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Remembering Preston Jones
In the mid-1970s, I was assigned a piece by an in-flight magazine distributed on American Airlines. The story focused on three playwrights who first came to the theater community’s attention in regional theaters. The three playwrights were David Mamet, Marsha … Continue reading
Encountering Rose Franken
Continuing to wander through obscure corners of American playwriting, I have stumbled across a forgotten phenomenon. A writer named Rose Franken created a character who appeared first in a series of stories for Redbook, then in a series of eight … Continue reading
Both Your Houses
I was determined to witness the moment when Joe Biden overtook the Orange Thug in Pennsylvania. I plopped down on the sofa in the living room under the illusion that this might happen at 2AM (which is about the time … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, film adaptation, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, theater
Tagged Both Your Houses, Frank Capra, Jean Arthur, Jim Carrey, Jimmy Stewart, Joeseph Biden, Joseph McBride, Lewis R. Forster, Maxwell Anderson, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Political Play, Richard Nixon, Sidney Buchman
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Election Day Distraction
Don’t know if it’s true for anybody else, but I’m just trying to get this day out of the way. Latest avoidance tactic, an hour or so at the City Diner with my dog at my feet, reading some chapters … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, film adaptation, Pulitzer Prize, television, Uncategorized
Tagged Abraham, Bill Bryden, City Diner, City Hall, democracy, Directors Guild of America, Ex Libris, Film Forum, Frederick Wiseman, Green Mansions, In Jackson Heights, Ira Krutch, Isaac, Jan Herman, Mrs. Miniver, National Theatre of Great Britain, New York Public Library, Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun, PBS, Rex Ingram, Roark Bradford, television, The Bible, the Blitz, The Golden Age of Television, The Mysteries, Tony Harrison, William Wyler
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Two Contrasting Plays
I continue my casual tromp through plays of the past, alternating reading from an anthology of early Pulitzer Prize-winners and an anthology of postwar African-American plays. The two most recent plays I’ve encountered, by coincidence, are about flawed Black authority … Continue reading
TROUBLE IN MIND — Alice Childress
I continue to read plays from the past I’ve never gotten to see. Mostly, as I’ve said before, I’m alternating between an anthology of plays that won the Pulitzer Prize early on and an anthology of post-war plays by Black … Continue reading
Another obscure Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Continuing my lackadaisical progress through Pulitzer Prize-winners of the past, hit Hell-bent Fer Heaven by Hatcher Hughes. As the “fer” in the title suggests, this is a play written in dialect about hill people in the South (reportedly based on … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, theater
Tagged dialect, George Abbott, Hell-bent fer Heaven, Miss Lulu Bett, Pygmalion, theater history, theatre history
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SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING — today
Watched the British postwar classic, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, written by Alan Sillitoe and directed by Karel Reisz, starring Albert Finney, Rachel Roberts and Sally Anne Field. The central character is Alan Seaton, who works as a machinist in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Terrence McNally
I had the pleasure of knowing Terrence McNally from his off-off-Broadway period. Because I worked free in those days, I played keyboard for the 1973 production of his play WHISKEY at St. Clement’s on West 46th Street. Kevin O’Connor directed. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 1973, Alexandra Billings, Chicago Shakespeare, Chicago theater, Chicago theatre, Dramatists Guild, Edward Albee, Hamlet the Musical, Jack McBreyer, Jeff Richmond, Kander and Ebb, off-off-Broadway, plays, Second City, Terrence McNally, The Visit, theater, Wendy Wasserstein
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