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William Saroyan, one of the most prolific writers in America, was the first playwright to win simultaneously both the New York Drama Critics' Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize in playwriting for T
he Time of Your Life in 1940. In spite of his success, he quickly disappeared from the public eye. During the 1960s and 1970s, he wrote plays but did not allow them to be produced or published. Shortly before his death in 1981, his
Play Things was produced at Vienna's English Theatre.
This volume concentrates in one source the tremendous amount of information available about Saroyan's life and work in the theatre. A chronology provides a capsule summary of the chief events in his career, and a critical overview assesses his place in American theatre. Entries for his plays include plot synopses, production information, and critical commentary. Annotated primary and secondary bibliographies list his published works, production reviews, and other writings about his theatrical career. The volume also includes archival sources to foster additional research about Saroyan.
List of contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
A Note on Codes and Numbering
Chronology
William Saroyan: Biography and Analysis
Dramatic Writings: Summaries, Productions, and Critical Overviews
PlaysAcross the Board on Tomorrow Morning (1941)
The Agony of Little Nations (1940)
Armenians (1971)
Assassinations (1974)
Bad Men in the West (1942)
The Beautiful People (1941)
Bitlis (1975)
The Cave Dwellers (1957)
Chris Sick, or Happy New Year Anyway (1969)
Coming through the Rye (1942)
A Decent Birth, A Happy Funeral (1941)
The Dogs, or the Paris Comedy (1969)
Don't Go Away Mad (1947)
Elmer and Lily (1939)
Get Away Old Man (1944)
The Great American Goof (1940)
Hanging around the Wabash (1961)
Haratch (1979)
Hello Out There (1942)
Hello Out There (1960)
High Time Along the Wabash (1961)
The Human Comedy (1983)
The Hungerers (1939)
Jim Dandy, Fat Man in a Famine (1941)
A Lost Child's Fireflies (1954)
Love's Old Sweet Song (1940)
The Man with the Heart in the Highlands (1938)
My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)
My Heart's in the Highlands (1970)
Now is the Time: A Sideshow of the World Today (1938)
Once Around the Block (1949)
Opera, Opera (1940)
The People with Light Coming Out of Them (1941)
The Ping-Pong Game (1940)
The Poetic Situation in America Since Alexandre Dumas and Several Others (1940)
The Rebirth Celebration of the Human Race at Artie Zabala's Off-Broadway Theatre (1975)
Sam Ego's House (1947)
Sam, the Highest Jumper of Them All, or The London Comedy (1961)
Sam, Jim, & Anna (1974)
The Slaughter of the Innocents (1952)
The Son (1939)
The Stolen Secret (A Short Play) (1954)
Subway Circus (1935)
Sweeney in the Trees (1939)
Tales from the Vienna Streets (1980)
Talking to You (1942)
The Television Impeachment of the Boy President's Assassin's Financial Backer (1977)
The Time of Your Life (1939)
Warsaw Visitor (1980)
Dramatic Dialogues
Screenplays, Teleplays, and Radio Plays
Primary Bibliography: Writings by Saroyan
Plays
Dramatic Dialogues
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Archival Sources
Secondary Bibliography: Reviews
Secondary Bibliography: Books, Articles, Sections
Author Index
Subject Index
About the author
JON WHITMORE is Provost at the University of Iowa. He has published several books and more than 30 articles and has produced or directed roughly 200 performances.
