The playwright's muse / edited by Joan Herrington.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Herrington, Joan, 1960-

Series:

Studies in modern drama

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American drama--20th century--History and criticism.

American drama.

Dramatists, American--20th century--Interviews.

Dramatists, American.

Drama--Technique.

Drama.

Playwriting.

Genre:

Interviews.

Physical Description:

ix, 310 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2002.

Summary:

August Wilson penned his first play after seeing a man shot to death. Horton Foote began writing plays to create parts for himself as an actor. And Margaret Edson has chosen to remain a kindergarten teacher, despite the recent success of Wit.

The Playwright's Muse presents neverbefore-published interviews with some of the greatest names in American drama -- all recent winners of the Pulitzer Prize. In these scintillating exchanges with eleven leading dramatists, we learn about their inspirations and discover how the creative process works in the mind of a writer. We learn how their first plays took shape, how it felt to read their first reviews, and what keeps them writing for theater today. Introductory essays on each playwright's life and work, written by theater artists and scholars with strong professional relationships to their subjects, provide additional insight into the writers' contributions to contemporary theater.

Giving the reader an insider's look at the artistic process, the Playwright's Muse reveals the spark that ignited some of the most powerful and important works ever created for the American stage.

Contents:

"Not Having it all" : Wendy Wasserstein's Uncommon Women / Angelika Czekay 17

Interview With Wendy Wasserstein / Angelika Czekay 45

Birth, Baptism, and Resurrection: August Wilson and the Blues / Joan Herrington 53

Interview With August Wilson / Joan Herrington 71

Broadway Boundaries: Neil Simon and Popular Culture / Bette Mandl 79

Interview With Neil Simon / Bette Mandl 91

Lessons From Our First Frontier / Tom Bryant 99

Interview With Robert Schenkkan / Tom Byrant 121

Kushner's Arcades: "The Borders Are Full of Holes" / Framji Minwalla 127

Interview With Tony Kushner / Framji Minwalla 145

"A' S" Last Memory: Contextualizing Albee's Three Tall Women / Thomas P. Adler 159

Interview With Edward Albee / Joan Herrington 175

Horton Foote: Mystic of the American Theatre / Crystal Brian 181

Interview With Horton Foote / Crystal Brian 207

Jonathan Larson Rocks Broadway / Amy Asch, Maggy Lally 211

Conversations With Jonaihan Larson / Amy Asch 225

Seducing the Audience: Politics in the Plays of Paula Vogel / Ann Linden 231

Interview With Paula Vogel / Ann Linden 253

Margaret Edson: Playwright in Spite of Herself / Mead Hunter 261

Donald Margulies: From Boitschick to Man / Jerry Patch 279.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-300) and index.

ISBN:

0815337795

0815337809

OCLC:

49977038