In New Book, Playwrights Reveal The Play That Changed My Life

Which Tony-winning playwright considered Cyrano de Bergerac his role model after seeing Edmond Rostand’s play in high school? Which contemporary dramatist still has his program from Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, autographed by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy? Which hot young writer felt called to the stage after a college production of Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz left her in tears?

The answers, and the stories behind them, can be found in The Play That Changed My Life (Applause Books), a new paperback edited by Ben Hodges and published under the sponsorship of the American Theatre Wing. Once you pick this book up, it’s hard to put it down, as you browse among reminiscences of 19 playwrights ranging from Jon Robin Baitz and A.R. Gurney to Suzan-Lori Parks and Doug Wright. Hodges interviewed a handful of the writers, but the best chapters are surprisingly revealing personal essays, accompanied by well-chosen production photos.

It’s fun, for example, to discover that playwrights Beth Henley and Sarah Ruhl grew up watching their mothers act in community theater. Donald Margulies felt convinced that Death of a Salesman was the story of his own family (and used that idea as a springboard for his play The Loman Family Picnic). Christopher Durang became obsessed with a pair of musicals he saw at 13, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and Carnival! Diana Son recalls being riveted by Joseph Papp’s production of Hamlet with Diane Venora in the title role at the Public, which later produced two of her plays.

The Play That Changed My Life makes an excellent holiday stocking stuffer for theater lovers of all ages. (Jonathan Groff calls it “incredible” in a cover blurb.) The moral of the book is simple: If you discover theater when you’re young, you’ll be hooked forever. Oh, and the answers to the questions in the first paragraph? John Patrick Shanley, David Ives and Sarah Ruhl.