I have never been in a play by William Inge, although I have studied & admired his work. I have it on good authority that Junior wants the chance to play the title role in Come Back, Little Sheba in the Kenton Players summer production of that American classic, to be performed at our 9th annual block party this August. It will be on rep the rest of the summer along with my all-naked Fiddler On The Roof & a cast of 3rd graders in Death Of A Salesman. Shaping up to be an astounding summer season on my block.
Inge is our American Chekhov, on the surface he created common conversation about the smallness of people’s lives, but the characters go very deep.
Pain permeates Inge’s plays. His major works: Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic, Bus Stop & The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (all became successful films featuring top Hollywood stars), reveal rustic Americans struggling with sexual repression, alcoholism, small-town gossip & religiosity. These issues haunted Inge his entire life.
Inge won the Pulitzer for Picnic in 1953 & an Academy Award for the screenplay of the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass. Even his buddy & mentor, Tennessee Williams, was envious of his success. Yet, he would still spend a life seeking the validation of the citizens of Independence, Kansas who scorned him for being a homosexual.
Inge was talented & tortured. His long struggle with booze & profound shame over his homosexuality plagued him before, during, & after his decade of great success.
In 1973, still considered one of the country's most successful dramatists, Inge ran out of reasons to continue life in the closet. He went into his garage of his Hollywood home, shut the door, & behind the wheel of his new car, he turned the key. Inge: "Death makes us all innocent, & weaves all our private hurts & griefs & wrongs into the fabric of time, & makes them a part of eternity." Inge would have been 97 today.
Pain permeates Inge’s plays. His major works: Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic, Bus Stop & The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (all became successful films featuring top Hollywood stars), reveal rustic Americans struggling with sexual repression, alcoholism, small-town gossip & religiosity. These issues haunted Inge his entire life.
Inge won the Pulitzer for Picnic in 1953 & an Academy Award for the screenplay of the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass. Even his buddy & mentor, Tennessee Williams, was envious of his success. Yet, he would still spend a life seeking the validation of the citizens of Independence, Kansas who scorned him for being a homosexual.
Inge was talented & tortured. His long struggle with booze & profound shame over his homosexuality plagued him before, during, & after his decade of great success.
In 1973, still considered one of the country's most successful dramatists, Inge ran out of reasons to continue life in the closet. He went into his garage of his Hollywood home, shut the door, & behind the wheel of his new car, he turned the key. Inge: "Death makes us all innocent, & weaves all our private hurts & griefs & wrongs into the fabric of time, & makes them a part of eternity." Inge would have been 97 today.
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