Ebook: 100 Greatest American Plays

"In 100 Greatest American Plays, Thomas S. Hischak provides an engaging discussion of the best stage productions to come out of the United States. Each play is discussed in the context of its original presentation as well as its legacy. Arranged alphabetically, the entries for these plays include: plot details, production history, biography of the playwright, literary aspects of the drama, critical reaction to the play, major awards, the play's influence, [and] cast lists of notable stage and film versions. The plays have been selected not for their popularity but for their importance to American theatre and include works by Edward Albee, Harvey Fierstein, Lorraine Hansberry, Lillian Hellman, Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Sam Shepard, Neil Simon, Gore Vidal, Wendy Wasserstein, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson. This informative volume also includes complete lists of Pulitzer Prize winners for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for American Plays, and the Tony Award for Best Play. Providing critical information about the most important works produced since the eighteenth century, 100 Greatest American Plays will appeal to anyone interested in the cultural history of theatre"--Publisher.;Chronological list of plays -- 100 greatest American plays, a-z entries. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938) by Robert Sherwood ; Abie's Irish rose (1922) by Anne Nichols ; The adding machine (1923) by Elmer Rice ; Ah, wilderness! (1933) by Eugene O'Neill ; All my sons (1947) by Arthur Miller ; Anna Christie (1921) by Eugene O'Neill ; Anna in the tropics (2003) by Nilo Cruz ; Arsenic and old lace (1941) by Joseph Kesseling ; August: Osage County (2007) by Tracy Letts ; Auntie Mame (1956) by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee ; Awake and sing! (1935) by Clifford Odets ; Barbara Frietchie (1899) by Clyde Fitch ; Barefoot in the park (1963) by Neil Simon ; The bat (1920) by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood ; The best man (1960) by Gore Vidal ; Biography (1932) by S.N. Behrman ; Born yesterday (1946) by Garson Kanin ; The boys in the band (1968) by Mart Crowley ; Brighton Beach memoirs (1983) by Neil Simon ; Buried child (1996) by Sam Shepard ; Bus stop (1955) by William Inge ; Cat on a hot tin roof (1955) by Tennessee Williams ; The championship season (1972) by Jason Miller ; Clybourne Park (2012) by Bruce Norris ; Come back, little Sheba (1950) by William Inge ; The contrast (1787) by Royall Tyler ; Crimes of the heart (1981) by Beth Henley ; The crucible (1953) by Arthur Miller ; Death of a salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller ; Deathtrap (1978) by Ira Levin ; The dining room (1982) by A.R. Gurney ; Dinner with friends (1999) by Donald Margulies ; Doubt (2005) by John Patrick Shanley ; East Lynne (1863) by Clifton W. Tayleure ; The Emperor Jones (1920) by Eugene O'Neill ; Fashion (1845) by Anna Cora Mowatt ; Fences (1987) by August Wilson ; The front page (1928) by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur ; Gemini (1977) by Albert Innaurato ; The glass menagerie (1945) by Tennessee Williams ; Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) by David Mamet ; Harvey (1944) by Mary Chase ; The heart of Maryland (1895) by David Belasco ; The Heidi chronicles (1989) by Wendy Wasserstein ; The house of blue leaves (1971) by John Guare ; How I learned to drive (1997) by Paula Vogel ; The iceman cometh (1946) by Eugene O'Neill ; Inherit the wind (1955) by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee ; Joe Turner's come and gone (1988) by August Wilson ; Lend me a tenor (1989) by Ken Ludwig ; Life with Father (1939) by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse ; The lion in winter (1966) by James Goldman ; The little foxes (1939) by Lillian Hellman ; Long day's journey into night (1956) by Eugene O'Neill ; Lost in Yonkers (1991) by Neil Simon ; Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995) by Terrence McNally ; M. Butterfly (1988) by David Henry Hwang ; The man who came to dinner (1939) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart ; Mary, Mary (1961) by Jean Kerr ; The matchmaker (1955) by Thornton Wilder ; The member of the wedding (1950) by Carson McCullers ; Of mice and men (1937) by John Steinbeck ; The miracle worker (1959) by William Gibson ; Mister Roberts (1948) by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan ; Morning's at seven (1939) by Paul Osborn ; 'Night, Mother (1983) by Marsha Norman ; The odd couple (1965) by Neil Simon ; Our town (1938) by Thornton Wilder ; Peg o' my heart (1912) by J. Hartley Manners ; The Philadelphia story (1939) by Philip Barry ; Picnic (1953) by William Inge ; The piano lesson (1990) by August Wilson ; Proof (2000) by David Auburn ; The rainmaker (1954) by N. Richard Nash ; A raisin in the sun (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry ; Rip Van Winkle (1866) by Dion Boucicault and Joseph Jefferson ; The show-off (1924) by George Kelly ; Six degrees of separation (1990) by John Guare ; The skin of our teeth (1942) by Thornton Wilder ; A soldier's play (1981) by Charles Fuller ; Steel magnolias (1987) by Robert Harling ; Streamers (1976) by David Rabe ; Street scene (1929) by Elmer Rice ; A streetcar named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams ; Take me out (2003) by Richard Greenberg ; Talley's folly (1979) by Lanfrod Wilson ; Ten nights in a barroom (1858) by William W. Pratt ; Three men on a horse (1935) by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott ; The time of your life (1939) by William Saroyan ; Tobacco road (1933) by Jack Kirkland ; Torch song trilogy (1982) by Harvey Fierstein ; True west (1980) by Sam Shepard ; Uncle Tom's cabin (1853) by George L. Aiken ; Waiting for Lefty (1935) by Clifford Odets ; What price glory? (1924) by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings ; Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) by Edward Albee ; The women (1936) by Clare Boothe Luce ; You can't take it with you (1936) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart ; The zoo story (1960) by Edward Albee -- Appendix A: Playwrights listing -- Appendix B: Awards.