The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Jean-Claude van Itallie 

Many Tibetan Buddhists believe that to hear The Tibetan Book of the Dead even once in this lifetime confers great blessings   Oct 3-4 Montague, MA Oct 17-19 Northampton, MA Oct 27 New York City, NY

Pilgrim Theatre, in association with Shantigar, presents Jean-Claude van Itallie’s play, The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Friday October 3 at 8:00, and Saturday October 4 at 8:00
Maezumi Zen Center in Montague, Massachusetts.
Tickets: $18.00 ($15 for seniors and students).
> Purchase online

Friday October 17 at 8:00, Saturday October 18 at 8:00, and Sunday October 19 at 7:00
Northampton Center for the Arts in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Tickets: $18.00 ($15 for seniors and students).
Tickets will be available at bookstores in Amherst and Northampton and at the door.
> Purchase online

Monday, October 27 at 8:00
one-night-only special benefit performance
Ellen Stewart's LaMama Annex
East 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City (Tibetan Book of the Dead premiered at LaMama Annex in 1983 to great acclaim.).
Benefit tickets are $50.00; $100.00 and a signed poster; or $350 for two tickets plus Wendy Gimbel's pre-benefit party and the silent auction (see below).
Tickets available by calling Shantigar: 413-339-4332
> Purchase online

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Cast: Court Dorsey, Kermit Dunkelberg, Susan Thompson.
Director: Kim Mancuso.
Music: John VanEpps and Steve Gorn.
Set: Jun Maeda.
Costume designer: Patricia Spees.
Lighting designer: Lara Durgin.
Lighting technician: Joshua Boliva.
Producers: Harvey Schaktman, Lisa Clark, Rosemary Quinn, Deb Katz.

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For inquiries, please contact Shantigar at 413-339-4332 or at email@shantigar.org.

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The benefit performance at LaMama on October 27th will include a silent auction of art by friends of Shantigar, some of them well-known artists.
> View auction items

Honorary Benefit Committee: Joyce Aaron, Edward Albee, Karen Allen, Lucie Arnaz, Ava B., Darren Bagert, Alec Baldwin, Anne Bogart, Robert Brustein, Joan Buck, Kathleen Chalfant, Tina Chen, Martha Coigney, Emilie Conrad, Nancy Cooperstein, Billy Crudup, Rabbi Edward and Merle Feld, Angelina Fiordellisi, Mary Frank, Rita Fredricks, Gerald Freedman, Barbara Gimbel, Wendy Gimbel, Peter Goldfarb, Steve Gorn, Lee Grant, William G. Hoffman, James Houghton, Morgan Jenness, Tony Kushner, Steven Lang, Laurence Luckinbill, Judith Malina, Jodie C. McDowell, Evangeline Morphos, Meredith Monk, Patricia Neal, Paul Newman, Austin Pendleton, Steven Post, Carol Fox Prescott, Michael Pressman, Harold Prince, Linda Purl, Roger Rees, Mercedes Ruehl, Rita Fredricks Salzman, Lisa Schubert, Marian Seldes, Mel Shapiro, Joan Micklin Silver, Laura Simms, Ellen Stewart, David Threlfall, Tulku Thondup, Rinpoche, Christel van Itallie, Serge Vidal, Betsy von Furstenburg, Lois Walden, Rabbi Sheila Weinberg, Robert Wilson, Joanne Woodward.

Steering Committee: Ronald Rand; chair, John Adams, Lauren Bond.
Silent Art Auction Committee: Gwen Bucci; co-chair, Lil Malinich; co chair, Rebecca Damon, Audra Blaser.
Production Committee: Lisa Clark, Rosemary Quinn, Harvey Schaktman.
Special thanks to Peter Goldfarb and Wendy Gimbel for hosting Benefit parties. Special thanks also to Michael Stuart. Extra special thanks, as always, to Ellen Stewart.

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From the back cover of van Itallie’s play, published by North Atlantic books as The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Reading Aloud:

“Jean-Claude van Itallie, one of our most original playwrights and a longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, has taken Guru Padmasambhava’s 8th Century masterpiece, The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo, or, as it is known in the West, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and rendered its essential brilliance into deeply moving and inspiring poems meant to be read aloud. Its sole interest is to pilot us wandering voyagers through the illusory and superstitious realms we call life and death.

“With constant reminders to pay attention and watch our minds, the poet urges us to come to our senses and remember our Nobly Born true selves completely beyond all designation, all hope and all tears...merging with the clear light bliss, no center, no circumference, an ocean with no boat... I love this little book. Read it aloud!” - Richard Gere

“Jean-Claude van Itallie’s presentation of this old classic brings us face to face with the radiance and emptiness of our own minds. He has made new a relevant – even urgent – text: A guide for the continually arising moments of choice in our living and dying.” - Diane di Prima