Alex Gildzen

Alex Gildzen, born April 25, 1943 in Monterey, California, is a poet, mail artist, and blogger who is best known for his autobiography Alex in Movieland, an experiment in list poems. Gildzen grew up in Elyria, Ohio, graduating from Elyria High School in 1961. He then enrolled at Kent State University, earning a BA in journalism and an MA in English in 1966. Gildzen then took a position with the University News Service department, covering the university's cultural scene. He was on the Commons on May 4, 1970 when four students were killed by the National Guard during an anti-war demonstration. After that event, Gildzen decided to make a career change and was hired by then-Curator Dean Keller to assist him in the university library's Special Collections Department in 1971. During his tenure in Special Collections, Gildzen acquired the archives of the Open Theater, as well as the papers of its director Joseph Chaikin and major playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie. He also acquired the papers of Group Theater member Robert Lewis, film historians Gerald Mast and James Robert Parish, and silent screen star Lois Wilson. He retired as Curator in 1993 after thirty years of service at Kent State.Gildzen's first book, Into the Sea, was published by Abraxas Press in 1969. His selected poems The Avalanche of Time was published by North Atlantic Books in 1986. He became involved in mail art in the 1970s and produced a number of works, notably Postcard Memoirs. He visited Santa Fe for the first time at the end of 1990; he moved there four years later. During the 1990s, Gildzen produced a pop music concert and AIDS benefit and had two of his plays produced. Since his retirement, he has continued a robust career as a poet and mail artist, particularly utilizing the Internet as a medium. His blog is "Arroyo Chamisa" and he appears on You Tube in videos reading his work.

A masterwork by legendary poet and mail artist Alex Gildzen, inspired by his rich experiences in three Ohio cities: Elyria, Cleveland and Kent. "Alex Gildzen rushes to the heart with the clearest of memories, tacking them to our own with perfectly wrought images from his own life and calling out real people from the shadows of the past. His work glows with the power of a master poet. There is not one word in this book that doesn't ring true. Be glad. You can share a remarkable vision in this book that echoes through time every time Gildzen fixes his focus on his Ohio Triangle." - D.R. Wagner, author of The Night Market "Just as any 3 non-collinear points determine a unique plane, so Alex Gildzen's 3-part book of chiseled poems defines and explores the unique plane that is Gildzen's life in three different cities in Ohio. Here is a triangle considered in the context of the space-time continuum, where people, places and things combine to bring the past into the present and the present into the past. It is in the dimension of time, the loving remembrances and the sad recognition of the inevitable future of each person, place and thing within Gildzen's triangular plane, and by extension, within the reader's own unique plane, that brings warmth and heart to this multifaceted diamond of a book." - Shelley Chernin, author of The Vigil I was first introduced to the work of Alex Gildzen a few years back now and out of everything I've read, this latest collection, Ohio Triangle, is without a doubt the most touching look into the memories that make up his highly colorful life, so much so that I almost teared up at several points, because this is the way we all want to be able to look back on things, on a life well lived, only, Alex has been able to put it into words in a way that feels immediately relatable and effortless, as the passing of time should be." - John Dorsey, author of Imaginary Foxholes

Few theater artists are as revered by their peers as Joseph Chaikin, whose Open Theater is regarded as one of the most influential ensembles to perform on international stages. A glance at the index to this volume reveals the many eminent colleagues and admirers associated with Chaikin in his long and brilliant career. This first bibliographical study of Chaikin explores and documents his activities as actor, director, writer, and teacher, with major sections devoted to productions, live and recorded, and primary and secondary bibliography. The biographical sketch utilizes the assembled bibliographical materials, published and unpublished, including Chaikin's papers at Kent State University Libraries, which are cataloged here for the first time. Printed as an appendix is a previously unpublished letter Chaikin wrote to his company, which effectively expresses aspects of his philosophy and personality.