H.M. Koutoukas, The Butterfly Session

“As to the subject of the butterflies, there were many mysteries of course... ambiguous beings not easily defined.”

This program features an unedited recording session with Off Off Broadway pioneer H.M. Koutoukas reading Chapter 26 of Marguerite Young's Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. The reading is by no means perfect. Rather, it reveals the habits and inhibitions of both the actor and the writer. Koutoukas' “performance” transposes the original work into something ethereal and redefines Young's efforts to use repetition as a formal device. The choice in chapter is no accident. Some have argued that Young's passages about butterflies are the most captivating in her entire epic. The chapter reflects on the transcendental qualities of butterflies and how the character, Mr. Spitizer, uses them to understand and escape from the scope of his world.

Editor's Note: This recording was not made as part of The Reading Experiment of 1976-77 in which an effort was made to have literary and theater figures read much of the Young epic. We believe Koutoukas recorded this as he was working to produce a stage version of the book, which never happened. We also decided not to edit out-takes and side comments - even though it interrupts the reading a bit - as a contribution to the historical record of this remarkable man.

H.M. Koutoukas (1937-2010), born Haralambos Monroe Koutoukas, was a groundbreaking playwright and actor. A pioneer of the Off-Off Broadway theatre movement, Koutoukas aided in the creation of La MaMa ETC, Cafe Cino and other venues. In 1966, Koutoukas was awarded a Village Voice Obie Award for "Assaulting Established Tradition," due to his unique, low budget and absurdist approach to theater.

•