The Bundle Man marked Ilsa Gilbert’s transition to playwright from poet, a calling she has continued to pursue brilliantly. In addition to a distinguished career in theatre, she is an accomplished librettist. The many plays that followed The Bundle Man were regularly produced at major Off Off-Broadway theaters during what are now being referred to as the golden years.
Her plays and operas have enjoyed numerous performances in the US and abroad, including Russia, Armenia, Costa Rica and Germany, and her cabaret musical Berlin Blues (music by Katrina Cameron) won first prize at the Quaigh Theatre Annual Marathon. Her operas are regularly premiered in New York by the Downtown Chamber and Opera Players, and her opera version of The Bundle Man (music by Marshall Coid, directed by Tom O’Horgan) premiered at Theater for the New City. Ilsa’s poetry chapbook Survivors & Other New York Poems is published by Bard Press, while individual poems have won awards and appeared in prestigious journals, as well as the Anthology of Irish Poetry.
More than thirty-five composers have set her poems as art songs, chamber work and dance theatre. The Bundle Man was featured in OFF Stage: the East Village Fragments, the OBIE-winning outdoor festival presented by Peculiar Works Project. Ms. Gilbert is founder-director of the PEN Women’s Literary Workshop.
The Bundle Man
One-act Drama 4m
Self-described as “a loving parody of Theatre of the Absurd, with clear references to that genre without being obvious.
Into the company of three disparate (and desperate) characters—a tyrant, a coward and a foppish lover, as at-odds with each other as they are codependent, wanders an itinerant and independent spirit. The mysterious bundle he totes yields startling surprises.
The four embark on a fateful journey that is by turns eccentric, frightening, compassionate and entrancing, delivered at all times with a heightened sense of language that is the hallmark of Ilsa Gilbert’s exceptional talent.
The Bundle Man was one of the earliest plays performed at The Old Reliable and has continued to enchant audiences for several decades.
$5.99 paperback
$0.99 kindle
A Dialogue Between
Didey Warbucks And Mama Vaseline
One-act Drama 1m 1f
Just as a playpen threatens to dominate the stage, Mama Vaseline tries to dominate her conceived, yet-to-be-born child, enacted by a grown man in a diaper.
Mama is sluttish in appearance and largely off-color, while Didey is by turns menacing, curious and terrified. Through all her tough talk, we see Mama as pretty much the same.
Ilsa Gilbert’s always-poetic language this time around is informed by tougher sensibilities, but then, she is portraying life as a microcosm,
It’s tough out there, and Didey might add, “In here, too.”
The Old Reliable Press 
I am looking for Ilsa Gilbert who is the author of the play Circus.
I was in her play at the Theater for the New City back in the 70’s.
I recently found a poster of the show that has the cast members, the director and the author listed. I would love to reconnect with Ilsa.
LikeLike
Ilsa does not use email and we do not give out the phone numbers of our authors. Since her home address is listed in her books, I am repeating it here: Ilsa Gilbert, 463 West St. #H725, New York, NY 10014-2037. If this doesn’t work, let me know, and we’ll try something else. Warm wishes/ Michael McGrinder, Publisher/Editor The Old Reliable Press
LikeLike