Anthony Ingrassia

Anthony Ingrassia
Born	Anthony J. Ingrassia 1944 Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died	16 December 1995 Amityville, Long Island, United States
Occupation	Playwright, producer, director, actor
Nationality	American
Information
Period	1964 - 1995

Anthony J. Ingrassia (1944 – 16 December 1995), better known as Tony Ingrassia, was an American director, producer and playwright whose works were produced on Broadway, Off Broadway and abroad.

Tony Ingrassia was born in Brooklyn, New York, and his family moved to Massapequa Park, Long Island, when he was 10 years old. He attended Massapequa High School and began working in theater as a teenager. "My weight was always up and down," he said. "It was hard being fat in Massapequa High School, but my teachers encouraged my writing." He attended Hofstra University for two years.

Ingrassia was active in non-mainstream performing arts in the 1960s. He wrote and produced Around the World with an Actor in 1964 and Omy Queen of the Faeries and Tidy Passions in 1965. In 1968 he wrote Sheila, which was produced by the New Theater Workshop. In 1969 he acted in Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit by Jackie Curtis and worked with the Ridiculous Theatrical Company of Charles Ludlam for "Turds in Hell." He was also involved with Company One (through Seven), whose number changed with each production.

In about 1970, he directed Jayne County's World: The Birth of a Nation, the Castration of Man. The play was promoted as a "homosexual fantasy" and was set in a hospital with a number of shocking characters. Jayne played both Florence Nitingale and her sister Ethel Nitingale, and the play also featured Cherry Vanilla as a nurse Tilly Tons.

Based on the success of this project, Ingrassia was tapped to adapt and direct Andy Warhol's Pork in 1971. The play opened on May 5, 1971, at La MaMa theater in New York for a two-week run and then played at the Roundhouse in London for a longer run in August 1971. Pork was based on tape-recorded conversations between Brigid Berlin and Andy Warhol during which Brigid played taped phone conversations between herself and socialite Honey Berlin, her mother. The play featured Cherry Vanilla as "Amanda Pork" and Jayne County as "Vulva".

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