Published: May 1, 1997
Type: Short Plays and Essays
This is the first volume of short plays in a uniform edition, complete and well edited by Wilder’s literary executors. A third of the plays here have either been out of print for years or have never been available before, Wilder having removed several plays from publication and left others in a slightly unfinished state. The volume contains some acknowledged masterpieces, such as The Long Christmas Dinner and Pullman Car Hiawatha, but others read like studies for unwritten plays. Included are two essays on Wilder, one by John Guare and another by John Gassner. Both focus on the duality in Wilder’s work, which continues to make him something of an enigma.
Table of Contents
Preface
by A. Tappan Wilder
Introduction
by John Guare
Part I
The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays in One Act
— The Long Christmas Dinner
— Queens of France
— Pullman Car Hiawatha
— Love and How to Cure It
— Such Things Only Happen in Books
— The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden
Part II
Plays for Bleecker Street
(Plays in One Act for an Arena Stage)
Introductory Note
by Donald Gallup
“The Seven Deadly Sins”
— The Drunken Sisters
— Bernice
— The Wreck on the Five-Twenty-Five
— A Ringing of Doorbells
— In Shakespeare and the Bible
— Someone from Assisi
— Cement Hands
“The Seven Ages of Man”
— Infancy
— Childhood
— Youth
— The Rivers Under the Earth
The Two Worlds of Thornton Wilder
by John Gassner
Bibliographic and Production Notes
For further information on the works within The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder Volume I, please visit the Bibliography.
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