The Gates of Paradise are closed to me!

"... Friday night, February 28 1969, when The Living Theatre staged its revolutionary tour de force, Paradise Now. For Jim, it had a cataclysmic punch.

He was seated with friends in the front row, as he had been all week long. The play opened with "The Rite of Guerrilla Theater", in which the actors mingled with the spectators, speaking the first five key, cathartic phrases.

"I am not allowed to travel without a passport."

The Living Theatre was touring the United States after four years of self-imposed exile in Europe. During that time the troupe had become international in composition and knew the hassles of border crossing first hand. They engaged the spectator in dialogue, baiting them if necessary to get a response, shouting the words in anguish and frustration.

"I cannot travel freely, I cannot move about at will!"
"I am separated from my fellow man, my boundaries are set arbitrarily by others!"

"The Gates of Paradise are closed to me!"

In a few minutes' time the actors were close to hysteria, and the USC theater was transformed. Jim was on his feet with many others, shouting slogans, bellowing for Paradise Now.

The actors retired quietly, returning to the stage, paused for a moment, then began again. now with the second phrase:

"I do not know how to stop the wars!"

And so it went: a catalogue of complaints, presented with explosive energy.

"You can't live if you don't have money!"
"I'm not allowed to smoke marijuana!"

And finally: "I'm not allowed to take my clothes off!"
"The body itself of which we are made is taboo!"
"We are ashamed of what is most beautiful, we are afraid of what is most beautiful!!"

"We may not act naturally toward one another!"
"The culture represses love!"
"I am not allowed to take my clothes off!"

The actors began to strip, removing much of their clothing, then standing in the aisles and on stage, the forbidden areas of their bodies covered. It was an active demonstration of the prohibition. When the stripping reached the legal limit, the actors shouted once more, " I'm not allowed to take my clothes off! I am outside the Gates of Paradise!"

That was when the cops moved in and stopped the play from continuing."

'No One Here Gets Out Alive', Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, Warner Books, NY, 1995