Marilyn Roberts is an actor, playwright, director and producer. She was invited by Tom O’Horgan, in 1966, to join the La Mama Troupe on their first European tours. The 1966 tour included plays by Sam Shepard, CHICAGO, and Jean-Claude van Italie, INTERVIEW.  The 1967 tour included works by Rochelle Owens, FUTZ!, and Paul Foster, TOM PAINE. Playwrights like Robert Heide, WHY TUESDAY NEVER HAS A BLUE MONDAY(1966), Leonard Melfi, TIMES  SQUARE  (1967) , THE JONES MAN,  Robert Patrick, THE RICHEST GIRL IN THE WORLD FINDS HAPPINESS (1970), and Barbara Kahn/Ray Hagen,  GRAVE DIGGERS OF 1971 (1970), found Roberts to be their muse. In 1974 Roberts performed in MERT AND PHIL, directed by Joseph Papp at Lincoln Center. She worked with John Vaccaro in PERSIA; SPLIT LIP (1970?), CANDAULES, COMMISSIONER (1970), A RAT’S MASS (1969) by Adrienne Kennedy with Seth Allen; andTHE CLASS (1966? - 1970?) by Gregory Rozakis with Tony Bastiano. Other plays include:  THE MAIDS (1966?), GABRIELLA (1966?), MASSACHUSETTS TRUST (1967?), THE BLONDE LEADING THE BLONDE (1970?). Roberts has appeared on television (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), and in movies (Boxiganga, Dragula, Heaven is Waiting, Futz!, Looking for Mr. Goodbar and The Image.  She wrote and performed HEATHER MCKAY (1970?).  In 2017 Roberts received The Acker Award, honoring the avant-garde arts community in its willingness to take great risks in defiance of convention in many venues as well as their service to fellow artists. 

Marilyn Roberts began her career as a teenage dance-roller-skater, becoming the North American Roller Skating Champion twice and World Roller Skating Champion before retiring in 1956. (She was inducted into the Roller Skating Hall of Fame in 1983) In 1959 she came to New York and studied with Lee and Paula Strasberg. Her first Off-Broadway show was THE CLASS directed by Ron Link who subsequently cast and directed her in GABRIELLA and WHY TUESDAY NEVER HAS A BLUE MONDAY, done at La Mama, bringing her to the attention of Ellen Stewart and Tom O’Horgan. The first European Tours included the plays of Sam Shepard, Leonard Melfi, Jean-Claude van Italie, Rochelle Owens, Megan Terry, Paul Foster with an acting group including Mari-Claire Charba, Seth Allen, Kevin O’Connor, Patrick Sullivan, Rob Thirkield, Jacque Lynn Colton, John Backos, Michael Warren Powell and others. In 1966 the Troupe was requested, by Ellen Stewart, not to return to New York, but go to Denmark and learn the techniques of Jerzy Grotowski instead.  Roberts and her group then taught these techniques to the Troupe of 1967, resulting in the unconventional productions of FUTZ! (1968) and TOM PAINE (1968).