Lanford Wilson dead at 73

[Almira]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 5:38pm

The playwright Lanford Wilson, a writer who revealed his heart through rich and emotional dramas centered on small-town Midwestern life, died Thursday morning, the Steppenwolf Theatre said Thursday.

Steppenwolf is currently about to open a new production of Wilson's "Hot L Baltimore."

Like his plays "Burn This" and "Balm in Gilead," "Hot L Baltimore" has a hard urban edge. But Wilson always seemed the most comfortable when writing plays set within a few hours' dirve of Ozark, Missouri, the town of his birth.

“Lanford was a singular voice in the American theatre—an important artist, a gentle soul and a good friend,' said Steppenwolf co-founder Terry Kinney. "We will miss him sorely.”

Kinney directed Steppenwolf's famous 1980 production of Wilson's "Balm in Gilead," which transferred Off-Broadway in 1984.

Born in Missouri, Wilson won the Pulitzer in 1980

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2011/03/pulitzer-prize-winning-playwright-lanford-wilson-dead-at-73.html

Updated On: 3/24/11 at 05:38 PM

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 7:21pm

Such a loss. Such a brilliant writer. RIP.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 7:55pm

So sad. The Hot L Baltimore was a magnificent theatrical experience, as was Talley's Folly and Fifth of July.

And just a day after Helen Stenborg, who was in all those plays and won an Obie for Talley and Son.

Such great talents.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:11pm

An excellent writer. He will be sorely missed.

[Almira]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:57pm

Here is sample of his meeting with Craig Lucas as part of THE LEGACY PROJECT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCswQb7FnjQ&feature=related

[Q]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:02pm

Doing FIFTH OF JULY is one of my fondest acting memories. I like his work. And he wasn't very old, either

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:32pm

An incredible talent. So strange how he sort of fell out of favor in the nineties and '00s. So funny, moving, and smart.

Rest in peace.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:36pm

Let it be said that the Circle Rep was a Golden Age in theater.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:41pm

You ain't kidding, PJ. It's as if genuine warmth and smartly done sentiment in American playwriting crashed with its closing. And Wilson was the avatar of all that. Very sad about this.

[wexy]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 11:39pm

Sad news. Rest in Peace

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 12:07am

When a production of THE NORMAL HEART at SMSU near where he was born (and set his most famous plays, The Talley Cycle) was besieged by a politician who tried to close it down for "promoting the gay agenda", Mr. Wilson had the following to say in the Springfield News Leader:

Let it be known to all those who have for some reason not known it previously that
the theater is rated X. You are not safe there. The theater are for those people
who are willing to be challenged, who expect to be challenged. You have an
obligation to protest if you are not challenged there. Don’t go to the theater to be
titillated. Go to be shocked, good and healthily. To be moved intelligently and
honestly and with integrity. Expect us to be straight with you. It’s the last place
where we can be. Come to the theater to be assaulted. Don’t even think about

protesting the theater for carrying out its job. Don’t come to the theater expecting
us to conform to the community standards of morality. That’s not our job. We
would rather die first. If you can’t stand up under the mandate of art, turn on the
television set, go to a movie, stay home. Perhaps nowhere else will one ever
understand the place that the theater can take and should take, and that in fact the
place that we hope that SMS did take in the controversy over “The Normal Heart."

[mallardo]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 4:17am

I saw a production of his "Serenading Louie" at the Donmar in London last year which totally blew me away. Until seeing that I had, somehow, not been aware of what a completely unique and original playwright he was.

A great writer indeed. RIP.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 8:44am

Lanford Wilosn's plays have always been a joy to watch, read ,perform.
The characters he has given us are amazing creations and the dialogue they speak pure poetry.
Thank you Mr. Wilson for enriching my life with your work! Rest in Peace.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 9:11am

i wrote a paper about him in grad school with the title ENTROPY BUT EMPATHY: LANFORD WILSON AS THE NEW AMERICAN CHEKHOV....Lanford admitted when stuck for an ending on HOT L BALTIMORE (who recalls that short-lived but wonderful TV series from such an odd play), he turned to CHERRY ORCHARD and lifted the "old man left alone, champagne toasts" motif. That inspired the paper. His Chekhov translations, some not published and a few only written but not performed, are amongst my favorite translations.

And yes, Circle Rep was extraordinary. The closest we have now is Steppenwolf.

[newintown]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 12:05pm

The conversion of Circle Rep into a 3rd-rate restaurant was a perfect analogy for the City as a whole.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/25/11 at 12:41pm

^^^^lurving this comment