R.I.P., Lanford Wilson

Great American playwright Lanford Wilson has died.

I got together with Liz and Brooke last night, two of my best old friends from college, and we toasted Mr. Wilson with our chardonnay and talked about his plays, many of which we had acted in at one time or another. Our college theatre department was a little bit obsessed with Lanford Wilson (his plays are great for college students – especially the big ones with big casts, so an entire department can participate), and I performed in The Rimers of Eldritch. and The Gingham Dog – Acting Edition while in college. Brooke was also in Rimers (Ahem), and she also did a very memorable production of Home Free!, with our other great friend David. Judith Swift, our acting teacher, always made us work on Lanford Wilson monologues. Later, I would be in a production of the wonderful Ludlow Fair in Philadelphia. He is one of my favorite playwrights.

Rest in peace.

Here are some of the things I have written about Wilson in the past:

Lanford Wilson’s introduction to the re-relase of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth

On Balm in Gilead

On Home Free

On Ludlow Fair

On The Rimers of Eldritch

On Serenading Louie

On The Great Nebula in Orion