William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...
, whose works typically feature solitary
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
s encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, including ''
Picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
'', which earned him a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
. With his portraits of small-town life and settings rooted in the American
heartland
Heartland or Heartlands may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution
* Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States
* Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization ...
, Inge became known as the "Playwright of the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
".
Early years
Inge was born in
Independence, Kansas, the fifth child of Maude Sarah Gibson-Inge and Luther Clay Inge. William attended
Independence Community College
Independence Community College is a public community college in Independence, Kansas. It was formerly Independence Community Junior College.
History
Independence Community College was established in 1925 as grades 13 and 14 of the Independence p ...
and graduated from the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Drama. At the University of Kansas he was a member of the Nu chapter of
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley shortly after Hopkins witnessed w ...
. Offered a scholarship to work on a Master of Arts degree, Inge moved to
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, to attend the
George Peabody College for Teachers
Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennes ...
, but later dropped out.
Back in Kansas, he worked as a laborer on state highways and as a
Wichita news announcer. From 1937 to 1938 he taught English and drama at
Cherokee County Community High School in
Columbus, Kansas. After returning and completing his Master's at Peabody in 1938, he taught at
Stephens College
Stephens College is a private women's college in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second-oldest women's educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833, as the Columbia Female Acad ...
in
Columbia, Missouri, from 1938 to 1943.
Career
Inge began as a drama critic at the ''St. Louis Star-Times'' in 1943. With
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...
's encouragement, Inge wrote his first play, ''
Farther Off from Heaven
''The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'' is a 1957 play by William Inge about family conflicts during the early 1920s in a small Oklahoma town. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1958 and was made into a film of the same name in 1 ...
'' (1947), which was staged at
Margo Jones' Theatre '47 in
Dallas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
, Texas. As a teacher at
Washington University in St. Louis between 1946 and 1949, he wrote ''
Come Back, Little Sheba''. It ran on Broadway for 190 performances in 1950, winning
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
s for
Shirley Booth and
Sidney Blackmer. (The 1952 film adaptation won both an
Oscar and a
Golden Globe for Shirley Booth.
Willy van Hemert directed a 1955 adaptation for Dutch television, and NBC aired another TV production in 1977.) During his time teaching at Washington University, Inge's struggles with alcoholism became more acute; in 1947, he joined
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
(AA). It was through AA that Inge met the wife of a member of his AA group whose name was Lola and, who through name as well as personal characteristics, was the person upon whom one of the lead characters in ''Come Back, Little Sheba'', "Lola", was based. Even as ''Come Back, Little Sheba'' was in a pre-Broadway run in early 1950, Inge was filled with some doubt as to its success. He expressed in a letter to his sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous, "If ''Sheba'' makes it in
Hartford I guess it will go on to Broadway and if it doesn't I suppose I'll be back in St. Louis. If it does make it to Broadway, I don't know when I'll be back." Inge never had to return to St. Louis.
In 1953, Inge received a Pulitzer Prize for ''
Picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
'', a play based on women he had known as a small child:
:When I was a boy in Kansas, my mother had a boarding house. There were three women school teachers living in the house. I was four years old, and they were nice to me. I liked them. I saw their attempts, and, even as a child, I sensed every woman’s failure. I began to sense the sorrow and the emptiness in their lives, and it touched me.
''Picnic'' had a successful Broadway run from February 19, 1953, to April 10, 1954. A
film adaptation made in 1955 was directed by
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical ''South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals.
Early years
Logan w ...
and won two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
.
In 1953, Inge's short play ''Glory in the Flower'' was telecast on ''
Omnibus'' with a cast of
Hume Cronyn
Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. OC (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor and writer.
Early life
Cronyn, one of five children, was born in London, Ontario, Canada. His father, Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., was a businessman an ...
,
Jessica Tandy, and
James Dean
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...
.
In 1955 his play ''
Bus Stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
'' premiered. Inge's inspiration of boy-pursuing-girl came from a similar situation he'd seen on a bus trip to
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...
. Nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Play, it was made into a 1956
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
starring
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
.
In 1957 he wrote ''
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs'', an expansion of his earlier ''Farther Off from Heaven''. The play was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and was adapted as a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
in 1960.
His 1959 play ''A Loss of Roses'', with
Carol Haney
Carol Haney (born Carolyn Haney; December 24, 1924 – May 10, 1964) was an American dancer and actress. After assisting Gene Kelly in choreographing films, Haney won a Tony Award for her role in Broadway's ''The Pajama Game'', while later wo ...
,
Warren Beatty
Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
, and
Betty Field
Betty Field (February 8, 1916 – September 13, 1973) was an American film and stage actress.
Early years
Field was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Katharine (née Lynch) Field. She began acting before she reached age 15, and went ...
, was filmed as ''
The Stripper'' (1963), with
Joanne Woodward,
Richard Beymer, and
Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Key Largo'' (1948), and received nomina ...
, and a popular
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franc ...
score.
''Natural Affection'' had the misfortune to open on Broadway during the
1962 New York City newspaper strike
Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita ...
, which lasted from December 8, 1962, until April 1, 1963. Thus, few were aware of the play, and fewer bought tickets. It lasted only 36 performances, from January 31, 1963, to March 2, 1963. What theatergoers missed was a drama exploring themes of fragmented families and random violence. As with
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
's ''
In Cold Blood
''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
Capote learned of the qu ...
'', the inspiration for ''Natural Affection'' came from a newspaper account of a seemingly meaningless and unmotivated murder. The play centers on a single mother, Chicago department store buyer Sue Barker (
Kim Stanley
Kim Stanley (born Patricia Kimberley Reid; February 11, 1925 – August 20, 2001) was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances.
She began her acting career in theatre, and subsequently at ...
). While troubled teen Donnie (Gregory Rozakis), Sue's illegitimate son, has been away at reform school, she has entered into a relationship with Cadillac salesman Bernie Slovenk (
Harry Guardino). With Donnie's unexpected return to her Chicago apartment, conflicts escalate, and Donnie finds himself on an emotional precipice. The closing five minutes of the play introduces a new character, a young woman Donnie meets in the apartment hallway. He invites her into the apartment and, without warning, kills her as the curtains close. The Broadway production, directed by
Tony Richardson, benefited from composer
John Lewis's made-to-order background music, which was provided via tape recordings, rather than live performance, and worked in the same fashion as a film score. A highly successful revival of Natural Affection was mounted in 2005 at Chicago's The Artistic Home. Directed by John Mossman, it was named by the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' one of the year's best productions.
Inge's ''The Last Pad'' premiered in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, in 1972. Originally titled ''The Disposal'', the world premiere of ''The Last Pad'' was produced by Robert L. "Bob" Johnson and directed by Keith A. Anderson through the Southwest Ensemble Theatre. The production starred
Nick Nolte with Jim Matz and Richard Elmore (Elmer). The production moved to Los Angeles and opened just days after Inge died by suicide. The original production in Phoenix was proclaimed the Best Play of 1972 by the ''
Arizona Republic'', while the Los Angeles production brought awards to Nolte and helped introduce him to the film industry and catapult his subsequent film career.
''The Last Pad'' is one of three of Inge's plays that either have
openly gay characters or address homosexuality directly. ''The Boy in the Basement'', a one-act play written in the early 1950s, but not published until 1962, is his only play that addresses homosexuality overtly, while Archie in ''The Last Pad'' and Pinky in ''Where's Daddy?'' (1966) are gay characters. Inge himself was
closeted.
''
Summer Brave
''Summer Brave'' is a play by William Inge, a revision of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1953 play ''Picnic''. Set in Independence, Kansas, a small town in Kansas in the early 1950s, it focuses on Hal Carter, an attractive young stranger who drifts in ...
'', produced posthumously on Broadway in 1975, is Inge's reworking of ''Picnic'', as he noted:
:It would be fair to say that ''Summer Brave'' is the original version of ''Picnic''. I have written before that I never completely fulfilled my original intentions in writing ''Picnic'' before we went into production in 1953, and that I wrote what some considered a fortuitous ending in order to have a finished play to go into rehearsal. A couple of years after ''Picnic'' had closed on Broadway, after the film version had made its success, I got the early version out of my files and began to rework it, just for my own satisfaction. ''Summer Brave'' is the result. I admit that I prefer it to the version of the play that was produced, but I don't necessarily expect others to agree. ''Summer Brave'' might not have enjoyed any success on Broadway whatever, nor won any of the prizes that were bestowed upon ''Picnic''. But I feel that it is more humorously true than ''Picnic'', and it does fulfill my original intentions.
About two dozen unperformed plays by Inge began receiving wider attention in 2009. They were available for viewing, but not copying or borrowing, in the collection of his papers at Independence Community College. One, a three-act play titled ''Off the Main Road'', was read at the Flea Theater in New York City on May 11, 2009, with
Sigourney Weaver,
Jay O. Sanders, and
Frances Sternhagen in the cast. Another, ''The Killing'', a one-act play, directed by José Angel Santana, and starring
Neal Huff
Neal Huff is an American actor from New York City. In April 2018, he performed as Willie Oban in the Broadway revival of ''The Iceman Cometh''. In December 2018, Huff began performing in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', adapted for stage by Aaron Sor ...
and J.J. Kandel, was performed at the 59E59 Theater, in New York City, through August 27, 2009. It is not yet known how many of these additional plays are complete. Besides ''Off the Main Road'' and ''The Killing'', six others were performed in April 2009 at the William Inge Theater Festival, in Independence, Kansas. These six were published in ''A Complex Evening: Six Short Plays by William Inge''.
Television and film
In 1961 Inge won an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for ''
Splendor in the Grass'' (Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen). He made his film debut as a reverend in the film.
John Frankenheimer directed ''
All Fall Down'' (1962), Inge's screenplay adaptation of the novel by
James Leo Herlihy
James Leo Herlihy (; February 27, 1927 – October 21, 1993) was an American novelist, playwright and actor.
Herlihy is known for his novels ''Midnight Cowboy'' and '' All Fall Down'', and his play ''Blue Denim'', all of which were adapted ...
. Inge was unhappy with changes made to his screenplay for ''
Bus Riley's Back in Town
''Bus Riley's Back in Town'' is a 1965 American drama film written by William Inge, directed by Harvey Hart, and starring Ann-Margret and Michael Parks.
Inge was very unhappy with changes made to his script and had his name removed from the cre ...
'' (1965), so at his insistence, the writing credit on the film is "Walter Gage".
During the 1961–62 television season, Inge was the script supervisor of
ABC's ''
Bus Stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
'' TV series, an adaptation of his play. With
Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of Sherwood's Bus Station and Diner in a fictitious
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
town, the series presented dramas about the townspeople and travelers who passed through the diner in 25 one-hour episodes. The sixth episode, "Cherie", with
Tuesday Weld,
Gary Lockwood and
Joseph Cotten, was an abbreviated version of the original ''Bus Stop'' play.
Robert Altman directed eight episodes, and one of these, "A Lion Walks Among Us", led to a Congressional hearing on violence. The episode, which starred
Fabian Forte as a maniacal axe-wielding serial killer, was adapted from
Tom Wicker
Thomas Grey Wicker (June 18, 1926 – November 25, 2011) was an American journalist. He was a political reporter and columnist for '' The New York Times''.
Background and education
Wicker was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. He was a gradua ...
's novel ''Told By an Idiot''.
In 1963 Inge met with
CBS to consider a one-hour filmed television drama about a family in a Midwestern town. The series, with six continuing characters, had the tentative title ''All Over Town'', and was planned for the 1964–65 season. Instead, Inge did a play, ''Out on the Outskirts of Town'', which was seen November 6, 1964, on NBC as part of the ''Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre'' series. It starred
Anne Bancroft and
Jack Warden with Inge taking the role of the town doctor. NBC gave the play a repeat on June 25, 1965.
Novels
Inge wrote two novels, both set in the fictional town of Freedom, Kansas. In ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1970), high-school Latin teacher Evelyn Wyckoff loses her job because she has an affair with the school's black janitor. The novel's themes include spinsterhood, racism, sexual tension and public humiliation during the late 1950s. Polly Platt wrote the screenplay for the
1979 film adaptation starring Anne Heywood as Evelyn Wyckoff. The film was released under several titles: ''The Shaming'', ''The Sin'', ''Secret Yearnings'' and ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff''.
''My Son Is a Splendid Driver'' (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1971) is an autobiographical novel that traces the Hansen family from 1919 into the second half of the 20th century. The novel received praise from ''Kirkus Reviews'':
:Mr. Inge's novel, told in the form of a memoir, is a little more extended than ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' and though there's a slackening of structure and splintering of content towards the second half, the first part is immaculate in both design and focus. It features the early years of Joey, the narrator here, and there are lovely scenes, as clear as the summer sunlight, with his family and on visits to assorted relatives. The time lag between Joey and his older brother Jule—his mother's favorite, my son the splendid driver, and an attractive playboy of this midwestern world—will never be reconciled. Even long after Jule's early death from a wanton incidental. Here Act I breaks away from Act II, a whole psychic anatomy of Joey's years as a young man in compressed and fractured incidents—one replayed from Miss Wyckoff and one which seems unnecessary (his parents'
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium '' Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, a ...
). Thus Joey grows up impaired, never resolving his relationship with his absentee father or insufficiently loving mother, and ends up with his ''"aloneness like a corridor that has no end"''. Inge has told his story of life and death and all those spaces in between with a gentleness and probity which gives his novel a persistence few writers achieve.
During the early 1970s Inge lived in Los Angeles, where he taught playwriting at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
. His last several plays attracted little notice or critical acclaim, and he fell into a deep depression, convinced he would never be able to write well again.
Death and legacy
Inge died of suicide by
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...
poisoning on June 10, 1973, at the
Hollywood home he shared with his sister, Helene. He was 60 years old. Inge is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in his hometown of
Independence, Kansas.
Inge has a star on the
St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Beginning with the premiere of ''
Come Back, Little Sheba'' in 1950, Inge became wealthy from the success of his plays and movies. On the advice of his financial advisors, he began to buy works of contemporary art so he could reduce his taxes by donating them to museums. According to his biographer, “''He bought only what he liked, but had excellent fortune in choosing what was going to become valuable...''”
de_Kooning,_
de_Kooning,_Jackson_Pollock">Pollock,_and_Amedeo_Modigliani.html" ;"title="Jackson_Pollock.html" ;"title="Willem_de_Kooning.html" ;"title=".g. works by Willem de Kooning">de Kooning, Jackson Pollock">Pollock, and Amedeo Modigliani">Modigliani]. Inge liked the modern art he bought because, “''...in its abstractions and distortions''” he saw “''a reflection of the distorted times in which he...lived, the times he...tried to portray''” in his written work. He donated a total of ten contemporary paintings to the
Nelson Gallery in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...
.
There is a
black box theater
A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...
named for William Inge in
Murphy Hall at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
.
Inge is a member of the
American Theater Hall of Fame
The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...
, inducted posthumously in 1979.
Since 1982, Independence Community College's
William Inge Center for the Arts in his hometown, has sponsored the annual William Inge Theatre Festival to honor playwrights. The William Inge Collection at the college is the most extensive collection of Inge material, including 400 manuscripts, films, correspondence, theater programs, and other related items.
The March 2008 issue of ''
The Brooklyn Rail'' featured interviews by playwright Adam Kraar of former Inge House resident playwrights
Marcia Cebulska,
Catherine Filloux
Catherine Filloux is an award-winning French Algerian American playwright and librettist and activist. Filloux's plays have confronted the issue of human rights in many nations. She is of French Algerian descent. She lives in New York City, New Y ...
,
Caridad Svich, Lydia Stryk, and
Alice Tuan, relating how Inge's life and work has influenced them.
Works
Plays
*1950: ''
Come Back, Little Sheba''
*1953: ''
Picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
''
*1955: ''
Bus Stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
''
*1957: ''
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs''
*1959: ''A Loss of Roses''
*1962: ''
Summer Brave
''Summer Brave'' is a play by William Inge, a revision of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1953 play ''Picnic''. Set in Independence, Kansas, a small town in Kansas in the early 1950s, it focuses on Hal Carter, an attractive young stranger who drifts in ...
''
(a reworking of ''Picnic'')
*1963: ''Natural Affection''
*1966: ''Where's Daddy?''
*1973: ''The Last Pad''
*''Off the Main Road''
Short Plays
* ''To Bobolink, for Her Spirit''
* ''People in the Wind''
* ''A Social Event''
* ''The Boy in the Basement''
* ''The Tiny Closet''
* ''Memory of Summer''
* ''Bus Riley's Back in Town''
* ''The Rainy Afternoon''
* ''The Mall''
* ''An Incident at the Standish Arms''
* ''The Strains of Triumph''
* 1953: ''Glory in the Flower''
* ''The Killing''
* ''The Love Death''
* ''The Silent Call''
* ''Bad Breath''
* ''Morning on the Beach''
* ''Moving In''
* ''A Murder''
Film and TV
*1952: ''
Come Back Little Sheba''
*1955: ''
Picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
''
*1956: ''
Bus Stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
''
*1960: ''
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs''
*1961: ''
Splendor in the Grass'' - Reverend Whitman (uncredited)
*1963: ''
All Fall Down''
*1964: ''Out on the Outskirts of Town''
(a reworking of ''Off the Main Road'') - Doctor (final appearance)
*1965: ''
Bus Riley's Back in Town
''Bus Riley's Back in Town'' is a 1965 American drama film written by William Inge, directed by Harvey Hart, and starring Ann-Margret and Michael Parks.
Inge was very unhappy with changes made to his script and had his name removed from the cre ...
''
(as Walter Gage)
Novels
*1970: Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff
*1971: My Son Is a Splendid Driver
See also
References
Further reading
* Johnson, Jeff. ''William Inge and the Subversion of Gender: Rewriting Stereotypes in the Plays, Novels, and Screenplays''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2005.
* Radavich, David. "William Inge's Dramatic Mindscape." ''South Dakota Review'' 42:3 (Fall 2004): 49–69.
* Voss, Ralph F. ''A Life of William Inge: The Strains of Triumph''. Lawrence, Kansas:
University Press of Kansas, 2000.
Listen to
''Natural Affection'' audio scenes and interview
External links
*
*
*
William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College, in Independence, Kansas.
William Inge Collectionat th
Kenneth Spencer Research Libraryat the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
William Motter Inge Collectionat
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents.
History
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William Inge Collectionat the
Harry Ransom CenterSt. Louis Walk of FameNew York Public Library Blog about William Inge and Barbara Baxley
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1913 births
1973 suicides
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners
American gay writers
Writers from Kansas
Novelists from Missouri
People from Independence, Kansas
Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
Stephens College faculty
Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning
Suicides in Kansas
University of Kansas alumni
Washington University in St. Louis faculty
Independence Community College alumni
LGBT dramatists and playwrights
American LGBT novelists
LGBT people from Kansas
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters