List of award winning plays?
LAUREN GROVER
effect. It will have a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners and other
lists of other awards. I know you have to go to a library or a store
for that...but at least you will have an idea of what to look for.
"=(:b)illiam" wrote:
>
> Since I try to read some of the better plays, I usually buy the ones that
> won some type of award ("Pulitzer Prize winning play!"). Sometimes I get
> tricked by a "A new Boring Play written by Pulitzer prize winning
> playwright!". Is there a list of the plays that have won Pulitzer, Tony, or
> any other signifigant awards?
>
> I found:
> http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1999/drama/
> and
> http://www.pulitzer.org/archive/
> but
> the query function does not seem to work (for viewing awards past 1995).
>
> - Bill
DgSWEET
OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? or SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, for instance.
My suggestion? Get your hands on the titles of cited in the yearly BEST PLAYS
ANNUAL. This is a slightly self-serving suggestion, because for eleven years I
was the person who decided which were (in my opinion) the year's ten best. But
still, if you look over the history of the BEST PLAYS ANNUAL and the plays
cited in its editions, almost every significant contemporary play is listed;
remarkably few duds.
Jeff Sweet
Skip Press
(DgSWEET) wrote:
>My suggestion? Get your hands on the titles of cited in the yearly BEST
>PLAYS ANNUAL. This is a slightly self-serving suggestion, because for
>eleven years I was the person who decided which were (in my opinion) the
>year's ten best.
Geoff, give us some heads up if you take over the job again, OK? At least
we'll know whose butt to kiss.
--
All the best,
Skip Press, The Duke of URL
Writers' Guide to Hollywood Producers, Directors etc.
http://www.primalife.com/book.asp?ID=76151484
Write What You Want: http://www.cmonline.com/boson/nonfiction/howto/howto.html
DgSWEET
PLAYS ANNUAL. This is a slightly self-serving suggestion, because for eleven
years I was the person who decided which were (in my opinion) the year's ten
best.
>
>Geoff, give us some heads up if you take over the job again, OK? At least
we'll know whose butt to kiss.
The way BEST PLAYS is run now no longer has room for the taste of an individual
editor. The senior editor, Otis Guernsey, basically decided to include in the
book anything that wins an award that season, so nobody does the kind of
choosing I used to do. But that was part of the fun of the job -- every year I
picked a couple of things that either the TIMES or VARIETY absolutely HATED --
stuff that I thought they'd overlooked or underestimated. And they threw the
occasional fit, too. I remember a VARIETY review questioning one of my choices
with a sort of, "What is he, nuts?" article. Delighted me. I didn't think my
job was to endorse the opinions of the TIMES or VARIETY -- they have enough
power. Every year I got to shine a little bit of a light on a couple of things
I thought deserved second chances, and in some cases these led to some revivals
or subsequent productions. Most satisfying part of the job.
But I do a little criticism simply to keep myself thinking rigorously about
what I see, so that I can apply the same questions to my own work. I don't
like adjective tossing reviews (except when they're of my stuff and the
adjectives are likely to prompt ticket sales). I like analysis, discussion,
comparison.
I pretty much pulled back from very visibile reviewing when I got elected to
the Council of the Dramatists Guild. What's the point of making people I like
and have to work with unhappy in visible public forums? So I write stuff for
outfits that they are unlikely to read -- like DRAMATICS, which is for drama
students. I think it's important to write thoughtfully for drama students cuz
they're gonna build the theatre of tomorrow. At the same time, I'm mostly
relieved that nothing I say can do any damage to the commercial prospects of
the works I cover.
By the by, BLUFF, which was recently named one of the ten best shows of the
year in Chicago by the TRIB's gracious critic, is gonna be read in LA on
January 24 at the Coronet Theatre. Ed Asner's gonna read one of the leads. I
believe it's free. I expect to be there.
Jeff Sweet
DgSWEET
I'd recommend www.abebooks.com
Put my name into the search engine and you'll come up with a batch of
references to second-hand places that have old editions.
>
>I don't guess you could post some of them - could you?
I don't have this stuff handy on disk, sorry. But, if you go to your local
theatre book store, you can see the titles selected on the cover. Or go to the
library. Maybe some libraries might have the contents listed in their online
card catalogues.
Jeff
Skip Press
(DgSWEET) wrote:
>By the by, BLUFF, which was recently named one of the ten best shows of
>the year in Chicago by the TRIB's gracious critic, is gonna be read in LA
>on January 24 at the Coronet Theatre. Ed Asner's gonna read one of the
>leads. I believe it's free. I expect to be there.
Hey, sounds great. I'll try to get there. But I think you should go back
to giving Time and Variety hell once in a while. Like their critics are
always such geniuses. The Time music critic was on TV talking about the
Beatles lately (when Harrison got attacked) and he was the lamest piece of
noodle I've seen in years.
DgSWEET
>to giving Time and Variety hell once in a while. Like their critics are
>always such geniuses. The Time music critic was on TV talking about the
>Beatles lately (when Harrison got attacked) and he was the lamest piece of
>noodle I've seen in years.
Well, it's not my choice to make any more. The book has been restructured so
the function I used to perform for it no longer exists. It's a little like the
S&P 500 Index funds -- the mutual funds that ape the S&P 500. They're
unmanaged. And the book, too, now doesn't offer an independent critical
viewpoint any more. I think it's a loss, but I don't own the series so I don't
make the rules.
But I must say it's a bit of a relief not having to schedule all of May to
write that mammoth introductory chapter any more. Eleven years of that --
equivalent to writing two or three books. Yikes.
Onward.
Jeff
PS Anybody who wants to attend the reading at PKE at the Coronet on January 24
is very welcome. The show did extremely well in Chicago, is nominated for some
awards and so forth. A way to see a show with a good cast for free.
ham...@interport.net
might argue with specific choices for inclusion, one was always aware that
Mr. Sweet was working with certain principles. And he were not afraid to
go out on a limb.
The book had a strong voice at that time.
Now it is still a good reference, but stands for nothing.