Ma Fish Co: Cat's Paw Palace of Performing Arts

Cat's Paw Palace of Performing Arts 1973 - 1977

Cat's Paw Palace, a major alternative theater and the first artist-run venue in the East Bay co-founded by Margaret Fisher and Gregory Bentley, opened its doors in December 1973 with two weeks of celebrations in honor of the comet Kohoutek. The 'Paw' featured new and unusual dance, theater, music, poetry, performance art, video and film at a time when public money and private patronage were available only to established artists and institutions. During the 1970s, artists' spaces thrived along the North-South corridor of San Pablo Avenue from Oakland to Richmond. Before long, an underground network linked West Coast alternative artists' spaces and groups, from The Western Front in Vancouver to Sushi in San Diego and points in between – Seattle, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The intimate spaces made by and for artists and their audiences developed into a respected alternative to the established proscenium stages and big houses.

Housed in the Sawtooth Building, a former mattress factory at 8th Street and Dwight Way in West Berkeley, Cat's Paw offered 2,000 square feet of space for classes, rehearsals, and performances. Posters cautioned "Bring your own pillow" and audiences sat on the maple floor. Another 1,000 square feet housed a smaller dance floor and offices. Approximately 600 performing artists appeared at Cat's Paw on a regular or one-time basis.

The Cat's Paw archive is housed at the San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design.

the artists

Dance, Dance Theatre, Movement Arts

32 ft/sec squared, contact improvsation

American Dance Asylum

Shanti Baker, improvisation

Bay Area Contact Coalition, contact improvisation

Berkeley Dance Theatre & Gymnasium

Byron Brown, contact improvisation

Cal Arts in Exile, Valencia, CA

Candid Dance Collective

Caravan Dance Company, San Diego

Chitresh Das, Kathak

Choreographers & Company

Contact Improvisation, Reunion

Joya Cory, Motion

Crossweave Dance Company

Dance Free

Dance Perspectives, East Bay Music Center

Dong, contact improvisation

Drum Song and Dance Company

Consuelo Faust, contact improvisation

Margaret Fisher, choreographer

Footloose Dance Company

Karen Geiger, contact improvisation

Deborah Hay, Circle Dances

Suzanne Hellmuth, Motion

Holografix

Ngoh-Yun Hsu, tai chi & calligraphy

Hysteresis, women's collective

Susan Jackson (Schott), improvisation

Janet Jacobson, improvisation

Ken Jenkins, improvisation

Nancy Karp + Dancers

John LeFan, contact improvisation

Kristen Lindley, Balinese dance

Nita Little, contact improvisation

Mangrove contact improvisation

Katy McGuire, Children's Dance Theatre

Mimi & Lesandra, Bharata Natyam

Motivity, aerial dance

Emmett Murray, improvisation

Irene Nadel, Footloose Dance Company

Jani Novak, choreographer

Oberlin Dance Collective

Packaged Truth, improvisation

Mary Parks and the Rebirth Dance Company

Steve Paxton, contact improvisation

The Pelicans, a men's dance group

Ripe Fruit, improvisation

Jill Rosenbloom, Bharata Natyam

Terry Sendgraff, Motivity

Curt Siddall, contact improvisation

Koriel Schrievogl, contact improvisation

Marc Smith & Laura Cricione, choreographers

Nancy Smith, contact improvisation

Sources, improvisation

Murray Spalding Dance Theatre

Laurel Sprigg, Lone Mountain College Dance

Kei Takei Dance Company

Pat Taylor, improvisation

Deborah Thomas, choreographer

Jim Tyler, contact improvisation

Tumbleweed Dance Company

Wallflower Dance Collective

Ruth Zaporah-Werblin, Action Theatre

Nina Wise, Motion

Jerry Zientara, contact improvisation

Music

Peg Ahrens, director, S. F. Opera Chorus

Bonnie Barnett, The Experimental Chorus

Robbie Basho, guitar

John Bishoff, composer

Charles Boone, director, Bring your own pillow concerts

Martin Brinkerhoff, guitar, S. F. Conservatory of Music

Carola, Other Music

Cellar M, electronic music

Continuum, new jazz

David Doty, composer, Other Music

Future Primitive Art Ensemble of San Francisco

James Gillerman, New Music

Sylvia Glebow, Music Music Corporation

Tony Gnazzo, composer

Ron Heglin, composer, trombone

Phil Harmonic, composer

Jim Horton, new music

Jazayer, The Def & Drum Band

Paul Kalbach, new music

Rick Kvistad, new music

Art Lande, The Rubisa PatrolNew Jazz

Herman LaRoux, Musical Arts of Contra Costa

Charles Moffitt and Family, New Jazz

Music West, festival of new music

Jim Nollman, Music Music Corporation

Charles Moffitt and Family, New Jazz

Pauline Oliveros, composer

Juanita Oribello, composer, guitarist

Other Music, new music, New College of California

Ron Pellegrino, Real Electric Symphony

Jan Pusina, synthesizer environmental feedback

Peter Plonsky, Mind Emission

The Rigor Mortis Rescue Squad

Neil Rolnick, composer, S. F. Conservatory of Music

Henry Rosenthal, composer, Other Music

G. S. Sachdev, master f;itost. Indian classical music

Ann Sandifur, new music

Gabriel Stern, saxophone

The Silver String Macedonian Band

Dale S. Soules, composer, Other Music

Stephens Quartet, New Music

Ubu, New Music Ensemble

The Whale People

Theatre

Balinese Shadow Play Theatre Company

Berkeley Lights Theatre Ensemble

Jim Cuno, director

Duck's Breath Theatre Company

Bob Kippur, director

Lilitheatre, Women's Theatre

Local Color Theatre

Magic Carpet Theatre

Makeshift Mysteries Company

Musign Theater Company, theater in sign language

Rags and Patches Theatah

C. L. Reed, Balinese Shadow Play

Shoshana Theatre Company, Beckett plays

Motion, Women's Performing Collective

Lilitheatre, Women's Theatre

Spiral Theatre

Birnam Wood Shakespeare Company

Poetry

Chris Griffin, poet

Kelsey Street Press

David Melnick, poet

Manuel Nieto, poet, recitation

Ron Silliman, poet

Tael Thomas, poet

Mary West, poet

Morgan Winez, poet

California College of Arts & Crafts, poetry class

Film, Video, Holography, Laser Art

John Adams, S. F. Conservatory of Music

Stephen Beck, electronic film

Gregory Bentley, video performance

Martha Chesley, filmmaker

Contact Improvisation, video playback

George Ellis, laser art

Fred Fierstein, filmmaker

Jody Gillerman, video artist

Sharon Grace, video artist

Chris Griffin, video performance

Bruce Hurn, video artist

Amnon Igra, filmmaker

Richard Lowenberg, video

Phil Makanna, filmmaker

Maggi Payne, electronically generated sound/visuals

Virginia Quesada, film

Bill Roarty, video artist

San Francisco School of Holography

Michael Sneathen, video

Keith Walker, filmmaker

Fred Weiss, filmmaker

Fred Unterseher, holography

Bill Yahraus, filmmaker

Performance Art

Mary Baker, textiles + performance

Gregory Bentley

Paul Cotton

Lauren Elder

Judy Lehner, textiles + performance

Julie Rainbow

Debra Rapoport, textiles + performance

Lisa Saunders

Carolee Schneeman

Susan Wick, textiles and performance

The Western Front

Board of Directors

Beth Anderson

Marcia Bedard

Ed Denson

Joe Doyle

Margaret Fisher

Tony Gnazzo

Mary Jean Haley

Marius Johnston

A. Robin Orden

Roger Pritchard

Ron Vincent

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