers; MSS 332; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Carol Mullins in 2012. The accession number associated with this collecton is 2012-332.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The Jim Neu Papers (1960-2012) were arranged and described by an archivist in the summer of 2023. Materials were placed in new archival folders and boxes. Original folder titles were retained when possible. Materials were grouped together thematically and then arranged alphabetically by file title. Photographs and slides were removed from their original housing and placed into archival sleeves. 320 audiovisual items were assigned a unique AV identifing number, rehoused into archival boxes, and intellectually incorporated into the finding aid. Audiovisual materials have been listed with the original titles found on their containers.
Duplicate materials were removed from the collection and returned to the donor.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content. Three optical discs containing documents and photographs were forensically imaged and analyzed using FTK, six optical discs containing audio files were forensically imaged and analyzed using Exact Audio Copy, and 50 optical discs containing video files were forensically imaged and analyzed using Isobusters Pro.
