Author Description

Here is the third volume in Gerald Bordman's acclaimed survey of American non-musical theatre. It deals with the seasons 1930-31 through 1968-69, a period which saw the number of yearly new plays decline at the same time as American drama fully entered the world stage and became a dominant presence. With works like Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, American theatre finally reached adulthood both dramatically and psychologically. A number of distinguished theatrical careers reached their zenith during these years, including those of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Helen Hayes, Katharine Cornell, and Henry Fonda. And as many brilliant theatrical careers were launched, among them those of Julie Harris, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Jason Robards, Uta Hagen, and Geraldine Page. This volume chronicles every Broadway production as well as every major off-Broadway show as its coverage extends into the 50s and 60s. Noted theatrical historian Gerald Bordman moves from play to play and from season to season, offering plot summaries, production details, the names of directors, leading players and roles, as well as quotes from drama critics and any special or unusual aspects of individual shows.