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Author Topic: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years  (Read 9093 times)

FLYmeatwad

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Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« on: October 31, 2008, 03:51:03 PM »
So, my Drama class has gotten me a bit interested in reading plays, so come winter break I was hoping to read at least one play a week that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. My break is only about a month long, so I was hoping to squeeze two plays in a week, but if anyone wants to join then I could just cut it down and try to set up another one in the future. I'm kicking around titles now, so if anyone is interested in following along let me know. I'll keep updating this list, but here's what I have so far.

1920's
Any of the 3 by O'Niell

1930's
Our Town - Thornton Wilder (I've read it three times in the past 4 months, so this will be included if others follow along)
You Can't Take it with You - George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
One of the two Sherwoods

1940's
The Skin of Our Teeth - Thornton Wilder (I consider it to be his best play, same reasoning goes for this as well though)
Harvey - Mary Coyle Chase (It beat out The Glass Menagerie, so it better be good)
A Street Car Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller

1950's
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams
Long Day's Journey into Night - Eugene O'Niell
The Shrike - Joseph Kramm

1960's
A Delicate Balance - Edward Albee
The Great White Hope - Howard Sackler
*Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? - Edward Albee (No, it was never award the Prize, but the consensus is that this play deserves the Pulitzer and would have been awarded the prize if the board had not overturned the decision due to the controversial material. Either way, this is likely to be my entry from the 60's)

So those are some tentative titles I have been thinking about. This won't start until the beginning of December anyhow, but if anyone is interested in joining let me know, if not I'll just post here periodically as I read the plays.

pixote

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2008, 04:41:39 PM »
I'm definitely interested, though it's probably one of those things where I'll discover I barely have time to read the first play picked.  There's a possible movie tie-in here, too, with so many of these having notable adaptations.  I've always meant to read Tad Mosel's All The Way Home, based on James Agee's A Death in the Family, which made my Top 20 Books list.  That has a really good film adaptation, too, I'm told, but not one that's ever been available on video.  *cries*

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worm@work

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2008, 05:08:20 PM »
I'm definitely interested, though it's probably one of those things where I'll discover I barely have time to read the first play picked. 

Although, I should technically have more time to read from December onwards since I won't be teaching next semester.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2008, 08:35:36 PM »
Very cool, I hadn't check this thread out for a while, but I'm glad to see the two of you are interested. I'll start prepping a short list and working from there, though the movie tie in is a good idea as well. When we read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for class our professor told us the film adaptation was terribly unbearable and deviated from the play's intricacies severely. I may do a round 2 are some point to keep the number down, but yeah, jolly good, I can't wait to get started on this marathon, and I'll look into film adaptations as well.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2008, 10:05:47 AM »
So any more interest or sustaining interest before i start putting a final list together?

pixote

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2008, 11:40:32 AM »
My interest is self-sustaining and pure.

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edgar00

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2008, 11:56:33 AM »
I suppose I could find the time to read 1 or 2 of those. I doubt that I'd be able to read one play from every decade though.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2008, 06:26:19 PM »
Okay so the short list looks like this from what I can tell.

1920's

Strange Interlude - Eugene O'Neill

1930's

Our Town - Thornton Wilder

1940's (It gets tougher here. I think SooT is a much better play than Our Town, but I'm attempting to avoid 2 Wilder plays during this run, plus Our Town seems to be much more widely loved and likely a better starting point for Wilder)

Harvey - Mary Coyle Chase (I'm really leaning toward this one, it did beat out the Glass Menagerie)
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams (I haven't read it and it's one of Williams's most famous plays)
Death of a Salesman - Aurthur Miller (The same goes for this one)

Any feedback for the 40's is welcome

1950's

Long Day's Journey into Night - Eugene O'Neill (I don't like the overlap, but he's won more Pulitzers than any other playwright and I'd be interested to see how his style changed overtime)
or if we don't do Streetcar in the 40's...
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams (I may end up deciding to do this even if we pick Streetcar because it's a brilliant play and is apparently a good deal different from the Newman film)

1960's
Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? - Edward Albee (No it didn't win, but I want to read this play probably more than anything else, so I'm sticking it in the 60's slot)


Any feedback would be great, help selecting for the 40's and 50's would be a huge help, and I expect to kick things off the week of December 15th if that's good for everyone else.

pixote

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2008, 03:37:50 PM »
1920s - I'm fine with any of the O'Neill plays, though I feel like Anna Christie has the best reputation.  I'd also be happy with Street Scene (I've seen Vidor's film adaptation of it).

1930s - Apparently, Men in White is about "the morality of abortion" ... I'd be fascinated to read a 1933 take on that.  Otherwise, I think I'd rather read You Can't Take It With You than Our Town.

1940s - I probably want to read A Streetcar Named Desire more than any other Putlizer winner.  I'm also interested in the other two you mentioned (Harvey and Death of a Salesman, even though I already read the latter at some point).

1950s - Long Day's Journey into Night is a phenomenal read, and I'd be happy to go through it again.  I'm interested in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof as well and a little curious about Inge's PicnicThe Shrike sounds really good, too.

1960s - I've already read Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? (and A Delicate Balance), so I'm still rooting for longshot All the Way HomeThe Subject Was Roses sounds pretty promising, too.  I wasn't that impressed with the film version of The Great White Hope, but I'm definitely open to reading that, too.

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worm@work

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Re: Pulitzer Prize Marathon Part 1 - The Early Years
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2008, 10:31:54 PM »
I'm still interested as well and increasingly certain about being able to keep up. I've read Streetcar but am more than happy to reread it. Likewise with Death of a Salesman and Long Day's Journey!

As for dates, Dec 15th sounds perfect to me (I need to submit all my grading stuff by Dec 12th which makes this kinda perfect). I am going on vacation for 2 weeks around Xmas & the New Year but I always seem to find time to read when I'm traveling. So if we have the list finalized, I should be able to get the books on time and carry them with me so I can keep up. A rough schedule will be really helpful as well.