Lanford Wilson
Encyclopedia
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright
who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway
theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was nominated for three Tony Awards.
. After his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to Springfield, Missouri
, where they lived until she remarried. He had two half-brothers, John and Jim, and one stepsister, Judy. When he was 11, they moved to Ozark, Missouri
. There, he attended high school and developed a love for film and art and began going to the local movie theatre regularly. He developed an interest in acting and eventually became involved in his high school plays. His most notable performance was as Tom in "The Glass Menagerie
" by Tennessee Williams
.
Wilson attended Southwest Missouri State University. During his time there he was torn between art and story writing. He left the school without obtaining a degree. Deciding to spend more time with his father, he moved to San Diego, California
, where he worked as a riveter in the Ryan Aircraft Plant. While in San Diego, he took art and art history classes at the State College. His time with his father proved to be difficult, leaving Wilson feeling unwanted and unaccepted as a homosexual. He relocated to Chicago, where he began to explore playwriting at the University of Chicago
. There, he became a part of the counterculture of the city, even acting as a male prostitute for some time. He worked as a graphic artist for a short period of time before he realized through his hobby of short story writing that he wanted to be a playwright. He enrolled in a playwriting class at the University of Chicago
where he created several one-act plays.
In 1962, Wilson moved to Greenwich Village
in New York City to find a place in the theatre scene there. He worked several odd jobs before finding a job in the subscriptions office of the New York Shakespeare Festival
. After seeing Eugene Ionesco
’s The Lesson at the Caffe Cino, Wilson met the producer, Joseph Cino
, along with Ellen Stewart
, a pioneer in the Off-off-Broadway
movement, who helped him get started in his career.
. He worked odd jobs to support himself during this Off-off-Broadway
apprenticeship. The Madness of Lady Bright premiered at Caffe Cino in May 1964 and was the venue's first significant success. The play featured actor Neil Flanagan in the title role as Leslie Bright, a neurotic aging queen
. It is considered a landmark play in the representation of homosexuality
. It lasted for over 200 performances, setting a record as the longest-running play at Caffe Cino.
After this success, he wrote plays for Ellen Stewart's Cafe La Mama
from 1965 to 1972. Here he wrote his first full-length plays, including Balm in Gilead
, which depicted a doomed romance in a greasy spoon diner inhabited by junkies, prostitutes and thieves. It premiered at LaMaMa in 1965, directed by Marshall W. Mason
, and had a memorable Off-Broadway
revival in the 1984, directed by John Malkovich
, co-produced by Circle Repertory Company
and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
. The Rimers of Eldritch
(1967), a play set in the Midwest, won the 1966–1967 Drama Desk Vernon Rice Award for contribution of Off-Broadway theatre. This was followed by The Gingham Dog (1968) about the breakup of an interracial couple. Lemon Sky
(1970), fictionalized Wilson's reconciliation with his father. It is his most autobiographical play, telling the story of a young man's struggle with his crude, uneducated father, when he tries to come out of the closet.
Wilson was a co-founder of the Circle Repertory Company
in 1969, and many of his plays were first presented there, directed by his long-standing collaborator, Marshall W. Mason
, along with Rob Thirkield and Tanya Berezin. There he wrote some of his most significant works, most of which were directed by Mason. His first plays for the Company in 1972 were a one-act, The Great Nebula in Orion, and an improvisational round, The Family Continues. Circle Rep's production of Wilson's The Hot l Baltimore won the 1973 New York Drama Critics' Circle
Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award
, and the Obie Award
. It ran for 1,166 performances and was adapted into a short-lived television comedy by TV producer Norman Lear
in 1975. Also during this time, he wrote The Mound Builders (1976), a play set in the Midwest, and Brontosaurus (1977), a one-act play about a Manhattan antique dealer. Wilson was also a founding member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts
, of which Circle Rep was the theatre contingent.
Gay identity
is a major theme in Wilson's work. The Madness of Lady Bright, Lemon Sky, Fifth of July
(1978) and Burn This
(1986) all deal with sexual identity crises. In Fifth of July
, a hit on Broadway in 1980–82, two of the central characters are a gay couple living in a Midwestern town, one of whom is a disabled Vietnam
veteran. Wilson was nominated for Tony Awards for Fifth of July and two other plays of this period, Talley's Folly
(1979) and Angels Fall
(1983). In Burn This
, a central character is a gay man who writes advertising for a living and is involved with both gay and straight
friends, one of whom has died in a boating accident before the play begins. The group struggles together to deal with their collective grief. John Malkovich starred in the original production. Wilson and Mason encouraged so-called "method" acting
and often used the classic techniques of Anton Chekhov
, updated with modernist and post-modernist touches.
In addition to writing plays, Wilson wrote the texts for several 20th-century opera
s, including at least two collaborations with composer Lee Hoiby
: Summer and Smoke (1971) and This is the Rill Speaking (1992) (based on his own play). In 2010, Debra Monk
presented Wilson with the Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards
. This honor was bestowed on Wilson on behalf of his peers and fellow artists of the Off-off-Broadway community "in recognition of his brave and unique works that helped established the Off-Off-Broadway community, and propel the independent theatre voice as an important contributor to the American stage."
On March 24, 2011, Lanford Wilson died from complications of pneumonia.
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...
who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was nominated for three Tony Awards.
Early years
Wilson was born to Ralph Eugene and Violetta Tate Wilson in Lebanon, MissouriLebanon, Missouri
Lebanon is a city in Laclede County, Missouri, United States. The estimated population in July 2009 was 14,292. The population was 12,155 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Laclede County. The Lebanon Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Laclede County.-Geography:Lebanon is located at...
. After his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
, where they lived until she remarried. He had two half-brothers, John and Jim, and one stepsister, Judy. When he was 11, they moved to Ozark, Missouri
Ozark, Missouri
Ozark, incorporated in 1890, is a city in Christian County, Missouri, United States. As of 2009 the population has grown 18,458. It is the county seat of Christian County. Ozark is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
. There, he attended high school and developed a love for film and art and began going to the local movie theatre regularly. He developed an interest in acting and eventually became involved in his high school plays. His most notable performance was as Tom in "The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
" by Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
.
Wilson attended Southwest Missouri State University. During his time there he was torn between art and story writing. He left the school without obtaining a degree. Deciding to spend more time with his father, he moved to San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, where he worked as a riveter in the Ryan Aircraft Plant. While in San Diego, he took art and art history classes at the State College. His time with his father proved to be difficult, leaving Wilson feeling unwanted and unaccepted as a homosexual. He relocated to Chicago, where he began to explore playwriting at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. There, he became a part of the counterculture of the city, even acting as a male prostitute for some time. He worked as a graphic artist for a short period of time before he realized through his hobby of short story writing that he wanted to be a playwright. He enrolled in a playwriting class at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
where he created several one-act plays.
In 1962, Wilson moved to Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in New York City to find a place in the theatre scene there. He worked several odd jobs before finding a job in the subscriptions office of the New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
. After seeing Eugene Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
’s The Lesson at the Caffe Cino, Wilson met the producer, Joseph Cino
Joe Cino
Joseph Cino , was an Italian-American theatrical producer and café-owner. The beginning of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement is generally credited to have begun at Cino’s Caffe Cino...
, along with Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart was an American theater director and producer and the founder of La MaMa, E.T.C. . In the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and Henri Bendel.-Biography:Ellen Stewart was either born in Alexandria, Louisiana or Chicago,...
, a pioneer in the Off-off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
movement, who helped him get started in his career.
Career
Wilson began his professional career as a playwright in the early 1960s at Caffe Cino, writing one-act plays such as Ludlow Fair, Home Free! and The Madness of Lady BrightThe Madness of Lady Bright
The Madness of Lady Bright is a short play by Lanford Wilson, among the earliest of the gay theatre movement. It was first performed at Joe Cino's Caffe Cino in May 1964 and went on to tour internationally, appearing in revivals to the present day...
. He worked odd jobs to support himself during this Off-off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
apprenticeship. The Madness of Lady Bright premiered at Caffe Cino in May 1964 and was the venue's first significant success. The play featured actor Neil Flanagan in the title role as Leslie Bright, a neurotic aging queen
Queen (gay slang)
In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to flamboyant or effeminate gay men. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.-Drag queen:...
. It is considered a landmark play in the representation of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. It lasted for over 200 performances, setting a record as the longest-running play at Caffe Cino.
After this success, he wrote plays for Ellen Stewart's Cafe La Mama
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...
from 1965 to 1972. Here he wrote his first full-length plays, including Balm in Gilead
Balm in Gilead
Balm in Gilead is a 1965 play written by American playwright Lanford Wilson.-Dramatic structure:Wilson's first full-length effort, Balm in Gilead centers on a cafe frequented by heroin addicts, prostitutes and thieves...
, which depicted a doomed romance in a greasy spoon diner inhabited by junkies, prostitutes and thieves. It premiered at LaMaMa in 1965, directed by Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason is an American theater director, the founder and for eighteen years, artistic director of the Circle Repertory Company in New York City....
, and had a memorable Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
revival in the 1984, directed by John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, co-produced by Circle Repertory Company
Circle Repertory Company
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W...
and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
. The Rimers of Eldritch
The Rimers of Eldritch
The Rimers of Eldritch is a play by Lanford Wilson. Set in the mid-20th century in Eldritch, Missouri, a decaying Bible Belt town that once was a prosperous coal mining community, it focuses on the murder of aging hermit Skelly by a woman who mistakenly thought he was committing rape when he...
(1967), a play set in the Midwest, won the 1966–1967 Drama Desk Vernon Rice Award for contribution of Off-Broadway theatre. This was followed by The Gingham Dog (1968) about the breakup of an interracial couple. Lemon Sky
Lemon Sky
Lemon Sky is a 1970 play by Lanford Wilson first produced at Cafe La Mama. The story is about a fresh out of high school teen from the midwest moving to San Diego, California in the 1950s to live with his estranged father and new family...
(1970), fictionalized Wilson's reconciliation with his father. It is his most autobiographical play, telling the story of a young man's struggle with his crude, uneducated father, when he tries to come out of the closet.
Wilson was a co-founder of the Circle Repertory Company
Circle Repertory Company
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W...
in 1969, and many of his plays were first presented there, directed by his long-standing collaborator, Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason is an American theater director, the founder and for eighteen years, artistic director of the Circle Repertory Company in New York City....
, along with Rob Thirkield and Tanya Berezin. There he wrote some of his most significant works, most of which were directed by Mason. His first plays for the Company in 1972 were a one-act, The Great Nebula in Orion, and an improvisational round, The Family Continues. Circle Rep's production of Wilson's The Hot l Baltimore won the 1973 New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
, and the Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
. It ran for 1,166 performances and was adapted into a short-lived television comedy by TV producer Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
in 1975. Also during this time, he wrote The Mound Builders (1976), a play set in the Midwest, and Brontosaurus (1977), a one-act play about a Manhattan antique dealer. Wilson was also a founding member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts
New York State Summer School of the Arts
The New York State Summer School of the Arts is a series of summer residential programs for New York State high school students. It provides intensive pre-professional training with internationally acclaimed artists and artistic companies. It is open to all New York State high school age students...
, of which Circle Rep was the theatre contingent.
Gay identity
Sexual identity
Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
is a major theme in Wilson's work. The Madness of Lady Bright, Lemon Sky, Fifth of July
Fifth of July
Fifth of July is a 1978 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. Set in rural Missouri in 1977, it revolves around the Talley family and their friends, and focuses on the disillusionment with America in the wake of the Vietnam War...
(1978) and Burn This
Burn This
Burn This is a play by Lanford Wilson.-Plot:It begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident. In attendance were his roommates: choreographer Anna and ad man Larry...
(1986) all deal with sexual identity crises. In Fifth of July
Fifth of July
Fifth of July is a 1978 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. Set in rural Missouri in 1977, it revolves around the Talley family and their friends, and focuses on the disillusionment with America in the wake of the Vietnam War...
, a hit on Broadway in 1980–82, two of the central characters are a gay couple living in a Midwestern town, one of whom is a disabled Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
veteran. Wilson was nominated for Tony Awards for Fifth of July and two other plays of this period, Talley's Folly
Talley's Folly
Talley's Folly is a 1979 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson, the second in his cycle, The Talley Trilogy between his plays Talley & Son and Fifth of July. Set in an old boathouse near rural Lebanon, Missouri in 1944, it is a romantic comedy following the characters Matt Friedman and Sally...
(1979) and Angels Fall
Angels Fall
Angels Fall is a play written by Lanford Wilson. It debuted at New York's Circle Repertory Company in 1982.-Characters:*Niles Harris: a cynical, middle-aged university professor*Vita Harris: his much younger wife...
(1983). In Burn This
Burn This
Burn This is a play by Lanford Wilson.-Plot:It begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident. In attendance were his roommates: choreographer Anna and ad man Larry...
, a central character is a gay man who writes advertising for a living and is involved with both gay and straight
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
friends, one of whom has died in a boating accident before the play begins. The group struggles together to deal with their collective grief. John Malkovich starred in the original production. Wilson and Mason encouraged so-called "method" acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
and often used the classic techniques of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, updated with modernist and post-modernist touches.
In addition to writing plays, Wilson wrote the texts for several 20th-century opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s, including at least two collaborations with composer Lee Hoiby
Lee Hoiby
Lee Henry Hoiby was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society...
: Summer and Smoke (1971) and This is the Rill Speaking (1992) (based on his own play). In 2010, Debra Monk
Debra Monk
Debra Monk is an American actress, singer, and writer.Monk was born in Middletown, Ohio. She was voted "best personality" by the graduating class at Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from Frostburg State University in 1963...
presented Wilson with the Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards
New York Innovative Theatre Awards
The New York Innovative Theatre Awards were founded in 2004. These annual awards honor excellence in Off-Off-Broadway Theatre and help nurture and promote the Off-Off-Broadway community.-Mission statement:...
. This honor was bestowed on Wilson on behalf of his peers and fellow artists of the Off-off-Broadway community "in recognition of his brave and unique works that helped established the Off-Off-Broadway community, and propel the independent theatre voice as an important contributor to the American stage."
Personal life
Wilson maintained a strong friendship with his mentor, Joseph Cino, until Cino committed suicide in 1967. After Wilson moved to New York City in the early 1960's, he settled in a small apartment in West Greenwich Village on Sheridan Square, where he lived for many years. Later, after Hot l Baltimore became a hit, he was able to buy a house in Sag Harbor, Long Island. He then began living in both places, using the West Village apartment mainly when he had a play in production in New York. He also became active in a community theatre company in Sag Harbor and produced some of his shorter plays there. When living in New York, Wilson was involved with Playwrights Laboratory at the Circle Repertory Company, often attending readings, rehearsals, and productions. Around 1998, he finally gave up his apartment in New York and lived full-time in Sag Harbor. Wilson was openly homosexual and never had children. In 2004, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.On March 24, 2011, Lanford Wilson died from complications of pneumonia.