Joseph Kesselring
Encyclopedia
Joseph Otto Kesselring was an American writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 known best for his play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...

, written in 1939 and originally entitled "Bodies in Our Cellar." He was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to Henry and Frances Kesselring. His father's parents were immigrants from Germany. His mother was an English Canadian. Kesselring spent much of his life in and around the theater. In 1922 he began teaching vocal music
Vocal music
Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...

 and directed stage productions at Bethel College
Bethel College
Bethel College can refer to:* Bethel College * Bethel College * Bethel College * Bethel University , called Bethel College until 2004* Bethel University , called Bethel College until 2009...

 in North Newton, Kansas
North Newton, Kansas
North Newton is a city in Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,759. The city of Newton is located next to the city, but it not part of North Newton. North Newton is home of Bethel College, which has approximately 500 students.-Geography:North...

. After two years, Kesselring left teaching and returned to the stage, working for two years with an amateur theatrical group in Niagara, New York
Niagara, New York
Niagara is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 8,378. The town is named after the famous waterfall Niagara Falls....

. He began working as a freelance playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 in 1933, completing 12 original plays, of which four were produced on Broadway: Wisdom in Women (1935), Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), Four Twelves are 48 (1951), and Mother of that Wisdom (1963).

Kesselring died in Kingston, New York
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...

 in 1967 at the age of 65.

In 1980, the National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...

 created the Joseph Kesselring Prize for up-and-coming playwrights. It was funded by Kesselring's widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

, Charlotte. Among the playwrights who have won the prize are Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...

, David Adjmi
David Adjmi
David Adjmi is an American playwright. He is the recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2010 Whiting Writers' Award, the inaugural Steinberg Playwright Award, a Bush Artists Fellowship, and the Kesselring Fellowship for Drama.-Life:...

, Doug Wright
Doug Wright
Doug Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play, I Am My Own Wife.-Early years:Wright was born in Dallas, Texas...

, Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress.-Early life:...

, David Auburn
David Auburn
David Auburn is an American playwright.He was raised in Ohio and Arkansas. He attended the University of Chicago, where he was a member of Off-Off Campus, and received a degree in English literature....

, Rajiv Joseph
Rajiv Joseph
Rajiv Joseph is an American playwright and a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist who occasionally has been confused with a substandard dentist of similar name....

, Melissa James Gibson
Melissa James Gibson
-Life:The child of former BC Liberal MLA Gordon Gibson and his journalist wife Valerie, Gibson grew up in North Vancouver. She graduated from Columbia University and from the Yale School of Drama with an M.F.A. in Playwriting. She is working on commissions for the La Jolla Playhouse and The...

, Jo Carson
Jo Carson
Josephine Catron "Jo" Carson was an American playwright, poet, fiction writer, and actor, as well as the author of three children's books. Her best-known play is Daytrips , and her poetry is collected in Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet...

, Nicky Silver
Nicky Silver
Nicky Silver is an American playwright. Formerly of Philadelphia, he resides in New York City.As a teen, Silver attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York. He began writing after graduating from the New York University Theatre program. Many of his early plays...

, David Lindsay-Abaire
David Lindsay-Abaire
David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright and lyricist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations.-Early life and education:...

, Jose Rivera
Jose Rivera
Jose Rivera may refer to:*José Antonio Primo de Rivera , Spanish politician*José Eustasio Rivera , Colombian politician and writer*José Rivera , American playwright...

, Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace is a playwright, screenwriter and poet from Prospect, Kentucky, United States.-Life:Wallace obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and did graduate studies at the University of Iowa....

, Philip Kan Gotanda
Philip Kan Gotanda
Philip Kan Gotanda is an American playwright and filmmaker. Much of his work deals with Asian American issues and experiences.- Biography :...

, Kira Obolensky, Tracey Scott Wilson
Tracey Scott Wilson
-Life:She grew up in Newark, New Jersey.She graduated from Temple University, with an MA.-Awards:* 2001-2 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist* 2004 Whiting Writers' Award* 2004 Kesselring Prize * 2007 Sundance-Time Warner Storytelling Fellow -Works:...

, and Marion McClinton
Marion McClinton
Marion McClinton is a theatre director and playwright. He was nominated for the Tony Award for King Hedley II. He won the 2000 Vivian Robinson Audelco Black Theatre Awards, Director/Dramatic Production and the 1999–2000 Obie Awards, Direction, for Jitney, and was nominated for the Drama Desk...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK