10 most important American plays?
10 most important American plays?
xoangel2789xo
Broadway Star Joined: 11/3/07
#110 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 2:33pm
My professor sent us an email.
Taking a survey for upcoming story. Open to everyone. Would like as many people to respond as possible.
THE TOPIC: Rank the 10 most important AMERICAN plays anyone who cares about theater should have read or seen. No other criterion. This is your personal list. It's subjective. No right or wrong answers. Please submit them in order of most important first, 1 through 10. Musicals are not eligible unless you think the book warrants it on its own merit. Include your name and age (that's important -- and it's not for publication!) Please feel free to respond and forward this email on to your friends, students, fellow actors, etc. The more people who vote, the more interesting the results will be. Thanks in advance.
Updated On: 12/2/09 at 02:33 PM
#2re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:00pm
"This is your personal list."
Ahem...
... that being said, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? by Edward Albee.
P
Leia947
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/09
#2re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:09pm"Angels in America" by Tony Kushner. #1 in my opinion.
"And I'm a grown up....I don't go on vacations....I go to Broadway." - dramamama611
"Even I think that's hot, and I'm a straight guy. If I ever become gay he is the reason." - Drunk Chita Rivera on Gavin Creel
"Leia947 is my theatre mamma, and I love her for it." - AndAllThatJazz22
"Even I think that's hot, and I'm a straight guy. If I ever become gay he is the reason." - Drunk Chita Rivera on Gavin Creel
"Leia947 is my theatre mamma, and I love her for it." - AndAllThatJazz22
walkedthroughmany
Leading Actor Joined: 3/25/07
#4re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:20pmOUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder is #1.
#5re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:21pmI agree with the 6 already mentioned, plus I'll add The Glass Menagerie and Raisin In The Sun.
....but the world goes 'round
Updated On: 12/2/09 at 03:21 PM
Ed_Mottershead
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#6re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:48pm
1. Long Day's Journey Into Night
2. A Streetcar Named Desire
3. The Iceman Cometh
4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
5. Death of a Salesman
6. Joe Turner's Come and Gone
7. You Can't Take It With You
8. The Little Foxes
9. Awake and Sing
10. The Glass Menagerie
BroadwayEd
#7re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 3:52pmI will second Angels in America...first thing that popped into my head.
#8re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 4:54pm
Wilson's Fences was the first thing that came to mind.
Angels in America, Our Town, Long Day's Journey Into Night (pretty much everything else previously mentioned)
bwayfascination
Understudy Joined: 3/4/07
#9re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 6:35pm
1. The Crucible (Arthur Miller)
2. Our Town (Thornton Wilder)
3. Angels in America (Tony Kushner)
4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tennessee Williams)
5. Long Day's Journey Into Night (Eugene O'Neill)
6. Gem of the Ocean (August Wilson)
7. Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)
8. You Can't Take it With You (Kaufman and Hart)
9. A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
10. J.B. (Archibald MacLeish)
Russ - 45
Updated On: 12/4/09 at 06:35 PM
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#10re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 7:27pmI think in terms of general importance, The Crucible and The Laramie Project--of the top of my head--because they both deal with such real American issues that both actors and audience members can identify with.
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
#11re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 7:53pm
Important plays not mentioned yet.
Picnic. Inge has been unfashionable for a gerneration, and he's on the cusp of a major reappraisal.
'Night Mother
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Buried Child
The Trip to Bountiful
ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#12re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 8:28pm
In no particular order:
1. Our Town
2. Long Days Journey Into Night
3. Angels in America
4. Torch Song Trilogy
5. The Man Who Came to Dinner
6. Glass Menagerie/Cat on A Hot Tin Roof
7. Death of A Salesman
8. Odd Couple (There has to be one Neil Simon)
9. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
10. Fences
#13re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 8:40pm
Andrew age 23
1) Angels in America
2) Our Town
3) Death of a Salesman
4) A Raisin In The Sun
5) A Streetcar Named Desire
6) Fences
7) The Iceman Cometh 
Who's Afriad of Virginia Woolf
9) The Little Foxes
10) You Can't Take It With You
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
xoangel2789xo
Broadway Star Joined: 11/3/07
leefowler
Broadway Star Joined: 7/13/04
#15re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 10:52pmAny list that doesn't include "Our Town" should be ignored!
Behind the fake tinsel of Broadway is real tinsel.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#16re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 11:02pm
I know this is very recent. However, I do feel that this play is going to be considered an American classic at some point and that play is August:Osage County.
Now, I do understand the importance of having Our Town on the list. Do I like that play. No, not really. However, I do understand why it is important in American theatre history.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#17re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 11:08pmAgreed on Our Town. Crucial importance in american theatre history.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#18re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 11:26pm
Eric, 23
I don't think I could possibly put these into any kind of order, so I'm just going to list them off.
Our Town, Angels In America, A Streetcar Named Desire, You Can't Take It With You, A Raisin In The Sun, Doubt, The Crucible, Death Of A Salesman, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
Rant, Wickud, Rant, Wickud, Rant! We're not gonna pay Rant! 'Cause everythink is Wickud!
"Leave Walt Disney Theatricals new sparkling production of The Little Mermaid on Broadway alone!!!"
lakezurich will be played by Paul Groves in the BWW musical
"Leave Walt Disney Theatricals new sparkling production of The Little Mermaid on Broadway alone!!!"
lakezurich will be played by Paul Groves in the BWW musical
#19re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/2/09 at 11:31pm
1. Angels in America
2. Our Town
3. Streetcar Named Desire
4. A Raisin in the Sun
5. The Crucible
6. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
7. How I Learned to Drive
8. Brighton Beach Memiors
9. August: Osage County
10. The Dutchman
I understand what August Wilson did for American Theatre and no way am I slighting his work, but when I studied many of the great american plays last semester in class The Dutchman stuck with me more than any of the Wilson plays. Just a preference I guess.
<------ Me and my friends with patti Lupone at my friends afterparty for her concert with audra mcdonald during the summer of 2007.
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado
duffny1
Understudy Joined: 9/20/08
#20re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:02am
This is difficult:
In no particular order (age 47...online age 37)
Our Town
Angels in America
A Streetcar Named Desire
August Osage County
Fences
The Glass Menagerie
All My Sons
Torch Song Trilogy
The House of Blue Leaves
M Butterfly
Honorable Mentions (The Childrens Hour, You Cant Take It With You, Long Days Journey, Brighton Beach Memoirs)
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#21re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:06pmWhat is important about August: Osage County?
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
tommigyrl5
Stand-by Joined: 5/13/03
#22re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:25pmAugust wilson should have at least ONE play on every list. He tells a very specific but IMPORTANT American story.
#23re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:29pm
No, tommigyrl, he shouldn't.
And call me whatever you want but if ANYONE else of ANY other ethnicity wrote those plays they would not be as respected as they are. Wilson's legacy has as much to do with who he was and what he did as the content of his plays. You can argue that all you like, but it is true.
Albee is five times the playwright Wilson ever was. Sorry.
P
raker
Stand-by Joined: 12/27/08
#24re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 6:26pm
"August Wilson should have at least ONE play on every list. He tells a very specific but IMPORTANT American story."
But does he write a great play, a ten-best great American play?
#25re: 10 most important American plays?
Posted: 12/3/09 at 6:29pm
"What is important about August: Osage County?"
It's a harrowing, realistic portrayal of modern American life and how burried secrets never stay hidden too long.
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