Nat Leventhal wanted to have fun. It was 1986. As a member of a reviewing panel for National Endowment for the Arts applications, the then president of Lincoln Center noted the tilt toward to bold artists at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Its game changing Next Wave Festival was attracting both audiences and media while his shop was grounded in traditional programs such as Mostly Mozart, itself innovative at conception. Nat’s chief program executive Bill Lockwood was a fan of select contemporary artists and cottoned to my production of American theater artist Robert Wilson’s “The Knee Plays” with a New Orleans jazz band score by David Byrne. Fancifully, I mounted the light instrument show in Alice Tully Hall which was not known for theatrical staging. With full acknowledgement to Wilson’s signature stagecraft, my then business partner Bob LoBianco had designed a drop-dead mobile lighting system to give Wilson the continuity of visual excellence he demanded as his show moved from theater to theater across America. Unlike any previous or subsequent Wilson production, Bob’s work was presented in 12 US venues including those on the West Coast, Mid-West and Texas (Wilson’s birth state)! Nat’s boss at the time was George Weisman, the chain-smoking former CEO of Philip Morris and at the time the Chairman of LinInc’s board. George observed that his UWS campus with its fabled institutions including The Metropolitan Opera, Vivian Beaumont and Alice Tully Hall were often dark for two summer months annually. He liked his factories to operate 12 months of the year. The heavy lifting buildings needed down time to freshen up after months of continuous use while less trafficked Tully did not. In response to Weisman’s wish for summer activity, Nat’s observation that Lincoln Center should jump on the Next Wave bandwagon and n opting the glistening success of “The Knee Plays”, Bill approached me to create a festival at Alice Tully Hall in July.
Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center debuted in July 1987 featuring works by Julius Hemphil, Scott Johnson, Bob Wilson, Jawolle WillaJo Zolar, Jon Hassell and Jane Comfort. Future festival presented Ann Magnuson, Lucinda Childs, Bill T jones and Karen Finley’s popular and provocative We Keep Our Victims Ready. The Blue Man Group performed its downtown trashy and brilliant show at Tully before becoming a commercial sensation on Aster Place (and Berlin). The Kipper Kids, Dolly Deluxe, Leo Bossi, Rose English (with a performing stallion) and MEGA DANCE illuminated the dour Tully Hall. Bill Irwin and David Shiner created the Broadway bound Fool Moon for Serious Fun!. In 1992 Serous Fun! was awarded an OBIE for Outstanding Achievement. Downtown had indeed stormed the walls of the cultural fortress and succeeded.