Thomas Babe
Encyclopedia
Thomas Babe was an American playwright, writing mainly during the mid 70s and 80s. He was the son of Thomas James and Ruth Ina (née Lossie) Babe. He died of lung cancer
on December 6, 2000, in a hospice
in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 59.
Babe's work brought together many elements of American history and cultural mythology
. He was fascinated by the concept of the traditional hero
figure - and the reality behind it. Strained family relationships often featured - specifically focusing on fathers and daughters, love and individual rights. These themes come together in Babe's 1977 play A Prayer for My Daughter.
Babe was one of a group of 70s US playwrights who laid the ground for the likes of Quentin Tarantino
and Aaron Sorkin
. Like David Mamet
and Sam Shepard
, his plays contain half-crazed but intelligent, articulate characters. Darker passions of the human soul feature strongly.
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on December 6, 2000, in a hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 59.
Babe's work brought together many elements of American history and cultural mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
. He was fascinated by the concept of the traditional hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
figure - and the reality behind it. Strained family relationships often featured - specifically focusing on fathers and daughters, love and individual rights. These themes come together in Babe's 1977 play A Prayer for My Daughter.
Babe was one of a group of 70s US playwrights who laid the ground for the likes of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
and Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
. Like David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
and Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, his plays contain half-crazed but intelligent, articulate characters. Darker passions of the human soul feature strongly.
Plays
- The Pageant of Awkward Shadows, Harvard College Theater, Cambridge, MA, 1963
- Kid Champion, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, New York City, 1974 - Mojo Candy, Yale Cabaret, New Haven, CT, 1975
- Rebel Women, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1976 - Billy Irish, Manhattan Theater Club, New York City, 1976
- A Prayer for My DaughterA Prayer for My Daughter (play)-Plot:The play is set in the interrogation room of a downtown New York Police station in the early hours of 5 July. Two hardened cops have arrested two suspects for the murder of an old woman. During the interrogations the police attempt to get a confession from the two suspects, Sean and Jimmy...
, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1978 - Great Solo Town, Yale Cabaret, 1977
- Fathers and Sons, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1978 - Taken in Marriage, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1979 - Salt Lake City Skyline, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1980 - When We Were Very Young, Winter Garden TheatreWinter Garden TheatreThe Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
, New York City, 1980 - Buried Inside Extra, Public TheaterPublic TheaterThe 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...
, 1984 - Planet Fires, Geva Theatre CenterGeva Theatre CenterGeva Theatre Center is Rochester's leading professional theatre, operating in the Naval Armory-Convention Hall. It is the birthplace of many new and popular works such as Gregg Coffin's Convenience and Five Course Love. Geva is an abbreviation of Genesee Valley Arts Foundation...
, Rochester, NY, 1985 - Carrying School Children, Theatre for the New City, New York City, 1987
- Demon Wine, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1987
Screenplays
- The Sun Gods, Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, 1978 (With Michael WadleighMichael WadleighMichael Wadleigh is an American movie director and cinematographer renowned for his groundbreaking documentary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Woodstock....
) - The Vacancy, Warner Bros., 1979
- Kid Champion, Music Fair, Inc., 1979
Radio Plays
- Hot Dogs and Soda Pop, National Public Radio (NPR), 1980
- The Volunteer Fireman, NPR, 1981
- One For the Record, WNYC's The Radio Stage (Marjorie Van Halteren, Producer), 1984
Opera Libretto
- Tesla A Multimedia Opera by Carson Kievman