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Living Legends

© Grimace Boyer

This is the first installment in a five part series introducing and highlighting - in no particular order - the 25 greatest living American (mostly) playwrights. The playwrights were chosen - by myself - by their appeal, success, awards, and overall good writing. In such a list, people are bound to be left out. Ayckbourne, for instance, was left out simply because he's English, though it's conceivable that other foreigners have slipped in. The 25 greatest - in no particular order - are:

Neil Simon
David Mamet
Arthur Miller
August Wilson
Sam Shepard
Beth Henley
Wendy Wasserstein
Paula Vogel
William Mastrosimone
Henry David Hwang
Marsha Norman
Donald Margulies
Lanford Wilson
Edward Albee
Christopher Durang
John Guare
Frank D. Gilroy
Arthur Kopit
Tony Kushner
Ira Levin
Terrance McNally
Tina Howe
Romulus Linney
David Rabe
A.R. Gurney

Of course, there's bound to be controversy. Certain exclusions - often painful ones - had to be made (Ntozake Shange, for instance, or Eric Bogosian). But here they stand. And with your input, we will make a definitive list. Please, let me know who should be in, who should be out. This cannot be done by me alone. Please note, however, that we are looking for work only on straight plays, not musicals, not screenplays.

And now, onto the first installment: Neil Simon, Arthur Miller, David Mamet, August Wilson, and Sam Shephard.

Neil Simon (Bronx, NY) has been called by many the king of comedic writing. I don't think this is necessarily fair. To me, Simon uses humor more than he uses jokes, which puts him in a completely different category than those occupied by other, lesser talented "comedic playwrights." Simon has shown a capacity for depth and insightfulness - sometimes to the point of being preachy - that balances his humor. Incidentally, he prides himself (and should!) on the fact that his comedy comes from situations and character more than from setups and punchlines.

I won't argue that he doesn't add his fair amount of jokes, running gags, etc., but I think it's important to realize that this isn't who Neil Simon is as a playwright. What he is is a strong writer with great technique and a well-developed voice who hasn't repeated himself, despite staying basically within one genre - for over forty years.

Arthur Miller (Harlem, NY). A while back, I took some heat for saying that Tennessee Williams could have been the world's best playwright ever if he had died fifteen years earlier than he did. While I don't feel quite the same way about Arthur Miller, I do feel that his present output lacks the same energy that was indicative of his younger work. There is no longer a need to write, as there seemed to be with his masterpieces, including Death of a Salesman and All My Sons. As much as The Ride Down Mt. Morgan or The Last Yankee may have to say, I don't feel that the older, wiser Arthur Miller has the capacity to say them as effectively.

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