Article: Neil Simon

Neil Simon

Simon is an American playwright whose popular comedies touch on various aspects of modern middle-class life. Despite being known as a master jokesmith, Simon often tackles serious topics. His Pulitzer Prize-winning Lost in Yonkers, for example, deals with the painful subject of parental rejection. His many other plays include The Odd Couple and Brighton Beach Memoirs. Many have been adapted into films, and Simon has written numerous screenplays. How did he get his start? More… Discuss

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Today’s Birthday: LORRAINE HANSBERRY (1930) a Playwright

Lorraine Hansberry (1930)

At just 29 years of age, African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry secured her place in theatrical history when she became the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Her acclaimed A Raisin in the Sun, a penetrating psychological study of a working-class African-American family in Chicago, was inspired in part by the discrimination and legal battle Hansberry’s own family faced upon buying a home in a white Chicago neighborhood. Whose poem gave rise to the play’s title? More… Discuss

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