A to Z Challenge - N is for Norman

Today I thought I would feature another female playwright who has amassed considerable critical acclaim.

Marsha Norman was born in Kentucky in 1947, and she got her start writing for the Actor's Theatre of Louisville. It was there that her first play, Getting Out, was produced. At the time, Norman had been working with disturbed adolescents at the Central State Hospital in Kentucky, and she drew on that experience to write a play about a woman who has been in prison and how she deals with life afterward.

 I found that bit of information interesting, as I drew on my background as a hospital chaplain when I wrote my first play, There Is A Time. Sometimes experiences or certain people just beg to be dramatized.

After her success with her first play, Norman moved to New York, but she continued to write for the Louisville theatre. She produced a full-length play, Circus Valentine in 1979. Another play, 'night, Mother, became her biggest success on Broadway and in film. This play dealt with the topic of suicide and won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as other notable awards including the Drama Desk Award.

Her next dramatic play was not as well received. In fact, Traveller in the Dark received such negative  reviews from the New York critics, Norman stopped writing serious drama and wrote for musical theatre. She wrote the book and lyrics for the musical version of The Secret Garden, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Book in 1991. Other notable contributions to musical theatre included writing the book and lyrics for the musical The Red Shoes, as well as the libretto for the musical version of The Color Purple which opened in 2005.

When my first play was produced here in our community theatre, I was blown away by the experience of seeing my story come to life. I'm sure Marsha Norman must have felt the same way when her first production was mounted, and maybe she still does feel a special thrill on opening night even after all her success.

On another note, today I am a guest on Terry Odell's terrific blog, Terry's Place, where I share one of my most embarrassing moments while doing research, as well as what I would feed Abraham Lincoln if we could have dinner together. Hop on over if you have a moment, and check out Terry's books while you are there. She is a terrific writer.

Also, I want to remind everyone about the free teleclass coming up this week. What is your creative "tango tenacity" that can help you address your time challenges? During the teleclass you will receive tips and advice that will help you gain a new perspective on using time. "Time Tango 2013" will be held on April 18 by Marney Makridakis, bestselling author of the book, Creating Time.  SIGN UP HERE 
 

A to z Challenge - M is for Miller

Not Maryann Miller, although I have written several plays that have been produced in local community theatres, but Arthur Miller, who is considered one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century. His career spanned over seven decades and he wrote plays, screenplays and books.

Miller, who was born in 1915, studied at the University of Michigan, where he majored in journalism. There he worked as a reporter and night editor for the student paper, the Michigan Daily, and it was then that he wrote his first play, No Villain. When the play gained some recognition, he decided that he would pursue a career as a playwright. He went on to write such notable plays as  All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge. Death of a Salesman was his most critically acclaimed work, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critic's Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.

During the 1950s and early 60s, Miller was often in the news for his appearances before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), as well as his marriage to Marilyn Monroe.  He divorced his first wife in 1956 and married Monroe. It was also in 1956 that Miller was called before the HUAC. Miller requested that the committee not force him to name names, and the chairman agreed, only to renege when Miller appeared, accompanied by Monroe. The committee demanded that Miller give the names of colleagues who had participated in activities connected to communism, but he declined, so he was fined and blacklisted.

Earlier, in 1952 a colleague, Elia Kazan, did name names when he testified before the HUAC. Like so many in Hollywood at the time, he flirted with the communist concepts, but then turned away from them. When the committee called him to appear, he was afraid to risk his career in Hollywood, so he told the committee about a number of his colleagues who had connections to communist groups, including Lillian Hellman.

Miller and Kazan had become friends when Kazan directed Death of a Salesman, so Miller was aware of the HUAC activities and talked with Kazan at great length about the testimony. Miller was so incensed over what the HUAC was doing, he likened it to the Salem Witch Trials, and the whole experience led to him writing The Crucible. The play was only moderately successful at the time, but today it is Miller's most frequently produced work throughout the world.

By the way, we are not related, although I would love to say my talent has a direct connection to his, but since I am a Miller by marriage, its doubtful I could make that claim. When it comes to the letter "v" in the Challenge, I'll have to see if there were any talented writers named Van Gilder. (smile)

What famous person do you wish you had a connection to?

A to Z Challenge - J is for Jonson

When I went looking for a playwright with a name that begins with the letter 'j', I was surprised to find so many. I was also surprised to see that James Joyce had written plays. I didn't know that. I am familiar with his novels, only because I was forced to read them in college, but did not know he scripted plays. 

Another playwright that I did know about is Benjamin "Ben" Jonson, who was a contemporary of 
William Shakespeare. Jonson was born in 1572 and died in 1637. He is best known for his satirical plays, which got him in trouble during the reign of Elizabeth I. She had him imprisoned on one occasion for his lewd and mutinous behavior, and another time he was imprisoned for killing a man in a duel. At the time England had in it's legal system a ploy called benefit of clergy, through which a prisoner could get leniency by reciting a verse from the Bible. Jonson used that ploy to be released after a short time in jail.

Ben Jonson portrait by Abraham Blyenberch, oil on canvas c. 1617, National Portrait Gallery, London

Some of Johnson's early work included:  Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair.  In 1598 he produced his first great success, Every Man in His Humour.

Nobody is quite sure about the extent of the rivalry between Jonson and Shakespeare, but there is documentation of Jonson being openly critical of Shakespeare's work. Despite the rivalry, Shakespeare's company produced a number of Jonson's plays, and it is believed that Shakespeare acted in at least one of them.

Jonson was also known for his poetry, and he published some of those in folios, which were popular methods of publications at the time. In 2012  Cambridge University Press published the first new edition for Jonson's complete works for 60 years.

Title page of The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (1616), the first folio publication that included stage plays. (Note the antiquated spelling.)

While I did learn about Ben Jonson in classes when we were studying Shakespeare, I have not read any of his plays. In contemplating whether I should, I started to wonder if there are books and plays that we should read because it "is good for us", or if it is okay to just read what we enjoy. I'm sure my daughter who is working her way toward a PhD in literature has a definite opinion about that. What about you?

On another note, I am featured on the terrific blog SlingWords, where the gracious Joan Reeves promotes authors and new books. She is featuring the second book in my Seasons Mystery Series, Stalking Season. Hop on over if you have a moment. Joan does such a terrific job with her blog, I'd love for her to have some attention.

A to Z Challenge - I is for Inge

William Inge is another American playwright for whom I have a great deal of respect. He was born in Kansas in 1913 and died in 1973.His body of work is impressive, and like many highly creative people he was often plagued by doubts. When one of his best known plays, Come Back, Little Sheba was in pre-production in New York, he worried that it would not be a success on Broadway.

The play was written while Inge was teaching at  Washington University in St. Louis  and went on to run on Broadway for 190 performances in 1950, winning Tony Awards for Shirley Booth and Sidney Blackmer. The 1952 film adaptation won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Shirley Booth.

During his years of teaching in St. Louis, 1946 to 1949, Inge joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and it was there he met the wife of one of the members. Her name was Lola and Inge based the character of Lola in Come Back Little Sheba on her.

Many of the plays Inge wrote featured small town life and were set in places in the heartland, and he was often called the "Playwright of the Midwest". Maybe that is one reason I like his work so much. I am very much a small town girl. Another of his  notable plays was Picnic, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize.

Inge wrote two novels, both set in the fictional town of Freedom, Kansas. Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff   explores the reactions to a high-school teacher who loses her job because she has an affair with the school's black janitor. The play was adapted for film in 1979, and the movie starred Anne Heywood as Evelyn Wyckoff. I have not read the book or seen the movie, but it sounds like a story I would enjoy. I do like exploring social issues.

During the early 1970s, Inge lived in Los Angeles and taught playwriting at the Irvine campus of the University of California. His later works were not as successful as his earlier ones and he became severely depressed, worried that he would never be able to write well again. He committed suicide at the age of 60.

In reading about Inge, I found that there is a book available, Four Plays, a collection of some of his better known work. Guess what is on my wish list.

 

On another note - Last year about this time, I participated in the blog tour for Marney Makridakis’ best selling book Creating Time. It features ways to manage time in fun and creative ways and I enjoyed the book very much. Now we’re all celebrating the one year anniversary with a fabulously fun teleclass event on Thursday, April 18 called "Time Tango 2013".  Best of all, it's my kind of price: free! Sign up Here  

A to Z Challenge - G is for Gordon

Today I thought I would feature a woman playwright and found an interesting one indeed. Like so many other writers, she, too, worked on both sides of the script, and won honors and recognition for both.

Ruth Gordon Jones was born in 1896 in Massachusetts and died in 1985, and I love this old picture of her. Doesn't she look the part?

Ruth Gordon in 1919

Professionally, she was known as Ruth Gordon, and she worked well into her 70s and 80s. Some of the interesting things I discovered about her was the roles she played in films I've seen. She played Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, Maude in Harold and Maude, and Ma Boggs, the mother of Orville Boggs, in Every Which Way but Loose.

When not performing, Gordon was busy writing, and she wrote a number of plays, film scripts and books. In 1953 she adapted her autobiographical play, Years Ago, for film as The Actress, which starred Jean Simmons in the title role. Gordon would go on to write three volumes of memoirs in the 1970s: My Side, Myself Among Others and An Open Book. Gordon won an Academy Award, an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards for her acting, as well as receiving three Academy Award nominations for her writing.

In addition to her work on stage and in film, Gordon made many television appearances through her seventies and eighties. In the sitcom Rhoda, she played Carlton the invisible doorman's mother and was nominated for an Emmy nomination.  She also once hosted hosting Saturday Night Live in 1977. In 1978, Gordon won an Emmy for a guest appearance on the sitcom Taxi, In that episode, she played a character who tries to hire Alex Reigera, the taxi driver played by Judd Hirsch, as a male escort.

As I read up on these playwrights I'm surprised at how much of their work was unknown to me, or, as int he case of Ruth Gordon's acting, overlooked. I do remember some of those memorable characters she played, but I never remembered her professional name.

How about you? Are you as forgetful?

A to Z Challenge: B is for Beckett

Perhaps the best known playwright whose name starts with a "b" is Samuel Barclay Beckett, who was born in Ireland in 1906 and died in 1989. He was a novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life. His stories about human nature were often bleak with black comedy and gallows humor.

Picture Courtesy of Wikipedia

Literary scholars have written that Beckett was influenced by the work of James Joyce, and with Joyce, Beckett is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. I found it interesting to note that Beckett's work in his later years was minimalistic, like Thornton Wilder. Without a lavish set and many props, it falls upon the writer and the actors to make the characters come alive and move the story along, which is quite a challenge on both sides of the script.

Beckett wrote in French and English and produced four major full-length stage plays: En attendant Godot (written 1948–1949; Waiting for Godot), Fin de partie (1955–1957; Endgame), Krapp's Last Tape (1958), and Happy Days (1961). These plays deal with the subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair. The characters seem to be living in the face of an uncomprehending and incomprehensible world.

Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature for his entire body of work, which is impressive, as I discovered when I found a list of Beckett's plays, novels and other works on Wikipedia. I was surprised to see that in addition to his plays and novels, he wrote for radio and television.

I will admit that I have not seen any of his plays, and I have only read one of his novellas, The Lost Ones. What about you? Have you read his work or seen one of his plays?