Pulitzer-Prize Winning Playwright Lanford Wilson Dies at 73

Lanford Wilson, a celebrated American playwright considered one of the founders of the off-off-Broadway movement, died on March 24 at age 73.

Wilson was born in Lebanon, Missouri, and set many of his plays in the Midwest. He began his writing career in the hotbed of 1960s New York, presenting one-act plays like The Madness of Lady Bright at the Greenwich Village haunt Caffe Cino. He soon became a staple of the downtown theater scene, with his plays The Rimers of Eldritch and Balm in Gilead presented at Café LaMama E.T.C.. Wilson co-founded Circle Repertory Company in 1969, and many of his plays were first presented there, Many were directed by his longstanding collaborative partner, Marshall W. Mason.

In addition to The Rimers of Eldritch and Balm in Gilead, Wilson’s plays include The Gingham Dog, Angels Fall, Serenading Louie, Lemon Sky, Talley & Son and Redwood Curtain. His plays Fifth of July, Burn This, The Hot l Baltimore and Talley's Folly all had successful Broadway runs, and Talley’s Folly (the most famous play of his "Talley Trilogy," which followed several generations of a Missouri family) won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A Broadway revival of the play had been planned for spring 2011 starring Richard Schiff and Robin Wright, though Wright subsequently withdrew from the project.

Wilson was a respected member of the American theater community, having been elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 2001, honored with a Signature Theatre Company season dedicated to his work in 2002 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.

Wilson's longtime friend and artistic partner Mason wrote on his Facebook page, “Our great writer and my closest friend passed away this morning at 10:45. The doctors say it was a peaceful, painless end. I’m very happy that just a couple of days ago Jeff Daniels and Jon Hogan serenaded him in his hospital room, and that he had the pleasure of hearing his songs. Words cannot express the loss we all will feel, but we must be grateful for the bountiful beauty he bestowed upon us.” Mason added that Wilson's funeral and burial will held in Sag Harbor, NY, on March 28.