Reverend Alvin Allison "Al" Carmines Jr. (July 25, 1936 – August 9, 2005) was a key figure in the expansion of off-off-Broadway theatre in the 1960s.
Although his musical talent appeared early, he decided to enter the ministry, attending Swarthmore College, majoring in English and philosophy, and then Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, earning a bachelor of divinity in 1961 and a master of sacred theology in 1963.
Carmines was hired by Howard Moody as an assistant minister at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square Park, New York, to found a theater in the sanctuary of the Greenwich Village church in conjunction with playwright Robert Nichols.
His Bible study group grew into the Rauschenbusch Memorial United Church of Christ, with Carmines as pastor.
His 1973 musical The Faggot was a succès d'estime which transferred from the Judson Memorial Church to the Truck and Warehouse Theatre and ran for 203 performances.