Found 38 collections related to Dramatists

George Furth (1932-2008) was an American playwright, librettist and actor, most famous for writing the books for two Stephen Sondheim musicals, Company and Merrily We Roll Along. The George Furth papers contain professional and personal papers, created or collected by Furth as a playwright and actor. less

Edward Mabley (1906-1984) was an American writer for theater, radio, and television, and author of the book Dramatic Construction: An Outline of Basic Principles. The Edward Mabley papers (1920s-1985) document his writing career through scripts, scores, book manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, promotional materials, and notes. The papers also hold material related to the Tatterman Marionettes, a company that Mabley co-founded. less

Jane Dransfield (1875-1957) was a playwright, poet, and lecturer on theater. The Jane Dransfield papers (1892-1957) document the creation, publication, production, and reception of her work, especially her plays. The papers also document her work as a lecturer, her study of drama, and her professional relationships. The collection holds correspondence, clippings, programs, promotional materials, scripts, poetry, articles, drafts, and notes. less

Microfilm copy of the papers of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright-director, George S. Kaufman, consisting primarily of correspondence, scripts, and biographical scrapbooks. The correspondence contains letters from Fred Allen, Winthrop Ames, George Arliss, Eleanor Belmont, Walter Damrosch, Joseph E. Davies, Robert H. Davis, Theodore Dreiser, James A. Farley, Arthur Hopkins, Otto Kahn, Groucho and Harpo Marx, Adolphe Menjou, William Saroyan, Alfred E. Smith, Henry L. Stimson, John Steinbeck, Booth Tarkington, Oswald Garrison Villard, William Allen White, Alexander Woollcott, and others. There are scripts (some annotated) for seventeen produced and unproduced titles for stage, screen, and television including THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN (1925), THE LATE GEORGE APLEY (1944), THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1939), and several other plays on which Kaufman collaborated with Marc Connelly, Ruth Goodman Goetz, Leueen MacGrath, Morrie Ryskind, Howard Teichmann, and other playwrights. less

Charles Ludlam, actor, director, and playwright, was born April 12, 1943. He began his career in 1966 with the PlayHouse of the Ridiculous, both as a performer and playwright. Artistic differences caused Ludlam to leave and form his own company, The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, which achieved international recognition. Ludlam's three most successful plays were BLUEBEARD, STAGE BLOOD, and CAMILLE. Although the company attracted grant funding, it was always on the edge of the avant-garde and finances were uncertain. The company made its final tour with Ludlam in the first months of 1980 and then disbanded. Ludlam died on May 28, 1987. The collection consists of diaries, notebooks, scripts, set and costume designs, clippings, transcripts of interviews, and manuscript pages from a published collection of Ludlam's plays. This material was collected as research material for The Complete Plays of Charles Ludlam. The material provides valuable insight into every stage of Ludlam's playwriting process from the development of an idea to its realization on stage. Since Ludlam relied so heavily on improvisation, the information contained in the notebooks and plot outlines in this collection cannot be found anywhere else. less

Playwright Mary Drayton, born in Hope, Arkansas, turned to writing after a car accident ended her acting career. Her plays DEBUT (1956) and PLAYROOM (1965) were produced on Broadway. She also wrote SALT OF THE EARTH, BUILD ME A BRIDGE, DUCKS IN A ROW, and a novel, ALL OUR SECRETS. The collection concerns the world premiere of DUCKS IN A ROW, performed at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa. in 1981 as THREE LINKS OF CHAIN. It is primarily letters by Drayton to the play's director, Rod [Roderick] Bladel, discussing casting, script changes, the Allentown production, and efforts to get the play produced elsewhere. The collection also contains pre-rehearsal notes, sheet music, and programs. less

Carlotta Monterey O'Neill was married to the playwright Eugene O'Neill. The notebook contains handwritten transcriptions by Carlotta O'Neill of letters and inscriptions to her from her husband, Eugene O'Neill, and photographs, mostly portraits of Eugene and Carlotta O'Neill. The notebook was probably prepared in 1954 after the death of Eugene O'Neill. less

Marian Winters (1920-1978) was born Marian Weinstein on April 20th in New York City. She began acting as early as 1936 in a Carnegie Hall production of Motherly Love, and debuted on Broadway as an understudy for Frances Dee in Blithe Spirit (1945). Around this time she married Jerome H. "Jay" Smolin, an executive at NBC, to whom she remained married until her death. In 1952, Winters won a Tony award for her performance as Natalia Landauer in I Am A Camera, and her acting career continued on the stage and screen through the 1970s. She also wrote and published her own plays. Of particular note are A is for All (1968) and All is Bright (optioned 1968, performed 1970). In 1967, Winters won an Emmy for her television adaptation of Animal Keepers, one of the three one-act plays comprising A is for All. In 1976, she was meant to play Mama Kolowitz in So Long, 174th St., but her part was cut before the musical opened. Between 1977 and 1978 she collaborated with Albert Hague on the new musical A New World, which received a partially staged reading in May of 1977, but the partnership fell through in 1978 when Hague and Winters failed to reach mutually acceptable terms of collaboration. Her last role was Helga ten Dorp in Ira Levin’s 1978 production of Deathtrap. She died of cancer in New York City on November 3rd, 1978. The materials in this collection focus on Winters' stage career, to the exclusion of her roles in television. There is a special emphasis on the productions Winters created herself, the bulk of material supporting those plays she wrote or performed in. These include scripts in multiple drafts (some annotated, some used in performance) clippings, promotional material, programs, recordings, sheet music, books (some annotated), photographs, contracts, and correspondence. The collection also includes a number of portraits, three recordings of unknown contents, and seven large scrapbooks containing a variety of materials that trace the steps in Winters' theatrical career. The collection also contains some materials relevant to Winters' non-theatrical life, most notably a series on the creation of the book Catwise. less

Lula Vollmer (d. 1955) was an American folk dramatist. The collection dates from 1847 to 1972 and documents her writing career through dramatic and literary manuscripts, correspondence, contracts, and other materials relating to the publication and production of her work. less

Clare Beecher Kummer (1873-1958) was a playwright and songwriter. She was most active between 1907 and 1944, when her plays and musicals were produced on the vaudeville circuits and on Broadway. The Victor Finizio research materials on Clare Kummer (1890s-1965) contain photographs, scripts, articles, and research notes that Finizio compiled while researching his 1965 dissertation, Clare Kummer: An Analysis of Her Plays and Musicals. The collection contains photocopies of Kummer's scripts, many of which are unpublished, and some of which have Kummer's annotations and corrections. Scripts include Ladies Change, Noah's Ark, The Opera Ball, Spring Thaw, Up in McCloud's, and The Yogi Man. The collection also contains production photographs, primarily dating to the 1920s, including photographs of Chinese Love, The Choir Rehearsal, The Robbery, and Rollo's Wild Oat. An original set design, probably for Amourette, is also present. There are photographs and a drawing of Kummer, as well as photographs of unidentified friends and family. Research notes date from 1963 to 1965 and include information about a private collection of Clare Kummer materials. less

Rhoda Rachel Nathans was a playwright. Her scripts (1960-1995) include titles such as An Evolutional Matter, Flights, Let Us Be Thankful, Mommies, Sparks, The Strange Case of Uncle Vashtig, and Cinders in the Sun, which was produced at the Sheridan Square Playhouse in 1963. There are multiple versions of some scripts, and some have annotations. less

Anthony Holland (1928-1988) was an actor and playwright best known for his comic performances in theater, film, and television. He was a founding member of the Second City satirical improvisation comedy troupe in Chicago. This collection documents his personal and professional life from 1956 to 1988. less

The Lawrence Langner Papers include scripts by Langner and others, and speeches, articles and miscellaneous writings by Langner. The collection contains over 30 scripts by Langner, and several adaptations by him. Many of the scripts are annotated, and a few include related material including programs, light plots, and prompt books. Langner's writings and speeches include memorial addresses for Ferenc Molnar and Joan McCracken, seminars on playwriting, and works on the future of the theater, morals in mass media, and some material relating to his interest in inventions and patent law. less

Mac Wellman is an American playwright and poet, known for his experimental work in theatre. He is the author of more than 60 plays, including Cellophane, Terminal Hip, and Sincerity Forever. The Mac Wellman papers, Additions date from 1979 to 2008 (bulk dates: 2000 to 2008) and contain manuscript drafts and revisions of plays, poetry, and fiction, as well as posters, reviews, a program, letters, photographs, and ephemera. less

Anne Croswell was a lyricist and playwright whose works included Ernest in Love and Tovarich. The Anne Croswell papers chiefly date from 1951 to 2004, and document Croswell's writing for the stage and television, as well as her books, poetry, and popular songs. The collection holds Croswell's notes and drafts of her work in various stages of revision and a small amount of other records related to the production and publication of her work, as well as drafts of her unpublished memoir, Booze, Breakdowns, and Broadway. less

Chester Erskine (1905-1986) was a director, writer, and producer for theater, film, and television. He was active from the late 1920s through the 1980s. In his early career, he wrote under the pseudonym Paul Leslie. The Chester Erskine papers (1870-1991, bulk 1930-1987) consist largely of scripts, outlines, and film treatments written by Erskine. Not all scripts were produced; some are annotated. Programs, clippings, contracts, and other materials are present for some productions. Productions represented in the collection include Double Murder, Satyr (a script for the original 1930 play and a later screenplay), The Seven Who Resisted, and The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn. A photocopy of an annotated script for Harlem (1929) is present. The collection also contains biographical material and articles about Erskine; his notes and poetry; letters to Erskine; and photographs of him and show business colleagues, including two small photographs of Spencer Tracy. One cabinet card, depicting Edwin Booth and dating to about 1870, is also present. Letters date from 1952 to 1991 and discuss Erskine's scripts as well as personal subjects. Correspondents include Robert Whitehead, Garson Kanin, Robert Parrish and his wife Kathie, Arlene Francis, Irwin Shaw, and Vivien Leigh. Some letters are addressed to Erskine's wife, Sally Erskine. less

William Luce is an American playwright and television writer best known for his theatrical studies of historical figures. His papers, dating from 1946 to 2013, primarily document his career as a writer from 1976 to the early 2000s. The collection contains scripts, notes, correspondence, clippings, photographs, programs, contracts, and other papers. less

The Sherman Yellen papers (1957-2015) document Yellen's career as a librettist, playwright, and screenwriter. The collection is primarily composed of scripts (both drafts and final scripts); a small amount of clippings, programs, and sound and video recordings are present. The Broadway musical The Rothschilds is the most well-represented work. less