Barrie Stavis
Encyclopedia
Barrie Stavis was a distinguished American
playwright. He has authored several powerful plays about men struggling in the vortex of history. They advocate ideas, suffer, often are executed, but eventually their ideas win. The heresy of one age becomes the established truth of the next. His subjects include scientist Galileo, abolitionist John Brown
, and labor leader Joe Hill
. His play, Lamp at Midnight, about Galileo's struggle with the Catholic Church to get his ideas accepted, was performed and televised on the Hallmark Hall of Fame
in 1966. Melvyn Douglas
starred as Galileo.
Stavis's plays can be done on a clean, simple stage. They have been translated into 28 languages and have been produced in dozens of major theaters around the world and in numerous college theaters.
Barrie Stavis was actively involved in all his work until his death on February 2, 2007, at the age of 100.
First new play in a classical repertory produced by the Guthrie Theater
, Minneapolis, 1967.
John Brown adopts guerrilla warfare to overthrow slavery. The raid fails and he is executed, but slavery is eventually abolished.
First produced at New Stages, New York, 1947.
Television adaptation Hallmark Hall of Fame, 1966.
Galileo challenges religious dogma with science and finds enormous resistance to the truth.
Joe Hill confronts power by organizing a trade union and pays with his life. First produced at the Jan Hus Theater, New York, 1958.
George Washington
leads a revolution to establish national independence.
Just completed, March 2003, not published yet.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright. He has authored several powerful plays about men struggling in the vortex of history. They advocate ideas, suffer, often are executed, but eventually their ideas win. The heresy of one age becomes the established truth of the next. His subjects include scientist Galileo, abolitionist John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
, and labor leader Joe Hill
Joe Hill
Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle , and also known as Joseph Hillström was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World...
. His play, Lamp at Midnight, about Galileo's struggle with the Catholic Church to get his ideas accepted, was performed and televised on the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
in 1966. Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
starred as Galileo.
Stavis's plays can be done on a clean, simple stage. They have been translated into 28 languages and have been produced in dozens of major theaters around the world and in numerous college theaters.
Barrie Stavis was actively involved in all his work until his death on February 2, 2007, at the age of 100.
Major Plays
- Harpers Ferry (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1960, 67)
First new play in a classical repertory produced by the Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Theater production history
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The following is a chronological list of the plays that it has produced on its mainstage.-1963:...
, Minneapolis, 1967.
John Brown adopts guerrilla warfare to overthrow slavery. The raid fails and he is executed, but slavery is eventually abolished.
- Lamp At MidnightLamp At MidnightLamp At Midnight is a play by Barrie Stavis, first produced at New Stages, New York, in 1947. A television adaptation appeared in the Hallmark Hall of Fame series in 1966...
(New York: A.S. Barnes, 1966.)
First produced at New Stages, New York, 1947.
Television adaptation Hallmark Hall of Fame, 1966.
Galileo challenges religious dogma with science and finds enormous resistance to the truth.
- The Man Who Never Died (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1972)
Joe Hill confronts power by organizing a trade union and pays with his life. First produced at the Jan Hus Theater, New York, 1958.
- The Raw Edge of Victory in Dramatics Vol. 57, No. 8 and 9 (April and May 1986).
George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
leads a revolution to establish national independence.
- The House of Shadows
Just completed, March 2003, not published yet.
Honors
- The National Theater Conference honors an outstanding emerging playwright each year with the "Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwriting Award."