Martin Worman was an actor, playwright, lyricist, director, female impersonator, activist and academic, working primarily in San Francisco and New York from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.
A Vietnam veteran born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1945, Worman hitchhiked to San Francisco ca. 1969 and joined The Cockettes, a cross-dressing improvisational theatre troupe. He acted with them and wrote book and lyrics for several of their most renowned shows including Hot Greeks and Vice Palace featuring John Waters' superstar, Divine. After the troupe broke up, Worman continued his musical collaboration with Cockette Richard "Scrumbly" Koldewyn, writing musical revues and plays, most notably the 1972 musical Rickets: A Day in the Life of the Counterculture. In 1975 he co-founded the San Francisco-based Gay Men's Theater Collective whose award-winning play Crimes Against Nature was brought to New York. Worman moved to New York in 1979 where he worked with directors Robert Wilson and Jack O'Brien, directed shows of his own, wrote adaptations of the stories of Meridel LeSueuer and Sherwood Anderson and worked toward a doctorate in performance Studies at New York University. He taught at NYU, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Antioch College. Worman died of AIDS in 1993 while working at Antioch.
From the description of Martin Worman papers, 1960-2008, 1960-1993. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 608549165
