John Guare
Encyclopedia
John Guare is an American playwright
. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves
, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body
. His style, which mixes comic invention with an acute sense of the failure of human relations and aspirations, is at once cruel and deeply compassionate.
In the foreword to a collection of Guare's plays, film director Louis Malle
writes:
http://www.adherents.com/people/pg/John_Guare.html. He was educated at Georgetown University
, (BA, 1960), where in 1958 he contributed a song to an original musical revue entitled The Natives Are Restless and presented by the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
. The song humorously attributed the success of many famous people to the syllable “O” in their names. Under the direction of Donn B. Murphy
, his play The Toadstool Boy, about a country singer's quest for fame, won first place in the District of Columbia Recreation Department's One-Act-Play competition. In 1960, the Mask and Bauble presented The Thirties Girl, a musical for which Guare did the book, much of the music and the lyrics, again under Murphy's tutelage. Set in Hollywood's turbulent 1920's, it dealt with the dethronement of a reigning diva by a fresh-faced starlet. (Management of identity and celebrity, and the quest for fame, the focus of these early efforts, are recurring themes in the body of Guare's work. He subsequently imported the Hollywod ingenue's song, I'm Here With Bells On into his first full-length Off-Broadway
play, The House of Blue Leaves
, which received an Obie Award
and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play, and subsequently won Guare a Tony Award
in its 1986 Broadway revival.)
He then went to the Yale School of Drama
, (MFA, 1963). His early plays, mostly comic one-acts exhibiting a flair for the absurd, include To Wally Pantoni, We Leave a Credenza (1964), Muzeeka (1968), and Cop-Out (1968). The House of Blue Leaves
(1971), a domestic drama by turns wildly comic and despairingly desperate, moved Guare into the front ranks of American dramatists. Chaucer in Rome
, a sequel to The House of Blue Leaves, received its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 1999 and later enjoyed a production in New York by Lincoln Center Theater.
Later plays include Marco Polo Sings a Solo, Bosoms and Neglect
, Moon Over Miami
, Six Degrees of Separation, and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun. Lake Hollywood and A Few Stout Individuals (2002) both received their world premieres at Signature Theatre. Six Degrees of Separation (1990), an intricately plotted comedy of manners about an African-American confidence man who poses as the son of film star Sidney Poitier
, has been the most highly praised and widely produced of Guare's full-length plays. It was made into a film in 1993.
Guare’s cycle of plays on nineteenth-century America, Gardenia
, Lydie Breeze and Women and Water, has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., London and Australia. A Few Stout Individuals returns to nineteenth century America, with a cast that includes Ulysses S. Grant
, Mark Twain
, soprano Adelina Patti
and the Emperor and Empress of Japan. These historic dramas investigate the violence at the root of American identity and the failure of utopia
n aspirations.
Guare has also been involved with musical theatre. His libretto with Mel Shapiro
for the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona
was a success when it premiered in 1971 and was revived in 2005 at the Public Theater
's Shakespeare in the Park
. It won the two men the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical
. He wrote the songs for Landscape of the Body
. Guare wrote narration for '"Psyche,"' a tone poem by César Franck
, which premiered at Avery Fisher Hall
in October 1997, conducted by Kurt Masur
with the New York Philharmonic
. In 1999, he revised the book of the Cole Porter
musical comedy, Kiss Me, Kate
for its Broadway revival. He also wrote the book for the Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success (musical).
Guare wrote the screenplay for Louis Malle
's film Atlantic City (1980), for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
He was a founding member in 1965 of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford
, Connecticut
and Resident Playwright at the New York Shakespeare Festival
in 1976. He is a council member of the Dramatists Guild, co-editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review, co-produces the New Plays Reading Room Series at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts and teaches in the Playwriting department at the Yale School of Drama
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body
Landscape of the Body
Landscape Of The Body is a two-act play by John Guare, written in 1977.-Synopsis:The play is episodic and non-linear, as it travels back and forth in time. The plot centers around a woman named Betty, whose son, Bert, was recently murdered and decapitated in lower Manhattan. The first and last...
. His style, which mixes comic invention with an acute sense of the failure of human relations and aspirations, is at once cruel and deeply compassionate.
In the foreword to a collection of Guare's plays, film director Louis Malle
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
writes:
- Guare practices a humor that is synonymous with lucidity, exploding genre and clichés, taking us to the core of human suffering: the awareness of corruption in our own bodies, death circling in. We try to fight it all by creating various mythologies, and it is Guare's peculiar aptitude for exposing these grandiose lies of ours that makes his work so magical.
Life
Guare was born in New York City and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens. He was raised a Roman Catholic, but now seems to be lapsedLapsed Catholic
A lapsed Catholic is a person who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith, in the sense of attending Mass. Such a person may still identify as a Catholic.-"Lapsed Catholic" and "ex-Catholic":...
http://www.adherents.com/people/pg/John_Guare.html. He was educated at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, (BA, 1960), where in 1958 he contributed a song to an original musical revue entitled The Natives Are Restless and presented by the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States. Today, the Society is one of five theatre groups on the Georgetown campus and is entirely student-run...
. The song humorously attributed the success of many famous people to the syllable “O” in their names. Under the direction of Donn B. Murphy
Donn B. Murphy
Donn B. Murphy taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations for White House dramatic and music presentations in...
, his play The Toadstool Boy, about a country singer's quest for fame, won first place in the District of Columbia Recreation Department's One-Act-Play competition. In 1960, the Mask and Bauble presented The Thirties Girl, a musical for which Guare did the book, much of the music and the lyrics, again under Murphy's tutelage. Set in Hollywood's turbulent 1920's, it dealt with the dethronement of a reigning diva by a fresh-faced starlet. (Management of identity and celebrity, and the quest for fame, the focus of these early efforts, are recurring themes in the body of Guare's work. He subsequently imported the Hollywod ingenue's song, I'm Here With Bells On into his first full-length Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
play, The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
, which received an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play, and subsequently won Guare a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
in its 1986 Broadway revival.)
He then went to the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
, (MFA, 1963). His early plays, mostly comic one-acts exhibiting a flair for the absurd, include To Wally Pantoni, We Leave a Credenza (1964), Muzeeka (1968), and Cop-Out (1968). The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
(1971), a domestic drama by turns wildly comic and despairingly desperate, moved Guare into the front ranks of American dramatists. Chaucer in Rome
Chaucer in Rome
Chaucer in Rome is a play written by John Guare. In some ways, it is a sequel to House of Blue Leaves.-Synopsis:The play is set in Rome during the Holy Year of Jubilee, which is extremely crowded with pilgrims seeking confession and absolution...
, a sequel to The House of Blue Leaves, received its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 1999 and later enjoyed a production in New York by Lincoln Center Theater.
Later plays include Marco Polo Sings a Solo, Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1979 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Productions:...
, Moon Over Miami
Moon Over Miami
Moon Over Miami may refer to:* Moon Over Miami , 1941 musical* Moon Over Miami , 1993 comedy* "Moon Over Miami"...
, Six Degrees of Separation, and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun. Lake Hollywood and A Few Stout Individuals (2002) both received their world premieres at Signature Theatre. Six Degrees of Separation (1990), an intricately plotted comedy of manners about an African-American confidence man who poses as the son of film star Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
, has been the most highly praised and widely produced of Guare's full-length plays. It was made into a film in 1993.
Guare’s cycle of plays on nineteenth-century America, Gardenia
Gardenia
Gardenia is a genus of 142 species of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania....
, Lydie Breeze and Women and Water, has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., London and Australia. A Few Stout Individuals returns to nineteenth century America, with a cast that includes Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, soprano Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...
and the Emperor and Empress of Japan. These historic dramas investigate the violence at the root of American identity and the failure of utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n aspirations.
Guare has also been involved with musical theatre. His libretto with Mel Shapiro
Mel Shapiro
Mel Shapiro is an American theatre director and writer, college professor, and author.Trained at Carnegie-Mellon University, Shapiro began his professional directing career at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and then as resident director at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C....
for the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
was a success when it premiered in 1971 and was revived in 2005 at the Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
's Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is a concept used across the world, as a form of free public presentation of William Shakespeare's works. Such performances exist in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America....
. It won the two men the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee which comprises New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
. He wrote the songs for Landscape of the Body
Landscape of the Body
Landscape Of The Body is a two-act play by John Guare, written in 1977.-Synopsis:The play is episodic and non-linear, as it travels back and forth in time. The plot centers around a woman named Betty, whose son, Bert, was recently murdered and decapitated in lower Manhattan. The first and last...
. Guare wrote narration for '"Psyche,"' a tone poem by César Franck
César Franck
César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
, which premiered at Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
in October 1997, conducted by Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
. In 1999, he revised the book of the Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical comedy, Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
for its Broadway revival. He also wrote the book for the Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success (musical).
Guare wrote the screenplay for Louis Malle
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
's film Atlantic City (1980), for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
He was a founding member in 1965 of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and Resident Playwright at the New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
in 1976. He is a council member of the Dramatists Guild, co-editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review, co-produces the New Plays Reading Room Series at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts and teaches in the Playwriting department at the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
.
Works
All dramas for the stage unless otherwise noted.- (1971) The House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
- (1971) Two Gentlemen of VeronaTwo Gentlemen of Verona (musical)Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
- (1974) Rich and Famous
- (1977) Landscape of the BodyLandscape of the BodyLandscape Of The Body is a two-act play by John Guare, written in 1977.-Synopsis:The play is episodic and non-linear, as it travels back and forth in time. The plot centers around a woman named Betty, whose son, Bert, was recently murdered and decapitated in lower Manhattan. The first and last...
- (1977) Marco Polo Sings a Solo
- (1979) Bosoms and NeglectBosoms and NeglectBosoms and Neglect is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1979 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Productions:...
- (1980) Atlantic City (screenplay)
- (1982) Lydie Breeze
- (1982) Gardenia
- (1986) The Race to UrgaThe Race to UrgaThe Race to Urga is a musical theatre play.The musical started in 1968 as an adaptation of the Bertolt Brecht play The Exception and the Rule, with the project soon renamed to A Pray by Blecht. The theme of Brecht's play was the exploitation of capitalism of the working class in the 1930s.Jerome...
- (1990) Six Degrees of Separation
- (1990) Women and Water
- (1992) Four Baboons Adoring the Sun
- (1999) Lake Hollywood
- (2001) Chaucer in RomeChaucer in RomeChaucer in Rome is a play written by John Guare. In some ways, it is a sequel to House of Blue Leaves.-Synopsis:The play is set in Rome during the Holy Year of Jubilee, which is extremely crowded with pilgrims seeking confession and absolution...
- (2002) A Few Stout Individuals
- (2010) A Free Man of ColorA Free Man of ColorA Free Man of Color is a play by John Guare. It is set in New Orleans in 1801 before the Louisiana Purchase , and follows the story of Jacques Cornet, a "a new world Don Juan" and the wealthiest colored man in New Orleans...
Awards and honors
- Muzeeka won an Obie in 1968.
- The House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play in 1971 and four Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s for its 1986 revival at Lincoln Center Theater. - Two Gentlemen of VeronaTwo Gentlemen of Verona (musical)Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
won both the Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in 1972. Guare also received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding LyricsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding LyricsThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
. - Six Degrees of Separation won an Obie Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and London’s Olivier Award for Best Play; it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
- Mr. Guare received the Award of Merit from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his plays The House of Blue Leaves, Rich and Famous, Marco Polo Sings a Solo, Landscape of the Body and Bosoms and Neglect.
- In 1989, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters elected him a member.
- In 1993 he was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame.
- In 1996 he received the New York State Governor’s Arts Award.
- Signature Theatre honored him with a season 1998 - 1999.
- In 1999 he was honored at the William Inge Festival.
- In 2003 he won The PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Awards for Drama.
External links
- Biography at theatredatabase.com
- John Guare with poster for his Caffe Cino production
- John Guare Papers at Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.