In 1959, their production of The Connection attracted national attention for its harsh portrayal of drug addiction and its equally harsh language. Also during the 1950s, the American composer Alan Hovhaness worked closely with the Living Theatre, composing music for its productions. Their work during this period shared some aspects of style and content with Beat generation writers. Based in a variety of small New York locations which were frequently closed due to financial problems or conflicts with city authorities, they helped to originate off-off-Broadway and off-Broadway as significant forces in U.S.

One of their first major productions was Pablo Picasso's Desire Caught By the Tail other early productions were Many Loves by William Carlos Williams and Luigi Pirandello's Tonight We Improvise. to produce the work of influential European playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht ( In The Jungle of Cities in New York, 1960) and Jean Cocteau, as well as modernist poets such as T. In the 1950s, the group was among the first in the U.S. The Living Theatre and its founders were the subject of the 1983 documentary Signals Through the Flames. After Malina's death in 2015, her responsibilities were taken over by her son Garrick Maxwell Beck. After Beck's death in 1985, company member Hanon Reznikov became co-director with Malina the two were married in 1988. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/poet Julian Beck. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. Julian Beck (left) and Judith Malina founded The Living Theatre

Malina mars