Owned Greeting Card Business : Playwright, Performer Galas Dies at 32

Philip-Dimitri Galas, a playwright, performer and businessman, died Tuesday in a San Diego hospital.

Galas, 32, earned awards and a reputation as a playwright to watch in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where stage pieces that he dubbed avant vaudeville ran for as long as five months. Among his plays were “The Bearded Lady’s Manifesto,” “Performance Hell,” “Talent Beyond the Law,” “Mona Rogers in Person” and “Baby Red Boots’ Revenge.”

Galas, a native San Diegan, received little recognition in his hometown, where performances of his works, often presented at Sushi performance gallery, were rarely reviewed until recent years. In 1985 he was selected to be in the acclaimed “42 Emerging Artists” show at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, where his stage pieces were also premiered.

“In my mind he was a huge talent and made an incredible contribution to San Diego and the West Coast art scene at large,” Stuart McLean, the La Jolla museum’s curator of performance, said. Museum Director Hugh Davies called Galas “an extraordinary young man” and said his death was “a tragedy.”

Galas graduated at age 18 from UC San Diego with a degree in English literature and went to Europe for a three-year sojourn. In Paris he studied with pantomimist Etienne Decroux. He proved his versatility, working in a London stage company as a piano player, stilt walker and tap dancer--the latter in a gorilla suit.

In 1979 he founded Galas Exoticards, a greeting card business that now distributes cards internationally.

Galas, who died of kidney failure and pneumonia, was a supporter of the UCSD Alumni Organization, the La Jolla museum and the San Diego Museum of Art. He is survived by his parents, James and Georgianna, and a sister, Diamanda, all of San Diego.

Humphrey Mortuary will handle cremation. A private memorial service is scheduled.