The Great American Playwrights on the Screen

The Great American Playwrights on the Screen Synopsis

ÊThe Great American Playwrights on the ScreenÊ is a complete up-to-date record of movie and television productions of classic and contemporary works of the great playwrights. Rich in historical value and detail this reference book not only tracks Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners but also unearths unheralded treasures and forgotten performances by great actors and the great directors they served.ÞTo show the ongoing influences and legacies of the great plays Roberts compares and contrasts the adapted versions and includes colorful reviews by prominent critics of tv and film (beginning with those of the silent era). The profound expansion of television into American homes in the 1950s brought a flood of adapted plays to the small screen and resulted in the rebirth of the careers of many significant playwrights. ÊThe Great American Playwrights on the ScreenÊ provides fans with a video and DVD guide to the adapted works of the playwrights and shows which versions are available for home viewing and in which media (VHS Beta Laser DVD Letterbox). Simultaneously this book is a unique one-stop source for academics students of the theatre arts actors directors and producers.ÞOrganized in an easy-to-use A-Z format the book features over 200 playwrights including Arthur Miller Marsha Norman Eugene O'Neill Aaron Sorkin Neil Simon Wendy Wasserstein and Tennessee Williams. In addition ÊThe Great American Playwrights on the ScreenÊ resurrects the memories of television productions of plays at a critical time when many of them ä including Emmy Award winners and nominees ä are deteriorating in vaults.