The subjects interviewed for Underground Rhode Island were selected, among many possibilities, for several reasons. The eldest were likely to have been part or the "hip" scene around jazz and the Celebrity Club of the 1950s. More than a few had a connection with AS220 and its circle, at some time in the past. And the youngest members have been active in the Rhode Island arts scene, in one way or another, during the last twenty years or so. Not all are either "lost" or "unknown"; some of them have long been prominent. And yet they represent a self-consciously offbeat take on the mainstream culture of Middle America. They are "underground" even when "overground," part of a world more recognizable to Allen Ginsberg (or Bruce Springsteen) than the people in the White House or Wall Street. And they were intriguing to the students who chose to interview them.
You may expect to find a photo--not necessarily from the recent past--a short biography, a recording of the subject's own voice, a verbatim transcript of the interview, and links to related materials. Not all these are present for each interview--some are still being gathered (or recovered)--but they definitely represent a sense of a life and creative work within that life.
Milton Stanzler was born in New York City in 1921 and is known as being one of the founders of Trinity Rep. He moved to Rhode Island at the age of ten with his family, attended Hope High School in Providence, and went on to study at what is now known as the University of Rhode Island. Upon graduation, he attempted numerous career paths including dental school at Ohio State, work as a Japanese translator during the war at the University of Michigan and elsewhere in the Midwest, and finally legal studies at Boston University. In his adult life, he was the founder of the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU, one of the founders of Trinity Rep, a President of the Jewish Community Center, and ran his own legal practice for over forty years.
© 2005