That said, I compiled the following utterly-less-than-definitive list for a class, and thought I'd share it here. It's not necessarily a list of the best plays, but a good appetizer platter that would be a pretty decent overview.
So… What Plays Should I Read?
Some 20th Century Plays and Playwrights Of Note
Eugene O’Neill
Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Moon For The Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!
Thornton Wilder
Our Town, The Skin Of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
The Man Who Came To Dinner, You Can’t Take It With You, Once In A Lifetime
Bertolt Brecht
Mother Courage and Her Children, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Samuel Beckett
Waiting For Godot, Happy Days, Endgame
Arthur Miller
All My Sons, Death Of A Salesman, The Crucible
Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie
Edward Albee
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, Three Tall Women
Neil Simon
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Barefoot In The Park, The Goodbye Girl
Sam Shepard
Buried Child, True West, Fool for Love, Curse of the Starving Class
Harold Pinter
Betrayal, The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter, The Caretaker
David Mamet
Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, Oleanna
Recent Pulitzer Prize Winners
August: Osage County, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Topdog/Underdog, Proof
Recent Tony/Olivier Winners
The Coast Of Utopia, Copenhagen, The Pillowman, The History Boys
Some More Writers
Tom Stoppard, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Hare, Joe Orton
Edit: I'd like to point you to Melissa Hillman's comments here. She's quite right.
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2 comments:
OK, I'm responding to your response to the post you've linked above . . . because life isn't convoluted enough. ;-)
Here's my version of your list, with commentary, trying to stick with your stated principles and keep the list to its current length. Your blog is a menace, Mark-- I really need to be working on class prep instead! You're my new crack.
Eugene O’Neill
Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Moon For The Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!
-- Yes. I really dislike O'Neill, but you have to have an idea of his work in order to be conversant with 20th c dramaturgy. His icky portrayals of women get right up my nose.
Thornton Wilder
Our Town, The Skin Of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker
--Our Town is his only good play. The Matchmaker is a minor work at best despite the Hello Dolly connection, and Skin of our Teeth is politically appalling from a modern POV. I would eliminate him in favor of Caryl Churchill. It would serve him right. I wish I could do the same to Eugene.
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
The Man Who Came To Dinner, You Can’t Take It With You, Once In A Lifetime
--I think minor as well. There's plenty of humor in Angels in America-- dump these guys for Tony
Bertolt Brecht
Mother Courage and Her Children, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
-- Good Person of Setzuan as well. I love me some Brecht.
Samuel Beckett
Waiting For Godot, Happy Days, Endgame
--YES.
Arthur Miller
All My Sons, Death Of A Salesman, The Crucible
--I have a real issue with The Crucible because of its historical inaccuracy and its misogyny, as well as the whole problem with Tituba-- ick. Miller changed a couple of things about the history that made the play more misogynistic than the history, which I find distasteful. That said, I think it's an important play to read in light of Muslim families being thrown off planes and other recent fuckery-- as long as we all recognize the problems with the writing.
Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie
--YES.
Edward Albee
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, Three Tall Women
--Eh. He's aiight, but I think not worth blowing off David Henry Hwang, or, even more importantly, August Wilson, one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. Albee is less important than Wilson any day of the week.
Neil Simon
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Barefoot In The Park, The Goodbye Girl
-- Yes, unfortunately.
Sam Shepard
Buried Child, True West, Fool for Love, Curse of the Starving Class
-- Substitute A Lie of the Mind for Buried Child and I'm sold. Pulitzer, Schmulitzer-- I think A Lie of the Mind is super underrated.
Harold Pinter
Betrayal, The Birthday Party, The Dumb Waiter, The Caretaker
--Yeah. He bores the crap out of me (also the misogyny can be hard to swallow in Birthday Party and in Homecoming in particular) but you have to know what he's on about if you want to know anything about the theatre. Wish we could swap him out for Stoppard, who is much better. It's blasphemous to say that, but it's TRUE. Can't be done, though.
David Mamet
Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, Oleanna
--Oleanna. Ugh. I despise this play with the fire of a thousand suns. It's ugly and full of hatred. God, I really get sick of plays by men about how women will fuck you up for no good reason, you know? Enough already. Glengarry is his best by far. I'd read Bobby Gould in Hell 175 times before I would ever delve into Oleanna again, but perhaps Speed the Plow is the better substitute. Honestly, I think Oleanna is just embarrassing.
Recent Pulitzer Prize Winners
August: Osage County, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Topdog/Underdog, Proof
Recent Tony/Olivier Winners
The Coast Of Utopia, Copenhagen, The Pillowman, The History Boys
Some More Writers
Tom Stoppard, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Hare, Joe Orton
--(sticking with just big names here) Christopher Durang, Lorraine Hansberry, Craig Lucas, Paula Vogel, Terrence McNally, Nicky Silver, Wendy Wasserstein.
OMG. I HAVE TO GET TO WORK.
I think at least a good chunk of what's happening here is my Rip Van Winkle status. After leaving Berkeley, I simply tuned out of theatre and new plays for about 10 years. And it's in those 10 years that Hwang and Wilson and many others went from being "new voices" to "canon". It's one of the reasons for this year of playreading - I'd need about 4 or 5 years like this to truly feel caught up.
I'm going to need to re-read Buried Child and Lie Of The Mind. I doff my cap to your superior knowledge in most things theatrical, but you're gonna have a hard time selling me on that one.
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