Thornton Wilder
Wilder in 1948
Born	Thornton Niven Wilder April 17, 1897 Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Died	December 7, 1975 (aged 78) Hamden, Connecticut, United States
Occupation	Playwright, novelist
Notable works	The Bridge of San Luis Rey(1927) Our Town (1938) The Skin of Our Teeth (1942)
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for the Novel(1927), Pulitzer Prize for Drama(1938, 1942), National Book Award for Fiction (1968)

Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day.

Thornton Wilder with his two sisters and their father Amos at family cottage in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin (1900)

Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Amos Parker Wilder, a newspaper editor^[1] and U.S. diplomat, and Isabella Niven Wilder. All of the Wilder children spent part of their childhood in China. His older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, became Hollis Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, was a noted poet, and was instrumental in developing the field of theopoetics. His sister, Isabel, was an accomplished writer. Both of his other sisters, Charlotte Wilder, a poet, and Janet Wilder Dakin, a zoologist, attended Mount Holyoke College.^[2]

Wilder in his Yale Collegegraduation photo (1920)

Wilder began writing plays while at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, where he did not fit in and was teased by classmates as overly intellectual. According to a classmate, "We left him alone, just left him alone. And he would retire at the library, his hideaway, learning to distance himself from humiliation and indifference." His family lived for a time in China, where his sister Janet was born in 1910. He attended the English China Inland MissionChefoo School at Yantai but returned with his mother and siblings to California in 1912 because of the unstable political conditions in China at the time.^[3] Thornton also attended Creekside Middle School in Berkeley, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915.^[4]

After having served a three-month enlistment in the Army's Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, in World War I (rising to the rank of corporal), he attended Oberlin College before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree at Yale University in 1920, where he refined his writing skills as a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, a literary society. He earned his Master of Arts degree in French literature from Princeton University in 1926.^[5]

After graduating, Wilder studied in archaeology and Italian in Rome, Italy (1920–21), and then taught French at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey beginning in 1921.^[6] His first novel, The Cabala, was published in 1926. In 1927, The Bridge of San Luis Reybrought him commercial success, and his first Pulitzer Prize (1928).^[7] He resigned from the Lawrenceville School in 1928. From 1930 to 1937 he taught at the University of Chicago, during which time he published his translation of André Obey's own adaptation of the tale, "Le Viol de Lucrece" (1931) under the title "Lucrece" (Longmans Green, 1933).^[8] In 1938 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Our Town, and he won the prize again in 1943 for his play The Skin of Our Teeth.^[9]

World War II saw him rise to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Air Force Intelligence, first in Africa, then in Italy until 1945. He received several awards for his military service.^{[fn 1]} He went on to be a visiting professor at Harvard University, where he served for a year as the Charles Eliot Norton professor. Though he considered himself a teacher first and a writer second, he continued to write all his life, receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. In 1968 he won the National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.^[10]

Being proficient in four languages,^[6] Wilder translated plays by André Obey and Jean-Paul Sartre, and wrote the libretti to two operas, The Long Christmas Dinner, composed by Paul Hindemith, and The Alcestiad, composed by Louise Talma and based on his own play. Also, Alfred Hitchcock, whom he admired, asked him to write the screenplay to his thriller, Shadow of a Doubt.^[11] He completed the first draft of the screenplay for Hitchcock.^[6]

The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) tells the story of several unrelated people who happen to be on a bridge in Peru when it collapses, killing them. Philosophically, the book explores the question of why unfortunate events occur to people who seem "innocent" or "undeserving". It won the Pulitzer Prize^[1] in 1928, and in 1998 it was selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century. The book was quoted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001.^[12] Since then its popularity has grown enormously. The book is the progenitor of the modern disaster epic in literature and film-making, where a single disaster intertwines the victims, whose lives are then explored by means of flashbacks to events before the disaster.^{[citation needed]}

Frank Craven, Martha Scott and John Craven in the original Broadway production of Our Town (1938), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Wilder wrote Our Town, a popular play (and later film) set in fictional Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. It was inspired by his friend Gertrude Stein's novel The Making of Americans, and many elements of Stein's modernist style can be found in the play. Wilder suffered from writer's block while writing the final act. Our Town employs a choric narrator called the Stage Manager and a minimalist set to underscore the human experience. Wilder played the Stage Manager on Broadway for two weeks and later in summer stock productions. Following the daily lives of the Gibbs and Webb families, as well as the other inhabitants of Grover's Corners, the play illustrates the importance of the universality of the simple, yet meaningful lives of all people in the world in order to demonstrate the value of appreciating life. The play won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize.^[13]

Wilder as Mr. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, 1948

In 1938, Max Reinhardt directed a Broadway production of The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder had adapted from Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen(1842). It was a failure, closing after 39 performances.^[14]

His play The Skin of Our Teeth opened in New York on November 18, 1942, featuring Fredric March and Tallulah Bankhead. Again, the themes are familiar – the timeless human condition; history as progressive, cyclical, or entropic; literature, philosophy, and religion as the touchstones of civilization. Three acts dramatize the travails of the Antrobus family, allegorizing the alternate history of mankind. It was claimed by Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson, authors of A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake, that much of the play was the result of unacknowledged borrowing from James Joyce's last work.^{[fn 2][15]}

In his novel, The Ides of March (1948), dedicated to an anti-fascist Italian writer, Lauro De Bosis, Wilder reflected on parallels between Benito Mussolini and Julius Caesar. He had met Jean-Paul Sartre on a U.S. lecture tour after the war, and was under the influence of existentialism, although rejecting its atheist implications.^[16]

In 1954, Tyrone Guthrie encouraged Wilder to rework The Merchant of Yonkers into The Matchmaker. This time the play opened in 1955 and enjoyed a healthy Broadway run of 486 performances with Ruth Gordon in the title role, winning a Tony Award for Guthrie, its director. It became the basis for the hit 1964 musical Hello, Dolly!, with a book by Michael Stewart and score by Jerry Herman.^[17]

In 1962 and 1963, Wilder lived twenty months in the small town of Douglas, Arizona, apart from family and friends. There he started his longest novel, The Eighth Day, which went on to win the National Book Award.^[10] According to Harold Augenbraum in 2009, it "attack[ed] the big questions head on, ... [embedded] in the story of small-town America".^[18]

His last novel, Theophilus North, was published in 1973, and made into the film Mr. North in 1988.^[19]

The Library of America republished all of Wilder's plays in 2007, together with some of his writings on the theater and the screenplay of Shadow of a Doubt.^[20] In 2009, a second volume was released, containing his first five novels, six early stories, and four essays on fiction.^[21] Finally, the third and final volume in the Library of America series on Wilder was released in 2011, containing his last two novels The Eighth Day and Theophilus North, as well as four autobiographical sketches.^[22]

Although Wilder never discussed being homosexual publicly or in his writings, Samuel Steward wrote in his autobiography that he had sexual relations with him.^[23] Wilder was introduced to Steward by Gertrude Stein, who at the time regularly corresponded with both of them. The third act of Our Town was allegedly drafted after a long walk, during a brief affair with Steward in Zürich, Switzerland.^[24]

In Penelope Niven's biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life, she provides considerable epistolary evidence that the third act of "Our Town" was not written in response to any walk, conversation or affair with Samuel Steward but was begun before Wilder ever met Steward and was not finished until several months afterward. Niven also raises doubts about Steward's uncorroborated and unsubstantiated claims of having been Wilder's lover.^[25]

Wilder had a wide circle of friends and enjoyed mingling with other famous people,^[1] including Ernest Hemingway, Russel Wright, Willa Cather and Montgomery Clift.^{[citation needed]}

From the earnings of The Bridge of San Luis Rey, in 1930 Wilder built a house for his family in Hamden, Connecticut. His sister Isabel lived there for the rest of her life. This became his home base, although he traveled extensively and lived away for significant periods. He died in that house on 7 December 1975, of heart failure.^[6] He was interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut.^[26]

• Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

• The Cabala (1926)
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927)—won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel^[7]
• The Woman of Andros (1930)—based on Andria, a comedy by Terence
• Heaven's My Destination (1935)
• Ides of March (1948)
• The Eighth Day (1967)—won the National Book Award for Fiction^[10]
• Theophilus North (1973)—reprinted as Mr. North following the appearance of the film of the same name

Westport Country Playhouse

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Westport Country Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse
Address	25 Powers Court Westport USA
Coordinates	41.1416°N 73.3548°WCoordinates: 41.1416°N 73.3548°W
Type	Regional theatre
Capacity	578
Construction
Opened	29 June 1931
Architect	Edwin Howard
Website
www.westportplayhouse.org

Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit theater in Westport, Connecticut.

It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer.^{[citation needed]} Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality stage.^{[citation needed]}

2010 marked the Westport Country Playhouse’s 80th season. The Westport Country Playhouse has produced more than 700 plays, 36 of which were transferred to Broadway, and almost four million people have attended the theatre.^{[citation needed]}

Contents

• 1History
  • 1.1Construction and early use
  • 1.2Pre-Opening
  • 1.3Grand opening
  • 1.4Post opening
  • 1.5Twentieth century
  • 1.6Present day
• 2Building
  • 2.1Campaign for a New Era
  • 2.2Seating
  • 2.3Stage
• 3Education
  • 3.1Joanne Woodward Internship Program
• 4Notable performers
• 5Technical
  • 5.1Fly system
  • 5.2Lighting
• 6References
• 7Further reading

The building that is now the Westport Country Playhouse was originally constructed in 1835 as a tannery by R&H Haight, owned by Henry Haight.^[1] Charles H. Kemper acquired the tannery from Henry Haight's widow in 1866 and subsequently renamed the business C.H. Kemper Co.^[1]

In 1930, the former tannery, which had been unused since the 1920s, was purchased for $14,000 by Lawrence Langner.^{[citation needed]} Cleon Throckmorten, a Broadway designer, was commissioned to renovate the interior of the building.^[2]

In order to more easily transfer Playhouse productions to Broadway, the stage was built to match the specifications of Broadway’s Times Square Theatre on 42nd Street.^{[citation needed]} The idea proved immediately useful when the playhouse's first production, The Streets of New York (starring Dorothy Gish), transferred to Broadway. Dozens of new works followed suit over the years.^{[citation needed]}

When it came to casting, Langner turned to well-known actor acquaintances and friends such as Eugene O'Neill and George Bernard Shaw when he needed new plays.^{[citation needed]}

On June 29, 1931, the curtain went up on the first production at the Westport Country Playhouse.^[3] The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England "straw hat circuit" of summer stock theaters.^{[citation needed]}

The Playhouse's strong launch enhanced its reputation among the acting community.^{[citation needed]} Wealthy theatre patrons and supporters in nearby Fairfield County towns helped it survive and thrive.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1940s, the Westport Country Playhouse began its apprentice program for young theater professionals. Over the years, Westport Country Playhouse apprentices have included composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, screenwriter Frank Perry, television host Sally Jesse Raphael, composer Mary Rodgers, actor Cary Elwes, and actress Tammy Grimes. The educational apprenticeship programs are still running.

The Westport Country Playhouse closed due to World War II from 1942 to 1945. In the late 1940s and 1950s, the Westport Country Playhouse's successes included world premieres of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba and Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, both of which went on to Broadway.

Since the Langners stepped down in 1959, the administration has included James B. McKenzie from 1959 to 2000 and actress Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman's wife, who took over as artistic director in 2000. Newman remained a part-owner of a restaurant next to the theatre until his death in 2008. The Playhouse became a non-profit in 1973.^[4]

In 2002 the Westport Country Playhouse transferred its first production to Broadway after more than 35 years.^[5]

Recently the theatre saw the world premiere of Thurgood and a revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town with Paul Newman. Currently under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos, the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public.

Alison Harris, executive director since 2000, announced in 2005 that she would not be renewing her contract when it expired in 2006. In December 2006, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter was named managing director. Artistic directors Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe returned to the Westport Country Playhouse on January 2, 2008 to provide interim artistic leadership for the 2008 season. Ms. Woodward, acclaimed actress and director as well as a long-time resident of Westport, was the Westport Country Playhouse’s artistic director from 2000 to 2005, with Ms. Keefe as her associate. For the past two years, Ms. Woodward served as Westport Country Playhouse artistic director emeritus as well as a member of the board of trustees. Ms. Keefe has also been a member of the board since her departure as associate artistic director in 2006. Currently under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public.

The Westport Country Playhouse has provided a stage for many new playwrights over the years. David Wiltse is the current playwright in residence, writing one play for the Westport Country Playhouse to produce each year.^[6][7][8]