Tom Murrin, a.k.a. The Alien Comic, Has Died

Performance artist/playwright Tom Murrin has died of cancer, according to a report in The Village Voice.

Murrin is perhaps best known as “The Alien Comic,” a stage persona he adopted in the late 1970s, when he was scheduled to open for John Cale and his band at the Waldorf in San Francisco. In the time that followed, Murrin offered performances at such New York venues as Dixon Place, Theatre for the New City, and La MaMa, as well as at theaters and performance spaces throughout the country. In 2006, a retrospective exhibition of Murrin’s masks from his performance pieces was offered at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica.

Among his plays are Hung, Roommates, Cock-Strong, and Son of Cock-Strong, which were seen at La MaMa. In addition, his play Myth (or Maybe Meth) was produced at the Andy Warhol Theater. Murrin also wrote songs for such pieces as Jackie Curtis’s Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit and John Vacarro’s Persaia; A Desert Cheapie.

In 2007, Murrin curated and moderated a panel on The Origins of Performance Art as part of the Howl Festival at the Bowery Poetry Club. In 2008, Murrin was honored by P.S. 122, along with his friend, producer/stage technician Lori E. Seid.