Contemporary American Dramatists

This pioneering work profiles nearly 200 U.S. playwrights, both living and deceased, and is part of St. James Press' Contemporary Literature Series. "Contemporary American Dramatists" provides invaluable critical, biographical and bibliographical information on nearly 200 of the most important American dramatists since the end of World War II.

A leading writer on American theatre explores the works and influences of ten contemporary American playwrights.

David Savran, head of University of Regina, Canada drama department, interviews 20 American playwrights, who discuss early influences on their art, their ways of working, their views of one another's plays and their visions of American theatre. In the introduction to each interview, Savran lays out the playwrights' achivements and provides insights into their work.

On the evening of January 29, 1948, a new musical, 'Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!', opened at New York's New Adelphi Theatre, marking the Broadway debut of a young playwriting team, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, who were responsible for the show's book. Forty-six years later, Lawrence and Lee are reworking their most recent play, Whisper In The Mind, for a potential New York production, but the intervening decades have seen major changes in the landscape of the American theatre. Many of these changes are discussed and debated in this collection of interviews and are exemplified in the careers of the dramatists included.

Unrivalled in its coverage of recent work and writers, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary American Playwrights surveys and analyses the breadth, vitality and development of theatrical work to emerge from America over the last fifty years. This authoritative guide leads you through the work of 25 major contemporary American playwrights, discussing more than 140 plays in detail. Written by a team of 25 eminent international scholars, each chapter provides: · a biographical introduction to the playwright's work; · a survey and concise analysis of the writer's most important plays; · a discussion of their style, dramaturgical concerns and critical reception; · a bibliography of published plays and a select list of critical works. Among the many Tony, Obie and Pulitzer prize-winning playwrights included are Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, August Wilson, Paula Vogel and Neil LaBute. The abundance of work analysed enables fresh, illuminating conclusions to be drawn about the development of contemporary American playwriting.

New edition of Modern American Drama completes the survey and comes up to 2000.

Introduces nine exciting and talented playwrights who have emerged in twenty-first century America, exploring issues of race, gender and society.