Overview

Twenty of today's greatest playwrights including Tony Kushner, Christopher Durang and Suzan-Lori Parks contribute to this book about the trans formative power of theater. What was the play that changed your life? What was the play that inspired you; that showed you something entirely new; that was so thrilling or surprising breathtaking or poignant that you were never the same? Twenty of today's most gifted playwrights respond in this most revealing and personal book. From Edward Albee's 1935 visit to New York's Hippodrome Theater to see Jimmy Durante (and an elephant) in ""Rodgers"" and Hart's ""Jumbo"", to Marsha Norman's revelation upon seeing Peter Shaffer's ""Royal Hunt of the Sun"" in 1965, to Diana Son's twelfth-grade field trip in 1983 to see Diane Venora play ""Hamlet"" at the Public Theater, America's foremost playwrights share their stories. Also included here are pieces by Christopher Durang, Horton Foote, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Adam Rapp and more.

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9781557837400

Table of Contents

Reviews

Buy this wonderful book! It's a fascinating compendium of how, when, and where our most gifted playwrights fell under the magic spell of the theatre. A must for theatre lovers and a great gift for any young person who dreams of a life in the theatre. -- Sigourney Weaver What a thrilling book! I suppose it shouldn't surprise us that writers of great dialogue should also write great prose, but these writers most certainly do. By describing their own formative moments in a theatre, our best playwrights collectively define the transformative power of theatre itself. For years now, we've heard these men and women speak in the voices of their characters, up on stage. Here they regale us in voices that are passionate, personal, witty, and true: their own. -- John Lithgow As someone whose career has consisted of interpreting the words of writers, I loved reading these essays. I was delighted and fascinated by each one of them. So many of these playwrights were influenced, at a very early age, by the wonder of their first introduction to theater and have carried it with them throughout their distinguished careers. It should be required reading for anyone who is serious about theater. -- Glenn Close A brilliant and inspirational idea. Ask great playwrights to name the plays that were their inspiration. Their words then inspire us and they move on to write yet more inspirational plays. -- Lynn Redgrave

Buy this wonderful book! It's a fascinating compendium of how, when, and where our most gifted playwrights fell under the magic spell of the theatre. A must for theatre lovers and a great gift for any young person who dreams of a life in the theatre."" -- Sigourney Weaver ""What a thrilling book! I suppose it shouldn't surprise us that writers of great dialogue should also write great prose, but these writers most certainly do. By describing their own formative moments in a theatre, our best playwrights collectively define the transformative power of theatre itself. For years now, we've heard these men and women speak in the voices of their characters, up on stage. Here they regale us in voices that are passionate, personal, witty, and true: their own."" -- John Lithgow ""As someone whose career has consisted of interpreting the words of writers, I loved reading these essays. I was delighted and fascinated by each one of them. So many of these playwrights were influenced, at a very early age, by the wonder of their first introduction to theater and have carried it with them throughout their distinguished careers. It should be required reading for anyone who is serious about theater."" -- Glenn Close ""A brilliant and inspirational idea. Ask great playwrights to name the plays that were their inspiration. Their words then inspire us and they move on to write yet more inspirational plays."" -- Lynn Redgrave

Author Information

Ben Hodges is an actor, director, theatre and independent film producer, and was executive director of Fat Chance Productions and the Ground Floor Theatre. He is editor of Forbidden Acts: Pioneering Gay and Lesbian Plays from the Twentieth Century, and co-editor of The Commercial Theater Institute Guide to Producing Plays and Musicals. Howard Sherman has been executive director of the American Theatre Wing since 2003, where his duties have included executive producing the Working in the Theatre television series and cohosting the Downstage Center radio program. He has previously held management positions at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, Geva Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, Hartford Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Westport Country Playhouse. Paula Vogel wrote the introduction to this book. She is the Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting (adjunct) and chair of the playwriting department at the Yale School of Drama. She has numerous awards, including the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She is currently playwright-in-residences at the Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as an artistic associate at Long Wharf Theatre.

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