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121-459: Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater . Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955). He wrote several screenplays, including The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman

242-559: A Tony Award for Best Author , the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award , and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards. The play was performed 742 times. In 1949, Miller exchanged letters with Eugene O'Neill regarding Miller's production of All My Sons . O'Neill had sent Miller a congratulatory telegram; in response, he wrote a letter that consisted of

363-489: A Salesman . Within six weeks, he completed the rest of the play, one of the classics of world theater. Death of a Salesman premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949, at the Morosco Theatre , directed by Elia Kazan , and starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman , Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. The play was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning

484-620: A burden on the theater since 1918. It was never relaxed, and was doubled in 1943. Total seating capacity of the thirty most renowned legitimate theaters amounted to 35,697 seats in 1951. Since 1937 in New York City alone, 14 former legitimate theaters with a normal seating capacity of 16,955, have been taken over for either radio broadcasts or television performances . In the late 1990s and 2000s, American theater began to borrow from cinema and operas. For instance, Julie Taymor , director of The Lion King directed Die Zauberflöte at

605-468: A career running until the 1990s. Some vaudeville theaters built between about 1900 and 1920 managed to survive as well, though many went through periods of alternate use, most often as movie theaters until the second half of the century saw many urban populations decline and multiplexes built in the suburbs. Since that time, a number have been restored to original or nearly-original condition and attract new audiences nearly one hundred years later. By

726-453: A dramatic history of United States with his cycle of plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle , one for each decade of the 20th century. Asian American theater is represented in the early 1970s by Frank Chin and achieved international success with David Henry Hwang 's M. Butterfly . Latino theater grew from the local activist performances of Luis Valdez 's Chicano-focused Teatro Campesino to his more formal plays, such as Zoot Suit , and later to

847-420: A few paragraphs detailing his gratitude for the telegram, apologizing for not responding earlier, and inviting Eugene to the opening of Death of a Salesman . O'Neill replied, accepting the apology, but declining the invitation, explaining that his Parkinson's disease made it difficult to travel. He ended the letter with an invitation to Boston , a trip that never occurred. In 1952, Elia Kazan appeared before

968-638: A likely drug overdose. Huston, who had also directed her in her first major role in The Asphalt Jungle in 1950, and who had seen her rise to stardom, put the blame for her death on her doctors as opposed to the stresses of being a star: "The girl was an addict of sleeping pills and she was made so by the God-damn doctors. It had nothing to do with the Hollywood set-up." In 1964, After the Fall

1089-620: A photographer documenting the production of The Misfits . The first of their two children, Rebecca , was born September 15, 1962. Their son Daniel was born with Down syndrome in November 1966. Against his wife's wishes, Miller had him institutionalized , first at a home for infants in New York City, then at the Southbury Training School in Connecticut. Though Morath visited Daniel often, Miller never visited him at

1210-481: A playwright was established. Years later, in a 1994 interview with Ron Rifkin , Miller said that most contemporary critics regarded All My Sons as "a very depressing play in a time of great optimism" and that positive reviews from Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times had saved it from failure. In 1948, Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, Connecticut . There, in less than a day, he wrote Act I of Death of

1331-410: A playwright. He enrolled in a playwriting seminar with the influential Professor Kenneth Rowe , who emphasized how a play was built to achieve its intended effect, or what Miller called "the dynamics of play construction". Rowe gave Miller realistic feedback and much-needed encouragement, and became a lifelong friend. Miller retained strong ties to his alma mater through the rest of his life, establishing

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1452-948: A popular acting couple in the 1930s. 1940 proved to be a pivotal year for African-American theater. Frederick O'Neal and Abram Hill founded ANT, or the American Negro Theater , the most renowned African-American theater group of the 1940s. Their stage was small and located in the basement of a library in Harlem, and most of the shows were attended and written by African-Americans. Some shows include Theodore Browne's Natural Man (1941), Abram Hill's Walk Hard (1944), and Owen Dodson 's Garden of Time (1945). Many famous actors received their training at ANT, including Harry Belafonte , Sidney Poitier , Alice and Alvin Childress , Osceola Archer, Ruby Dee , Earle Hyman , Hilda Simms , among many others. Mid-20th century theater saw

1573-518: A production, and in 1841, a single play was shown in New York City for an unprecedented three weeks. William Shakespeare 's works were commonly performed. American plays of the period were mostly melodramas , a famous example of which was Uncle Tom's Cabin , adapted by George Aiken , from the novel of the same name by Harriet Beecher Stowe . In 1821, William Henry Brown established the African Grove Theatre in New York City. It

1694-562: A real family of her own and was eager to join the family of her new husband. Monroe began to reconsider her career and the fact that trying to manage it made her feel helpless. She admitted to Miller, "I hate Hollywood . I don't want it any more. I want to live quietly in the country and just be there when you need me. I can't fight for myself any more." Monroe converted to Judaism to "express her loyalty and get close to both Miller and his parents", writes biographer Jeffrey Meyers. She told her close friend, Susan Strasberg : "I can identify with

1815-522: A review in the New Republic , called After the Fall "a three and one half hour breach of taste, a confessional autobiography of embarrassing explicitness ... There is a misogynistic strain in the play which the author does not seem to recognize. ... He has created a shameless piece of tabloid gossip, an act of exhibitionism which makes us all voyeurs ... a wretched piece of dramatic writing." That year, Miller produced Incident at Vichy . In 1965, he

1936-417: A set of playwrights who followed O'Neill's path of philosophical searching, Philip Barry , Thornton Wilder ( Our Town ) and William Saroyan ( The Time of Your Life ). Theater criticism kept pace with the drama, such as in the work of George Jean Nathan and in the numerous books and journals on American theater that were published during this time. The stature that American drama had achieved between

2057-723: A theater was built in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1716, and the original Dock Street Theatre opened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1736, the birth of professional theater in the English colonies may have begun when Lewis Hallam arrived with his theatrical company in Williamsburg in 1752. Lewis and his brother William , who arrived in 1754, were the first to organize a complete company of actors in Europe and bring them to

2178-729: A theatrical career. Before the first English colony was established in 1607, there were Spanish dramas and Native American tribes that performed theatrical events. Representations continued to be held in Spanish-held territories in what later became the United States. For example, at the Presidio of Los Adaes in the New Philippines (now in Louisiana ), several plays were presented on October 12, 1721. Although

2299-673: A variety of styles, of which André and The Father; or, American Shandyism are his best. At 825 Walnut Street in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, is the Walnut Street Theatre , or, "The Walnut". Founded in 1809 by the Circus of Pepin and Breschard , "The Walnut" is the oldest theater in America. The Walnut's first theatrical production, The Rivals , was staged in 1812. In attendance were President Thomas Jefferson and

2420-413: A wealth of Great Leading Ladies, including Helen Hayes , Katherine Cornell , Tallulah Bankhead , Judith Anderson , and Ruth Gordon . Musical theater saw stars such as Ethel Merman , Beatrice Lillie , Mary Martin , and Gertrude Lawrence . After World War II, American theater came into its own. Several American playwrights, such as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams , became world-renowned. In

2541-542: A writer and filmmaker, completed a documentary about her father's life, Arthur Miller: Writer . Minor planet 3769 Arthurmiller is named after him. In the 2022 Netflix film Blonde , Miller was portrayed by Adrien Brody . The Arthur Miller Foundation was founded to honor the legacy of Miller and the New York City Public School education. Its mission is "Promoting increased access and equity to theater arts education in our schools and increasing

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2662-440: A year earlier. 'Cato', a play about revolution, was performed for George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777–1778. The Revolutionary period was a boost for dramatists, for whom the political debates were fertile ground for both satire, as seen in the works of Mercy Otis Warren and Colonel Robert Munford, and for plays about heroism, as in the works of Hugh Henry Brackenridge . The postwar period saw

2783-526: Is also taught in high schools and colleges, which was not done in previous eras, and many become interested in theater through this genre. Hopwood Award Under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, a prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 of the University of Michigan, one-fifth of Mr. Hopwood's estate was given to the regents for the encouragement of creative work in writing. The first awards were made in 1931, and today,

2904-440: Is best known for two prose plays, The Great Divide (1906, later adapted into three film versions ) and The Faith Healer (1909), which together point the way to modern American drama in their emphasis on the emotional conflicts that lie at the heart of contemporary social conflicts. Other key playwrights from this period (in addition to continued work by Howells and Fitch) include Edward Sheldon , Charles Rann Kennedy and one of

3025-674: Is considered one of the best American plays of the 20th century. Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama , testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee , and married Marilyn Monroe . In 1980, he received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received

3146-553: Is the only person—human being I have ever known that I could love not only as a man to which I am attracted to practically out of my senses—but he is the only person—as another human being that I trust as much as myself... During the filming of the 1961 film The Misfits , which Miller wrote the script for, Miller and Monroe's marriage dissolved. Monroe obtained a " Mexican divorce " from Miller in January 1961. In February 1962, Miller married photographer Inge Morath , who had worked as

3267-638: Is the only theater in the world that bears his name. Miller's letters, notes, drafts and other papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Miller is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame . He was inducted in 1979. In 1993, he received the Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech. In 2017, his daughter, Rebecca Miller,

3388-566: Is to create a sustainable theater education model to disseminate to teachers at professional development workshops. Miller donated thirteen boxes of his earliest manuscripts to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin in 1961 and 1962. This collection included the original handwritten notebooks and early typed drafts for Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , All My Sons , and other works. In January, 2018,

3509-676: Is to provide arts education in the New York City school system . Its current chancellor is Carmen Farina, a prominent proponent of the Common Core State Standards Initiative . The Master Arts Council includes Alec Baldwin , Ellen Barkin , Bradley Cooper , Dustin Hoffman , Scarlett Johansson , Tony Kushner , Julianne Moore , Michael Moore , Liam Neeson , David O. Russell , and Liev Schreiber . Miller's son-in-law, Daniel Day-Lewis , has served on

3630-772: The Chicago Tribune, Studs Terkel remarked, "In reading [the Theater Essays ] ... you are exhilaratingly aware of a social critic, as well as a playwright, who knows what he's talking about." In 1983, Miller traveled to China to produce and direct Death of a Salesman at the People's Art Theatre in Beijing . It was a success in China and in 1984, Salesman in Beijing , a book about Miller's experiences in Beijing,

3751-533: The Great Depression also had an effect on theater in the United States. Plays took on social roles, identifying with immigrants and the unemployed. The Federal Theatre Project , a New Deal program set up by Franklin D. Roosevelt , helped to promote theater and provide jobs for actors. The program staged many elaborate and controversial plays such as It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein . By contrast,

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3872-557: The Hopwood Program offers around $ 120,000 in prizes every year to aspiring writers at the University of Michigan. According to Nicholas Delbanco , UM English professor and former director of the Hopwood Awards Program, "This is the oldest and best-known series of writing prizes in the country, and it is a very good indicator of future success." Awards are offered in these genres: drama/screenplay, essay ,

3993-578: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kazan named eight members of the Group Theatre , including Clifford Odets , Paula Strasberg , Lillian Hellman , J. Edward Bromberg , and John Garfield , who in recent years had been fellow members of the Communist Party . Miller and Kazan were close friends throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to the HUAC,

4114-637: The Jews . Everybody's always out to get them, no matter what they do, like me." Soon after Monroe converted, Egypt banned all of her movies. Away from Hollywood and the culture of celebrity, Monroe's life became more normal; she began cooking, keeping house, and giving Miller more attention and affection than he had been used to. Later that year, Miller was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee , and Monroe accompanied him. In her personal notes, she wrote about her worries during this period: I am so concerned about protecting Arthur. I love him—and he

4235-721: The John Steinbeck "In the Souls of the People" Award , which is given to those who capture "Steinbeck’s empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of people who by circumstance are pushed to the fringes." In 2001, he received the National Book Foundation 's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. On May 1, 2002, he received Spain's Principe de Asturias Prize for Literature as "the undisputed master of modern drama". Later that year, Ingeborg Morath died of lymphatic cancer at

4356-481: The Marquis de Lafayette . Provincial theaters frequently lacked heat and minimal theatrical property ("props") and scenery . Apace with the country's westward expansion , some entrepreneurs operated floating theaters on barges or riverboats that would travel from town to town. A large town could afford a long "run"—or period of time during which a touring company would stage consecutive multiple performances—of

4477-570: The Metropolitan Opera . Also, Broadway musicals were developed around Disney's Mary Poppins , Tarzan , The Little Mermaid , and the one that started it all, Beauty and the Beast , which may have contributed to Times Square 's revitalization in the 1990s. Also, Mel Brooks 's The Producers and Young Frankenstein are based on his hit films. The early years of the 20th century, before World War I, continued to see realism as

4598-621: The Monica Lewinsky investigation to the Salem witch hunt . Miller had asserted a parallel between the examination of physical evidence on Lewinsky's dress and the examinations of women's bodies for signs of the "Devil's Marks" in Salem. Hitchens scathingly disputed the parallel. In his memoir, Hitch-22 , Hitchens bitterly noted that Miller, despite his prominence as a left-wing intellectual, had failed to support author Salman Rushdie during

4719-830: The National Medal of Arts . He was honored with the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for a Master American Dramatist in 1998. In 2001, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected him for the Jefferson Lecture , the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities . His lecture, "On Politics and the Art of Acting", analyzed political events (including the U.S. presidential election of 2000 ) in terms of

4840-817: The Praemium Imperiale prize in 2001, the Prince of Asturias Award in 2002, and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 1999. Miller was born in the Harlem area of Manhattan Island, the second of three children of Augusta (Barnett) and Isidore Miller. He was born into a Jewish family of Polish-Jewish descent. His father was born in Radomyśl Wielki , Galicia (then part of Austria-Hungary , now Poland), and his mother

4961-508: The Shubert brothers founded rival agency, The Shubert Organization . For playwrights, the period after the War brought more financial reward and aesthetic respect (including professional criticism) than was available earlier. In terms of form, spectacles, melodramas and farces remained popular, but poetic drama and romanticism almost died out completely due to the new emphasis upon realism, which

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5082-645: The Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident writers . Throughout the 1970s, he spent much of his time experimenting with the theatre, producing one-act plays such as Fame and The Reason Why , and traveling with his wife, producing In the Country and Chinese Encounters with her. Both his 1972 comedy The Creation of the World and Other Business and its musical adaptation, Up from Paradise , were critical and commercial failures. Miller

5203-670: The University of Michigan . After graduation ( c.  1936 ), he worked as a psychiatric aide and copywriter before accepting faculty posts at New York University and University of New Hampshire . On May 1, 1935, he joined the League of American Writers (1935–1943), whose members included Alexander Trachtenberg of International Publishers , Franklin Folsom , Louis Untermeyer , I. F. Stone , Myra Page , Millen Brand , Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett . Members were largely either Communist Party members or fellow travelers . At

5324-469: The colonies . They brought a repertoire of plays popular in London at the time, including Hamlet , Othello , The Recruiting Officer , and Richard III . The Merchant of Venice was their first performance, shown initially on September 15, 1752. Encountering opposition from religious organizations, Hallam and his company left for Jamaica in 1754 or 1755. Soon after, Lewis Hallam, Jr. , founded

5445-419: The novel , short fiction , nonfiction , and poetry . These awards are classified under two categories, graduate or undergraduate, except the novel and drama/screenplay, which are combined categories. Award amounts for this contest vary, but usually fall in the range of $ 1000 to $ 6000. The Summer Hopwood Contest was discontinued in 2017, but archives of winning Summer Hopwood manuscripts continue to be held in

5566-494: The "arts of performance". It drew attacks from some conservatives such as Jay Nordlinger , who called it "a disgrace"; and George Will , who argued that Miller was not a legitimate "scholar". In October 1999, Miller received The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize , given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life". Additionally in 1999, San Jose State University honored Miller with

5687-459: The 1950s and 1960s, experimentation in the Arts spread into theater as well, with plays such as Hair including nudity and drug culture references. Musicals remained popular as well, and musicals such as West Side Story and A Chorus Line broke previous records. At the same time, shows like Stephen Sondheim 's Company began to deconstruct the musical form as it had been practiced through

5808-411: The 1960s, and the maturation of black drama through Lorraine Hansberry , James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka . In the musical theater, important figures include Rodgers and Hammerstein , Lerner and Loewe , Betty Comden and Adolph Green , Richard Adler and Jerry Ross , Frank Loesser , Jule Styne , Jerry Bock , Meredith Willson and Stephen Sondheim . The period beginning in the mid-1960s, with

5929-565: The 19th century, "The stage was at a low ebb, Elizabethan glories and Georgian artificialities had alike faded into the past, stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theater had become a place of evil repute". On April 15, 1865, less than a week after the end of the United States Civil War , Abraham Lincoln , while watching a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.,

6050-795: The American Company, opened a theater in New York, and presented the first professionally mounted American play— The Prince of Parthia , by Thomas Godfrey —in 1767. In the 18th century, laws forbidding the performance of plays were passed in Massachusetts in 1750, in Pennsylvania in 1759, and in Rhode Island in 1761, and plays were banned in most states during the American Revolutionary War at

6171-490: The Bridge , a play where a longshoreman outs his co-workers motivated only by jealousy and greed. He sent a copy of the initial script to Kazan and when the director asked in jest to direct the movie, Miller replied "I only sent you the script to let you know what I think of stool-pigeons ." In The Crucible , which was first performed at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway on January 22, 1953, Miller likened

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6292-485: The Bridge , opened on Broadway in a joint bill with one of Miller's lesser-known plays, A Memory of Two Mondays . The following year, Miller revised A View from the Bridge as a two-act prose drama, which Peter Brook directed in London. A French-Italian co-production Vu du pont , based on the play, was released in 1962. The HUAC took an interest in Miller himself not long after The Crucible opened, engineering

6413-626: The Hopwood Award, and several other awards in writing. It is located in the Hopwood Room at the University of Michigan and serves the needs and interests of Hopwood contestants. The room was established by Professor Roy W. Cowden , director of the Hopwood Awards from 1933 to 1952, who generously contributed a part of his library, which has grown through the addition of many volumes of contemporary literature. In addition to housing

6534-478: The Hopwood Room. When it ran, the contest was open only to students who took writing courses during spring and summer terms. Awards were given in the categories of drama or screenplay, nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry. Novels were not eligible for the Summer Hopwood Contest. This contest is open only to freshmen and sophomores who are enrolled in writing courses. Awards are given in the categories of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The Hopwood Program administers

6655-912: The Iranian fatwa involving The Satanic Verses . Critical articles Organizations Archive Databases Websites Interviews Obituaries Theater in the United States Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater . The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan , with its divisions of Broadway , Off-Broadway , and Off-Off-Broadway . Many movie and television stars have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York, many cities have professional regional or resident theater companies that produce their own seasons, with some works being produced regionally with hopes of eventually moving to New York. U.S. theater also has an active community theater culture, which relies mainly on local volunteers who may not be actively pursuing

6776-412: The Irish and Germans, which often dovetailed with concerns over temperance and Roman Catholic. This period also saw plays about American expansion to the West (including plays about Mormonism) and about women's rights. Among the best plays of the period are James Nelson Barker 's Superstition; or, the Fanatic Father , Anna Cora Mowatt 's Fashion; or, Life in New York , Nathaniel Bannister 's Putnam,

6897-719: The Iron Son of '76 , Dion Boucicault 's The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana , and Cornelius Mathews 's Witchcraft; or, the Martyrs of Salem . At the same time, America had created new dramatic forms in the Tom Shows , the showboat theater and the minstrel show . During postbellum North, theater flourished as a postwar boom allowed longer and more-frequent productions. The advent of American rail transport allowed production companies, actors, and large, elaborate sets to travel easily between towns, which made permanent theaters in small towns feasible. The invention and practical application of electric lighting also led to changes to and improvements of scenery styles as well as changes in

7018-424: The Ransom Center announced the acquisition of the remainder of the Miller archive, totaling over 200 boxes. The full archive opened in November, 2019. Christopher Bigsby wrote Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biography based on boxes of papers Miller made available to him before his death in 2005. The book was published in November 2008, and is reported to reveal unpublished works in which Miller "bitterly attack[ed]

7139-427: The Tony Award two years in a row, and composer-playwright Jonathan Larson , whose musical Rent ran for over twelve years. Another major piece of American theater includes the activism in it, including works created by Lorraine Hansberry , such as A Raisin in the Sun . Her works push for representation for African Americans, as well as equality. Another activist in American theater is William Finn , who created

7260-433: The US State Department's denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening in 1954. When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport , the House Un-American Activities Committee used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to which the chairman, Francis E. Walter (D-PA) agreed. When Miller attended

7381-404: The University of Michigan, Miller first majored in journalism and wrote for the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily , and the satirical Gargoyle Humor Magazine . It was during this time that he wrote his first play, No Villain . He switched his major to English , and subsequently won the Avery Hopwood Award for No Villain. The award led him to consider that he could have a career as

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7502-448: The Wars was cemented during the post-World War II generation, with the final works of O'Neill and his generation being joined by such towering figures as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller , as well as by the maturation of the musical theater form. Other key dramatists include William Inge , Arthur Laurents and Paddy Chayefsky in the 1950s, the avant garde movement of Jack Richardson, Arthur Kopit , Jack Gelber and Edward Albee

7623-401: The World Wars were years of extremes. Eugene O'Neill 's plays were the high point for serious dramatic plays leading up to the outbreak of war in Europe. Beyond the Horizon (1920), for which he won his first Pulitzer Prize; he later won Pulitzers for Anna Christie (1922) and Strange Interlude (1928) as well as the Nobel Prize in Literature . Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne remained

7744-453: The age of 78. The following year, Miller won the Jerusalem Prize . In December 2004, 89-year-old Miller announced that he had been in love with 34-year-old minimalist painter Agnes Barley and had been living with her at his Connecticut farm since 2002, and that they intended to marry. Miller's final play, Finishing the Picture , opened at the Goodman Theatre , Chicago, in the fall of 2004, with one character said to be based on Barley. It

7865-407: The audience using comic skits, parodies of popular plays and musicals, and general buffoonery and slapstick comedy, all with heavy utilization of racial stereotyping and racist themes. Throughout the 19th century, theater culture was associated with hedonism and even violence; actors (especially women) were looked upon as little better than prostitutes. Jessie Bond wrote that by the middle of

7986-535: The award-winning work of Cuban Americans Fornés (multiple Obies) and her student Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer), to Puerto Rican playwrights José Rivera and Miguel Piñero , and to the Tony Award-winning musical about Dominicans in New York City, In the Heights . Finally, the rise of the gay rights movement and of the AIDS crisis led to a number of important gay and lesbian dramatists, including Christopher Durang , Holly Hughes , Karen Malpede , Terrence McNally , Larry Kramer , Tony Kushner , whose Angels in America won

8107-414: The beginning of the 20th century, legitimate 1752 (non-vaudeville) theater had become decidedly more sophisticated in the United States, as it had in Europe. The stars of this era, such as Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore , were often seen as even more important than the show itself. The advance of motion pictures also led to many changes in theater. The popularity of musicals may have been due in part to

8228-408: The best strategy for a dramatist was to become an actor and/or a manager, after the model of John Howard Payne , Dion Boucicault and John Brougham . This period saw the popularity of certain native character types, especially the "Yankee", the "Negro" and the "Indian", exemplified by the characters of Jonathan , Sambo and Metamora . Meanwhile, increased immigration brought a number of plays about

8349-462: The birth of American social comedy in Royall Tyler 's The Contrast , which established a much-imitated version of the "Yankee" character, here named "Jonathan". But there were no professional dramatists until William Dunlap , whose work as playwright, translator, manager and theater historian has earned him the title of "Father of American Drama"; in addition to translating the plays of August von Kotzebue and French melodramas, Dunlap wrote plays in

8470-404: The book, he wrote extensively in detail about his experiences with Monroe. During the early 1990s, Miller wrote three new plays: The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1992), and Broken Glass (1994). In 1996, a film adaptation of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis , Paul Scofield , Bruce Davison and Winona Ryder was released. Miller spent much of 1996 working on

8591-446: The case. Miller began work on writing the screenplay for The Misfits in 1960, directed by John Huston and starring Monroe. It was during the filming that Miller's and Monroe's relationship hit difficulties, and he later said that the filming was one of the lowest points in his life. Monroe was taking drugs to help her sleep and other drugs to help her wake up, arriving on the set late, and having trouble remembering her lines. Huston

8712-469: The current board of directors since 2016. The foundation celebrated Miller's 100th birthday with a one-night performance of his seminal works in November 2015. The Arthur Miller Foundation currently supports a pilot program in theater and film at the public school Quest to Learn, in partnership with the Institute of Play. The model is being used as an in-school elective theater class and lab. Its objective

8833-487: The design of theater interiors and seating areas. In 1896, Charles Frohman , Al Hayman , Abe Erlanger , Mark Klaw , Samuel F. Flenderson, and J. Fred Zimmerman, Sr. formed the Theatrical Syndicate , which established systemized booking networks throughout the United States, and created a management monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the turn of the 20th century, when

8954-511: The early years, most of the plays produced came from Europe; only with Godfrey's The Prince of Parthia in 1767 do we get a professionally produced play written by an American, although it was a last-minute substitute for Thomas Forrest's comic opera The Disappointment; or, The Force of Credulity , and although the first play to treat American themes seriously, Ponteach; or, the Savages of America by Robert Rogers , had been published in London

9075-543: The fact the early films had no sound, and could thus not compete, until The Jazz Singer of 1927, which combined both talking and music in a moving picture. More complex and sophisticated dramas bloomed in this time period, and acting styles became more subdued. Even by 1915, actors were being lured away from theater and to the silver screen , and vaudeville was beginning to face stiff competition. While revues consisting of mostly unconnected songs, sketches, comedy routines, and dancing girls ( Ziegfeld girls ) dominated for

9196-493: The family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn . According to Peter Applebome , they moved to Midwood . As a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family. Miller later published an account of his early years under the title "A Boy Grew in Brooklyn". After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School , he worked at several menial jobs to pay for his college tuition at

9317-449: The first 20 years of the 20th century, musical theater would eventually develop beyond this. One of the first major steps was Show Boat , with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein . It featured songs and non-musical scenes which were integrated to develop the show's plot. The next great step forward was Oklahoma! , with lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Richard Rodgers . Its "dream ballets" used dance to carry forward

9438-518: The hearing, to which Monroe accompanied him, risking her own career, he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities. Reneging on the chairman's promise, the committee demanded the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply, saying "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him." As a result, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller

9559-414: The injustices of American racism long before it was taken up by the civil rights movement". In his book Trinity of Passion , author Alan M. Wald conjectures that Miller was "a member of a writer's unit of the Communist Party around 1946", using the pseudonym Matt Wayne, and editing a drama column in the magazine The New Masses . In 1999, the writer Christopher Hitchens attacked Miller for comparing

9680-543: The journalist Joan Barthel. Barthel's coverage of the highly publicized Barbara Gibbons murder case helped raise bail for Gibbons' son Peter Reilly, who had been convicted of his mother's murder based on what many felt was a coerced confession and little other evidence. Barthel documented the case in her book A Death in Canaan , which was made as a television film of the same name and broadcast in 1978. City Confidential , an A&E Network series, produced an episode about

9801-465: The legendary producer Brock Pemberton (founder of the Tony Awards ) was among those who felt that it was more than ever a time for comic entertainment, in order to provide an escape from the prevailing harsh social conditions: typical of his productions was Lawrence Riley 's comedy Personal Appearance (1934), whose success on Broadway (501 performances) vindicated Pemberton. The years between

9922-530: The main development in drama. But starting around 1900, there was a revival of poetic drama in the States, corresponding to a similar revival in Europe (e.g. Yeats , Maeterlinck and Hauptmann ). The most notable example of this trend was the "Biblical trilogy" of William Vaughn Moody , which also illustrate the rise of religious-themed drama during the same years, as seen in the 1899 production of Ben-Hur and two 1901 adaptations of Quo Vadis . Moody, however,

10043-520: The mid-century, moving away from traditional plot and realistic external settings to explore the central character's inner state; his Follies relied on pastiches of the Ziegfeld Follies -styled revue; his Pacific Overtures used Japanese kabuki theatrical practices; and Merrily We Roll Along told its story backwards. Similarly, Bob Fosse 's production of Chicago returned the musical to its vaudeville origins. Facts and figures of

10164-523: The more lucrative offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox . However, Congress , worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939. Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays , some of which were broadcast on CBS . In 1940, Miller married Mary Grace Slattery. The couple had two children, Jane (born September 7, 1944) and Robert (May 31, 1947 – March 6, 2022). Miller

10285-705: The most successful women playwrights in American drama, Rachel Crothers , whose interest in women's issues can be seen in such plays as He and She (1911). During the period between the World Wars, American drama came to maturity, thanks in large part to the works of Eugene O'Neill and of the Provincetown Players . O'Neill's experiments with theatrical form and his combination of Naturalist and Expressionist techniques inspired other playwrights to use greater freedom in their works, whether expanding

10406-590: The murder, postulating that part of the reason Miller took such an active interest (including supporting Reilly's defense and using his own celebrity to bring attention to Reilly's plight) was because he had felt similarly persecuted in his run-ins with the HUAC. He sympathized with Reilly, whom he firmly believed to be innocent and to have been railroaded by the Connecticut State Police and the Attorney General who had initially prosecuted

10527-545: The number of students receiving theater arts education as an integral part of their academic curriculum." Its other initiatives include certification of new theater teachers and their placement in public schools, increasing the number of theater teachers in the system from the current estimate of 180 teachers in 1800 schools, supporting professional development of all certified theater teachers, and providing teaching artists, cultural partners, physical spaces, and theater ticket allocations for students. The foundation's primary purpose

10648-500: The oldest, continuously performing theatrical society in the United States. Prominent New Yorkers who have been members of the ACC include Theodore, Frederick and John Steinway of the piano manufacturing family; Gordon Grant, the marine artist; Christopher La Farge, the architect; Van H. Cartmell, the publisher; Albert Sterner , the painter; and Edward Fales Coward, the theater critic and playwright. Elsie De Wolfe , Lady Mendl, later famous as

10769-501: The pair's friendship ended. After speaking with Kazan about his testimony, Miller traveled to Salem, Massachusetts , to research the witch trials of 1692 . He and Kazan did not speak to each other for the next ten years. Kazan later defended his own actions through his film On the Waterfront , in which a dockworker heroically testifies against a corrupt union boss. Miller would retaliate against Kazan's work by writing A View from

10890-788: The passing of Civil Rights legislation and its repercussions, came the rise of an "agenda" theater comparable to that of the 1930s. Many of the major midcentury playwrights continued to produce new works, but were joined by names like Sam Shepard , Neil Simon , Romulus Linney , David Rabe , Lanford Wilson , David Mamet , and John Guare . Many important dramatists were women, including Beth Henley , Marsha Norman , Wendy Wasserstein , Megan Terry , Paula Vogel and María Irene Fornés . The growth of ethnic pride movements led to more success by dramatists from racial minorities, such as black playwrights Douglas Turner Ward , Adrienne Kennedy , Ed Bullins , Charles Fuller , Suzan-Lori Parks , Ntozake Shange , George C. Wolfe and August Wilson , who created

11011-600: The plot and develop the characters. Amateur performing groups have always had a place alongside professional acting companies. The Amateur Comedy Club, Inc. was founded in New York City on April 18, 1884. It was organized by seven gentlemen who broke away from the Madison Square Dramatic Organization, a socially prominent company presided over by Mrs. James Brown Potter and David Belasco . The ACC staged its first performance on February 13, 1885. It has performed continuously ever since, making it

11132-415: The postwar theater The postwar American theater audiences and box offices diminished, due to the undeclared "offensive" of television and radio upon the classical, legitimate theater . According to James F. Reilly, executive director of the League of New York Theatres , between 1930 and 1951 the number of legitimate theaters in New York City dwindled from 68 to 30. Besides that, the admissions tax has been

11253-454: The previous month. He was surrounded by his companion (the painter Agnes Barley), family, and friends. His body was interred at Roxbury Center Cemetery in Roxbury. Within hours of her father's death, Rebecca Miller, who had been consistently opposed to the relationship with Barley, ordered her to vacate the home she shared with Arthur. Miller's writing career spanned over seven decades, and at

11374-461: The prewar period tended to be a derivative in form, imitating European melodramas and romantic tragedies, but native in content, appealing to popular nationalism by dramatizing current events and portraying American heroism. But playwrights were limited by a set of factors, including the need for plays to be profitable, the middle-brow tastes of American theater-goers, and the lack of copyright protection and compensation for playwrights. During this time,

11495-777: The principles he expounded in his essay "Art for Truth's Sake in the Drama". Although Fleming did not appeal to audiences—critics and audiences felt it dwelt too much on unseemly topics and included improper scenes, such as Margaret nursing her husband's bastard child onstage—other forms of dramatic realism were becoming more popular in melodrama (e.g., Augustin Daly 's Under the Gaslight ) and in local color plays ( Bronson Howard 's Shenandoah ). Other key dramatists during this period are David Belasco , Steele MacKaye , William Dean Howells , Dion Boucicault , and Clyde Fitch . Vaudeville

11616-634: The same time, the economic crisis of the Great Depression led to the growth of protest drama, as seen in the Federal Theater Project 's Living Newspaper productions and in the works of Clifford Odets (e.g., Waiting for Lefty ), as well as moralist drama, as in Lillian Hellman 's The Little Foxes and The Children's Hour . Other key figures of this era include George S. Kaufman , George Kelly , Langston Hughes , S. N. Behrman , Sidney Howard , Robert E. Sherwood , and

11737-477: The same time, theater has also served as a platform for expression, and as a venue for identity exploration for underrepresented, minority communities, who have formed their own companies and created their own genres of works, including those created by August Wilson , Tony Kushner , David Henry Hwang , John Guare , and Wendy Wasserstein . Smaller urban theaters have stayed a source of innovation, and regional theaters remain an important part of theater life. Drama

11858-594: The school and rarely spoke of him. Miller and Inge remained together until her death in 2002. Miller's son-in-law, actor Daniel Day-Lewis , is said to have visited Daniel frequently and to have persuaded Miller to meet with him. Miller died on the evening of February 10, 2005 (the 56th anniversary of the Broadway debut of Death of a Salesman ) at age 89 of bladder cancer and heart failure , at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut . He had been in hospice care at his sister's apartment in New York since his release from hospital

11979-461: The screenplay. Mr. Peters' Connections was staged Off-Broadway in 1998, and Death of a Salesman was revived on Broadway in 1999 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The 1999 revival ran for 274 performances at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, starring Brian Dennehy as Willy Loman. Once again, it was a large critical success, winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. In 1993, Miller received

12100-400: The situation with the House Un-American Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem in 1692 . Though widely considered only somewhat successful at the time of its release, The Crucible is Miller's most frequently produced work throughout the world. It was adapted into an opera by Robert Ward in 1961. Earlier in 1955, a one-act version of Miller's verse drama , titled A View from

12221-522: The techniques of Realism , as in Susan Glaspell 's Trifles , or borrowing more heavily from German Expressionism (e.g., Elmer Rice 's The Adding Machine ), Other distinct movements during this period include folk-drama/regionalism ( Paul Green 's Pulitzer-winning In Abraham's Bosom ), "pageant" drama (Green's The Lost Colony , about the mysterious Roanoke Colony ), and even a return to poetic drama ( Maxwell Anderson 's Winterset ). At

12342-556: The time of his death, he was considered one of the 20th century's greatest dramatists. After his death, many respected actors, directors, and producers paid tribute to him, some calling him the last great practitioner of the American stage, and Broadway theatres darkened their lights in a show of respect. Miller's alma mater, the University of Michigan , opened the Arthur Miller Theatre in March 2007. Per his express wish, it

12463-637: The university's Arthur Miller Award in 1985 and the Arthur Miller Award for Dramatic Writing in 1999, and lending his name to the Arthur Miller Theatre in 2000. In 1937, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn , which also received the Avery Hopwood Award. After his graduation in 1938, he joined the Federal Theatre Project , a New Deal agency established to provide jobs in the theater. He chose the theater project despite

12584-753: The urging of the Continental Congress . In 1794, president of Yale College , Timothy Dwight IV , in his "Essay on the Stage", declared that "to indulge a taste for playgoing means nothing more or less than the loss of that most valuable treasure: the immortal soul." In spite of such laws, a few writers tried their hand at playwriting. Most likely, the first plays written in America were by European-born authors—we know of original plays being written by Spaniards, Frenchmen and Englishmen dating back as early as 1567—although no plays were printed in America until Robert Hunter's Androboros in 1714. Still, in

12705-400: The work A New Brain , about representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in entertainment. Although earlier styles of theater such as minstrel shows and Vaudeville acts have disappeared from the landscape, theater still remains a popular contemporary American art form. Broadway productions still entertain millions of theatergoers even as productions have become more elaborate and expensive. At

12826-542: The world's first professional interior decorator, acted in Club productions in the early years of the 20th Century, as did Hope Williams , and Julie Harris in the 1940s. Early 20th century theater was dominated by the Barrymores— Ethel Barrymore , John Barrymore , and Lionel Barrymore . Other greats included Laurette Taylor , Jeanne Eagels , and Eva Le Gallienne . The massive social change that went on during

12947-594: Was a native of New York whose parents also arrived from that town. Isidore owned a women's clothing manufacturing business employing 400 people. He became a well respected man in the community. The family, including Miller's younger sister Joan Copeland , lived on West 110th Street in Manhattan, owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens , and employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ,

13068-596: Was adopted by serious drama, melodrama and comedy alike. This realism was not quite the European realism of Ibsen 's Ghosts , but a combination of scenic realism (e.g., the " Belasco Method") with a less romantic view of life that accompanied the cultural turmoil of the period. The most ambitious effort towards realism during this period came from James Herne , who was influenced by the ideas of Ibsen, Hardy and Zola regarding realism, truth, and literary quality; his most important achievement, Margaret Fleming , enacts

13189-473: Was an ex-slave. African-American works would not be regarded again until the 1920s Harlem Renaissance . A popular form of theater during this time was the minstrel show , which featured white (and sometimes, especially after the Civil War, black ) actors dressed in " blackface (painting one's face, etc. with dark makeup to imitate the coloring of an African or African American)." The players entertained

13310-475: Was an unusually articulate commentator on his own work. In 1978, he published a collection of his Theater Essays , edited by Robert A. Martin and with a foreword by Miller. Highlights of the collection included Miller's introduction to his Collected Plays , his reflections on the theory of tragedy, comments on the McCarthy Era, and pieces arguing for a publicly supported theater. Reviewing this collection in

13431-401: Was assassinated by a nationally popular stage-actor of the period, John Wilkes Booth . Victorian burlesque , a form of bawdy comic theater mocking high art and culture, was imported from England about 1860 and in America became a form of farce in which females in male roles mocked the politics and culture of the day. Criticized for its sexuality and outspokenness, this form of entertainment

13552-399: Was common in the late 19th and early 20th century, and is notable for heavily influencing early film, radio, and television productions in the country. (This was born from an earlier American practice of having singers and novelty acts perform between acts in a standard play.) George Burns was a very long-lived American comedian who started out in the vaudeville community, but went on to enjoy

13673-533: Was elected the first American president of PEN International , a position which he held for four years. A year later, he organized the 1966 PEN congress in New York City. He also wrote the penetrating family drama The Price , produced in 1968. It was his most successful play since Death of a Salesman . In 1968, Miller attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Eugene McCarthy . In 1969, Miller's works were banned in

13794-604: Was exempted from military service during World War II because of a high school football injury to his left kneecap. In 1944 Miller's first play was produced: The Man Who Had All the Luck won the Theatre Guild's National Award. The play closed after four performances with disastrous reviews. In 1947, Miller's play All My Sons , the writing of which had commenced in 1941, was a success on Broadway (earning him his first Tony Award , for Best Author ) and his reputation as

13915-405: Was hounded off the "legitimate stage" and found itself relegated to saloons and barrooms . The female producers, such as Lydia Thompson were replaced by their male counterparts, who toned down the politics and played up the sexuality, until the burlesque shows eventually became little more than pretty girls in skimpy clothing singing songs, while male comedians told raunchy jokes. The drama of

14036-533: Was produced, and is said to be a deeply personal view of Miller's experiences during his marriage to Monroe. It reunited Miller with his former friend Kazan; they collaborated on the script and direction. It opened on January 23, 1964, at the ANTA Theatre in Washington Square Park amid a flurry of publicity and outrage at putting a Monroe-like character, Maggie, on stage. Robert Brustein, in

14157-403: Was published. Around the same time, Death of a Salesman was adapted into a television film starring Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman. The film was broadcast on CBS, and garnered an audience viewership of 25 million. In late 1987, Miller's autobiographical work, Timebends , was published. Before it was published, it was well known that Miller would not talk about Monroe in interviews; however, in

14278-456: Was reportedly based on his experience during the filming of The Misfits , though Miller insisted the play was a work of fiction with independent characters that were no more than composite shadows of history. In June 1956, Miller left his first wife, Mary Slattery, whom he had married in 1940, and wed film star Marilyn Monroe . They met in 1951, had a brief affair, and remained in contact. Monroe had just turned 30 when they married; she never had

14399-440: Was sentenced to a fine and a prison sentence, blacklisted from Hollywood , and disallowed a US passport. In August 1958, his conviction was overturned by the court of appeals, which ruled that Miller had been misled by the chairman of the HUAC. Miller's experience with the HUAC affected him throughout his life. In the late 1970s, he joined other celebrities (including William Styron and Mike Nichols ) who were brought together by

14520-417: Was the third attempt to have an African-American theater, but this was the most successful of them all. The company put on not only Shakespeare, but also staged the first play written by an African-American, The Drama of King Shotaway . The theater was shut down in 1823. African-American theater was relatively dormant, except for the 1858 play The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown , who

14641-490: Was unaware that Miller and Monroe were having problems in their private life. He recalled later, "I was impertinent enough to say to Arthur that to allow her to take drugs of any kind was criminal and utterly irresponsible. Shortly after that I realized that she wouldn't listen to Arthur at all; he had no say over her actions." Shortly before the film's premiere in 1961, Miller and Monroe divorced after five years of marriage. Nineteen months later, on August 5, 1962, Monroe died of

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