A reflection and symbol of the turbulent 1960s and the culture and lifestyles of the Hippies, "Hair" made history as the first rock musical on Broadway and one of the most successful musicals. The sixties left an indelible imprint upon the American psyche, and Hair, in the words of critic Clive Barnes, summed it up better than any other piece of American theatre. Aside from bringing experimental techniques and rock music to Broadway, "Hair," in author Barbara Horn's view, represented a major step in the evolution of the concept musical from the book musical and was the first concept...

Widely acclaimed as one of America's most distinguished female playwrights, Lillian Hellman made an entrance into a largely male-dominated field in 1934 with The Children's Hour, a drama that rocked the literary establishment with its frank treatment of lesbianism while calling attention to her writing talents. Written between 1934 and 1963, Hellman's dramatic canon includes eight original plays and four adaptations. Two of these, Watch on the Rhine (1941) and Toys in the Attic (1960), received Drama Critics' Circle Awards. In addition to her dramatic activities, she...

This volume documents the life and works of the acclaimed playwright, Edward Albee. His first four plays were all produced Off Broadway from 1960-1961, creating buzz that he was an up-and-coming avant-garde playwright. But his most notable accomplishment came a year later with his first full-length play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. His plays were linked with the philosophies of the European absurdists, Beckett and Ionesco, and the American traditional social criticism of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill.

Intended to serve as a quick reference...

Theater critic Jerry Tallmer, remarking on Joseph Papp's death on October 31, 1991, said, He was a guy from Brooklyn who had a passion for Shakespeare and a passion for people. He was able to combine the two like no one else ever did. Barbara Horn, documenting Papp's career, declares it to have been inextricably tied to that of the New York Shakespeare Festival, which Papp founded in 1954, serving as its artistic leader for 37 years, and which survives him. His dream of producing free Shakespeare in the Park was expanded into the largest arts institution in the United States, combining...

Publicity, nerve, and verve made David Merrick possibly the most successful producer in the history of Broadway. Not since the days of David Belasco or Florenz Ziegfeld had the theatre produced such a spectacular producer-star. He was dubbed The Barnum of Broadway or, less flatteringly, The Abominable Showman, and Clive Barnes of the "New York Times" said he had showmanship running out of his ears. Although he was best known for his musical productions, including "Hello Dolly " (1964) and "42nd Street" (1980), he produced many nonmusicals as well; Cecil Smith of the Los Angeles Times wrote...

Actress Colleen Dewhurst (1926-1991) is best remembered for her seminal characterizations in the plays of Eugene O'Neill, which highlighted a career on stage, screen, and television that spanned forty years and earned her two Tony awards and four Emmys. Writing about her Broadway triumph as Josie Hogan in "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (1973), critic Clive Barnes said she spoke O'Neill as if it were being spoken for the first time--and not for the first time in a theater . . . but for the first time in a certain New England farm, on a certain September night in 1923. Though known for her...

This study chronicles the life and career of Ellen Stewart and her experimental theater, Cafe La Mama. Once an accomplished Black fashion designer, Stewart--with no experience in theater--founded and developed one of the most influential experimental theaters in the world. The volume includes a short biography, a chronology of the most significant events related to Stewart and La Mama, a record of the more than 1400 plays produced at La Mama, and an annotated bibliography. Appendices list La Mama's Obie awards, awards won by Stewart, and shows directed by Stewart. The volume presents a...

One of the most important American playwrights of the 20th century, Maxwell Anderson won a Pulitzer Prize for "Both Your Houses" (1933), and New York Drama Critics Circle awards for "Winterset" (1935) and "High Tor" (1936). Though he believed that poetry was the glory of drama, he also devoted himself to realism. His crowning achievement was "Winterset," in which he popularized the use of blank verse in contemporary drama. During a career that spanned more than a quarter century, he wrote 33 plays, many of which were produced in European capitals and were translated into more than a dozen...