Megan Terry

Marguerite Duffy (July 22, 1932 – April 12, 2023), known professionally as Megan Terry, was an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre artist. Terry and Chaikin, together with Peter Feldman and Barbara Vann, founded The Open Theater in 1963. The Open Theater was a cooperative that progressed from a closed experimental laboratory to an ensemble. The Open Theater used the methods of the worldwide collective theater movement and was particularly inspired by the work of the acting teacher, Nola Chilton, and the innovator of theater games, Viola Spolin. Some praised the vigor of the play's social protest, while others did not.

Later career Following the mixed reviews of Viet Rock, which was translated and produced internationally, Terry left New York and The Open Theater. She moved to Minnesota and became the writer-in-residence for Minneapolis' Firehouse Theater, where she had previously been a Rockefeller Fellow during the development of Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place.

For several years, Terry split her time between theatre in Minnesota and commissions for television and public radio, including the program Home: Or Future Soap (1968).

Selected works Theatre 1955: Beach Grass – Seattle, Washington 1955: Go Out and Move the Car - Seattle, Washington 1955: Seascape – Seattle, Washington 1961: New York Comedy - Saratoga Springs, New York 1963: Ex-Miss Copper Queen on a Set of Pills - Sheridan Square Playhouse, New York City 1963: Eat at Joe's - The Open Theater, New York City 1963: When My Girlfriend Was Still All Flowers – The Open Theater, New York City 1964: Calm Down Mother – Sheridan Square Playhouse, New York City 1965: Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool, Dry Place – Firehouse Theatre, Minneapolis 1966: The Magic Realists – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Sheridan Square Playhouse, New York City 1966: Comings and Goings – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club 1966: In the Gloaming, Oh My Darling – Martinique Theater 1966: Viet Rock: A Folk War Movie (music by Marianne de Pury) – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Martinique Theater and The Open Theater, New York City (published by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays by Megan Terry) 1967: The People vs. Ranchman – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (produced by the Firehouse Theatre, Minneapolis) 1968: Massachusetts Trust – Spingold Theater, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 1968: Changes – directed by Tom O'Horgan at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club 1968: Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club 1968: Jack Jack – Firehouse Theater, Minneapolis, directed by Sydney Walter 1970: Approaching Simone - La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Boston University Theater, Boston, Massachusetts (published by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays by Megan Terry) 1973: Couplings and Groupings 1973: Nightwalk (with Sam Shepard and Jean-Claude van Itallie) – The Open Theater, New York City 1974: Babes In The Bighouse – Magic Theater, Omaha, Nebraska (published by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays by Megan Terry) 1974: Hothouse 1974: Calm Down Mother and The Gloaming, Oh My Darling – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club 1978: American King's English for Queens 1979: Attempted Rescue on Avenue B: A Beat Fifties Comic Opera 1979: Goona Goona – Magic Theater, Omaha, Nebraska (published by Broadway Play Publishing) 1982: Molly Bailey's Traveling Family Circus: Featuring Scenes from the Life of Mother Jones 1985: Objective Love I - Magic Theater, Omaha, Nebraska (published by Broadway Play Publishing, 2012) 1990–1992: Star Path Moon Stop - written and toured for Magic Theatre 1992: Sanibel and Captiva – Cesear's Forum, a minimalist theatre company, staged the radio play on a double bill with James Prideaux's Lemonade, Heartland Cafe Studio Theater, Chicago, Illinois 1995: No Kissing in Hall – commissioned by J. Larson of Rose Theatre, Omaha, Nebraska

Television 1955: The Dirt Boat – KING-TV, Seattle, Washington 1968: Home or Future Soap (directed by Glenn Jordan) – Channel 13 New York City