More Fire! Productions - Later History

Later History

In 1983, Cantwell began to perform with Good Medicine and Company, founded by carlos ricardo martinez and downtown actor/playwright Jeff Weiss. She performed in carlos ricardo martinez's Teddy and the Social Worker and Art the Rat. She starred with Jeff Weiss in his long-running, episodic show, . . . and That's How the Rent Gets Paid (Part IV). Cantwell also performed with Weiss and members of the Wooster Group, including Ron Vawter and Willem Dafoe, at the Performing Garage. In 1987, Cantwell debuted on Broadway (at the Longacre Theatre) in Circle Repertory Company's production of John Bishop's The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.

Epstein, who has been called the "lesbian equivalent of Woody Allen," continued as the central creative and organizing force behind More Fire! until she decided to disband the company in 1988. She was involved in every aspect of the production end as well as the artistic creation and design. She wrote, often in collaboration with others, all eight More Fire! experimental plays, performed in them, designed sets and painted scenery, created popular music soundtracks, and wrote songs.

Epstein's later work with More Fire! includes Beyond Bedlam and three plays written in collaboration with Sarah Schulman: Art Failures, Whining and Dining, and Epstein On the Beach. Other downtown performers appeared with the company, including Stephanie Skura in the title role in The Godmother, Jennifer Miller in Whining and Dining and Epstein on the Beach, and Holly Hughes in Whining and Dining. Writer and performer Deb Margolin contributed monologues for The Godmother and Beyond Bedlam, and a guest appearance in Junk Love. Some productions (Junk Love and Epstein on the Beach) also included male actors, such as actor/playwright Paul Walker and comic Jerry Turner.