Do you have a favorite playwright?

Are you into Neil Simon?
Tennessee Williams, perhaps?
Maybe you're one of those wackos who digs Woody Allen.

Perhaps you are more of an Arthur Miller person.

Tell us about your favorite author of plays, and feel free to elucidate!

I would probably say Neil Simon. The first Simon play that I remember was Come Blow Your Horn. When I was about 6, my mother was the stage manager for that play in college (and played a bit part) and I went to just about every rehearsal. I can still remember some of the dialog. When I was in Theatre myself, I worked on Chapter Two (I was "Production Assistance" which meant that I was gofer to the stage manager). And yes, I remember just about every line from that play, too.




Cat

My first exposure to Neil Simon was "Brighton Beach Memoirs".

I will NEVER forget when I heard the line, "What do you expect when you tell me Pop whacks off?!?"

I nearly wet myself, when I heard that!

I think my favorite playwright is either T.S. Eliot, or Tennessee Williams.
Strictly for the plays, though.

Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire" there's nothing like a little old southern gothic to get me going
August Wilson "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and "The Piano Lesson"
Neil Simon "Lost in Yonkers" both the stage and film adaptations

I love Henrik Ibsen and Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof have got to be some of my favorite plays. Also, I love Angels in America by Tony Kushner, both parts.

Good choices!

"Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" was a killer play.

If you get the chance, check out Norman Cousins, also.

Eugene O'Neill is, IMHO, the best playwright produced in the USA.  He cuts to the very heart and soul.  I visit his grave at least twice a year to say thank you(he is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston).  "Long Days Journey Into Night"  "Desire Under the Elms" "Moon for the Misbegotten" "The Iceman Cometh' "Strange Interlude"(which I think is seriously underrated) "Emperor Jones" etc., etc.,

Edward Albee

His Zoo Story still blows me away!

Love all the playwrights mentioned so far. I'd add Clifford Odets to the list. Some of his plays are dated and the 1930s workers-unite-against-the-machine stuff can get thick, but I'm a sucker for his dialogue. (Awake and Sing: "I got a yen for you and I don't mean a Chinese coin.") Even his screenplay for Sweet Smell of Success has incredible dialogue. I also love Mamet and since I'm currently working on a production of a Sam Shepard play, I'm a big fan of his right now.

I was supposed to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" for my British lit class and the edition of the book I got has some of Wilde's other stuff in it....it's pretty good (what little I read of it)

I was supposed to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" for my British lit class and the edition of the book I got has some of Wilde's other stuff in it....it's pretty good (what little I read of it)
Fantastic stuff.

I was supposed to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" for my British lit class and the edition of the book I got has some of Wilde's other stuff in it....it's pretty good (what little I read of it)


I went on a Wilde bender and read everything he ever wrote.  Even went to the Special Collections(white gloves, buzz in) at the Boston Public library to read a portion of the transcript of his trial.  I love "dear Oscar"