George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950):
George Bernard Shaw. 1909.
Some plays: Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Arms and the Man; Candida; Major Barbara; The Doctor’s Dilemma; Pygmalion; Heartbreak House; Saint Joan; The Apple Cart; The Millionairess.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906):
Henrik Ibsen by Gustav Borgen. 1898 or earlier.
Some plays: Peer Gynt; Pillars of Society; A Doll’s House; Ghosts; An Enemy of the People; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder.
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904):
Anton Chekhov. 1900.
Some Plays: The Bear; A Marriage Proposal; The Seagull; Uncle Vanya; Three Sisters; The Cherry Orchard.
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975):
Thornton Wilder’s Yale graduation photo. 1920.
Some plays: The Long Christmas Dinner; Our Town; The Merchant of Yonkers; The Skin of Our Teeth; The Matchmaker.
Clifford Odets (1906-1963):
Clifford Odets. 1936.
Some Plays: Waiting for Lefty; Awake and Sing!; Till the Day I Die; Golden Boy; Clash by Night; The Country Girl.
Arthur Miller (1915-2005):
Arthur Miller.
Some Plays: All My Sons; Death of a Salesman; The Crucible; A View from the Bridge; A Memory of Two Mondays; After the Fall; The American Clock; Resurrection Blues.
Honourable Mentions:
J.M. Barrie (1860-1937):
J.M. Barrie. 1901.
Some Plays: Quality Street; The Admirable Crichton; Peter Pan; Alice Sit-by-the-Fire; What Every Woman Knows; A Kiss for Cinderella; The Old Lady Shows Her Medals; Mary Rose.
Noƫl Coward (1899-1973):
Noƫl Coward. Circa 1914.
Some plays: The Vortex; Hay Fever; Easy Virtue; Private Lives; Cavalcade; Design for Living; Tonight at 8:30; Blithe Spirit; Peace in Our Time; South Sea Bubble.
William Inge (1913-1973):
Portrait of William Inge by Carl Van Vechten. 4 September 1954.
Some plays: Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983):
Tennessee Williams. 1965.
Some plays: The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire; Summer and Smoke; The Rose Tattoo; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Suddenly, Last Summer; Sweet Bird of Youth; The Night of the Iguana; The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.
Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953):
Eugene O’Neill at Sea Island Bend by Carl Van Vechten. 16 May 1936.
Some plays: Anna Christie; The Hairy Ape; Desire Under the Elms; Strange Interlude; Mourning Becomes Electra; Ah, Wilderness!; The Iceman Cometh; Long Day’s Journey Into Night; A Moon for the Misbegotten.
*William Shakespeare is not listed, simply because he is William Shakespeare. Of course he is a favourite. I also have soft spots for Floyd Dell, Edna Ferber/George S. Kaufman, Philip Barry, and many others.
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 
I was looking for Edward Albee….. you must have had a brain freeze….thank gawd you had O’Neill
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Fortunately for Albee, he isn’t eligible for my list. In other words, he is still alive. I am sure he’d be okay with that, though! š
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I talked to him last month and he told me he was dead….hmmm…..now I don’t know who to believe.
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Hmmm. That complicates things…
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Noel Coward! Yes indeed! Great list.
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Thanks. These playwrights are just my personal faves. This list actually reveals a lot about me!
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Perfect list. I played the Kim Novak part in Picnic at drama school!
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Thank you. You can definitely tell a lot about me by my 6 fave playwrights, and a fair bit more by the runners up!
Ah, to have seen that production of “Picnic.” I’m sure you were lovely! Whenever I think of “Picnic” (after the play itself and the movie, of course), “The Golden Girls” comes to mind. There is an episode where the ladies are taking part in a local theatre production of what is meant to be “Picnic” but, of course, they call it something else. The send-up is pretty hysterical.
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I’m sure I saw that episode but it’s been so long. I wasn’t very good in Picnic. I was rather miscast although some liked my perf. Yes, your list tells me all I need to know. Love Ibsen but haven’t seen nearly enough productions of his work.
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I am a bit of a GG fan girl…I know all of the episodes way better than I should. This one involves a famous TV actor coming to Miami to perform in a play. Whilst there, he becomes involved with all of the roomies (minus Sophia), as well as most of the rest of the play’s cast. At the try-outs, Blanche shows up with huge fake boobs made from balloons. Anyhoo….I’ll stop here before I really start sounding like a weirdo cat lady.
Well, we cannot all be ideally cast for every role, can we? It would be too easy that way!
Ibsen is wonderful. I enjoy reading his (and all plays, actually) out loud. It isn’t necessary to see plays on a stage to appreciate them (although, of course, it helps).
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I must see about buying some GG on iTunes. Watch out for some Ibsen posts on R&V in the next few days, inspired by our conversation. The first one, an interview with Linda Bassett, has just gone up.
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Yay for the Ibsen posts!
I will check out the first one when The Chef and I get back from an early dinner. Cannot wait! Thank you.
PS-If you ever have any GG questions, I am your girl! That was kind of a pathetic thing to type, but I don’t care! š
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I know this is shallow, given the subjects of this post, but my word! Henrik Ibsen had beautiful hair.
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Well, to be fair that is an awesome head of hair! Now I am rhyming. Oh, geez.
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