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Theatre Biographies New & Featured See also: Theatre > Playwrights Film > Biographies; Directors; Producer Bad Reputation: Performances, Essays, Interviews Penny Arcade A runaway at thirteen, a reform-school graduate at sixteen, a performer in the legendary New York Play-House of the Ridiculous at seventeen, and an escapee from Andy Warhol's Factory scene at nineteen, Penny Arcade emerged in the 1980s as a primal force on the New York art scene and an originator of what came to be called performance art. Arcade's brand of high camp and street-smart, punk-rock cabaret showmanship has been winning over international audiences ever since. This autobiographical trilogy of plays represents her at her best. Hardcover, 196 pp. $23.95. Ira Gershwin: Selected Lyrics Robert Kimball Heartfelt, high-spirited, sparkling with vernacular eloquence, the lyrics of Ira Gershwin defined the spirit of an era and have lived on as part of the American tradition. In his classic collaboration with his brother George and in his later songs, Ira distilled ordinary American speech into indelible verse. Here are more than 80 lyrics embodying his wit, romance, and dazzling virtuosity. Hardcover, 169 pp. $25.00. The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi Andrew McConnell Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) revolutionized the art of the clown and became a national celbrity. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Lord Byron and Charles Dickens and transformed the art of on-stage comedy. Yet the outward joy and tomfoolery of his performances masked a dark and depressing personal life. Stott has written the definitive biography of the original 'sad clown' and offers a nuanced portrait of Georgian theatre in London. Riots, fires, and all! Hardcover, 433 pp. $42.00. Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told Kenneth Turan & Joseph Papp In this oral history, we see how theatrical visionary Joe Papp overcame myriad obstacles to bring first-rate theatre productions to an urban audience with The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre. Here, in all their backstage drama, are the accounts of how such landmark productions as Hair, No Place to Be Somebody, A Chorus Line, That Championship Season, Streamers, for colored girls ... , True West, The Normal Heart, and Aunt Dan and Lemon came into the world. Hardcover, 593 pp. $49.00. Diaghilev and Friends Joy Melville As the dominant father figure of the Ballets Russes from their inception in 1909, Diaghilev was admired, feared, loved, and hated in equal measure. Joy Melville's major new biography, published on the centenary of the foundation of the Ballet Russes, explores her subject's tempestuous and destructive affair with his protege Nijinsky, and his friendship with Jean Cocteau, searching all the while for Diaghilev the man, what motivated him, amused him, angered him and inspired him. Hardcover, 290 pp. $33.00. Mainly On Directing Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals by Arthur Laurents Playwright, screenwriter, director, Arthur Laurents has been at the birth and rebirth of the American musical theatre's greatest creations for the past five decades. At the age of ninety one, he has just directed the wildly acclaimed new production of West Side Story on Broadway. This book revels in the author's love for and understanding of, musical theatre, the people who make it and the audiences who attend. He writes from experience, in rich detail about his work and the work of other great directors. There isn't a page in this book that doesn't entertain or give the reader a fascinating insight into the art of directing. This is a book inspired by love, which we can be thankful for. Hardcover $28.95. Memories: Celebrating 40 Years in the Theatre Elaine Paige In Memories, Elaine Paige takes us through her career from her earliest stage appearances to her starring roles in some of the biggest musicals of the past 40 years: Grease, Evita, Cats, Chess, and Sunset Boulevard. Fans of musical theatre will treasure this revealing, often funny, and personal book. Hardcover, 160 pp. $46.50. Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too! A Critic's Memoir John Gruen From his extraordinary beginnings--his mother went into labour while gambling at a French casino--to escaping Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and ultimately hoping to conquer New York City, John Gruen writes a subtly revealing self-portrait in Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too! Hardcover, 327 pp. $32.00. A Strange Eventful History Michael Holroyd Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were the king and queen of the Victorian stage. In his first major biography for fifteen years, Michael Holroyd explores their public and private lives, showing how their artistic legacy and lines of inheritance came to influence the modern world. A witty, elegant and brilliantly paced tragicomedy, and an absorbing chronicle of two great theatrical families, A Strange Eventful History is a masterwork of the biographer's art. Hardcover, 620 pp. $57.95. Sybil Thorndike: A Star of Life Jonathan Croall Sybil Thorndike was one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century. Loved and admired as a leading actress, she was also an ardent feminist, socialist and pacifist, who fought throughout her life for a better and more peaceful world. With unique access to hundreds of unpublished letters, Jonathan Croall has produced a sympathetic but critical biography of the vicar's daughter who became a theatrical legend. Hardcover, 584 pp. $33.00. Letters of Noel Coward Edited by Barry Day Lavishly illustrated and annotated, this first and definitive collection of letters to and from Coward provides a divine portrait of an age, from the Blitz to the Ritz and beyond. Along with 191 rare photographs, these letters bring to life the people and events that shaped the twentieth century--and a remarkable man who made his own indelible mark at the heart of it. Softcover, 780 pp. $22.95. Take Your Shirt Off and Leave: A Memoir of Near-Fame Experiences Nancy Balbirer In this "memoir of near-fame experiences", Nancy Balbirer distills two decades of drama school, auditions, bit parts, cameos, and off-Broadway plays into an account by turns hilarious and horrifying. Her adventures are sometimes bizarre, sometimes painful, and always unforgettable. Softcover, 231 pp. $20.00. Gypsy: The Art of the Tease Rachel Shteir The best introductory book on the magnificent Gypsy Rose Lee, a woman whose name come to connote the importance of the sexual gimmick and the eroticism of the undelivered promise. Hardcover, 222 pp. $30.00. Artists in Exile Joseph Horowitz Decades of war and revolution in Europe forced an intellectual migration during the last century, relocating thousands of artists and thinkers to the United States. For many if Europe's premier performing artists, America proved to be a destination both strange and opportune. Artists in Exile explores the impact that these newcomers had on American cukturem and that America had on them. Softcover, 458 pp. $22.99. Kander and Ebb James Leve John Kander and Fred Ebb, one of the greatest and longest lasting composer-lyricist partnerships in Broadway history, created some of the most memorable musicals of all time, including Chicago, Cabaret, and Zorba. This book examines their artistic accomplishments as individuals and as a team. Kander and Ebb is essential reading for students of Musical theatre and lovers of Kander and Ebb's songs and shows. Hardcover, 365 pp. $49.99. Marina Abramovic Kristine Stiles, Klaus Biesenbach & Chrissie Iles Since the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form, exploring her physical and emotional limits in some of the most iconic works in contemporary art. Including a wealth of photographs, spanning her career, this volume explores Abramovic's life and art with a detailed survey, interview, essay, as well as some of the artist's own writings. Softcover, 158 pp. $59.95. Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business Ethan Mordden In Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business, Ethan Mordden re-creates the lost world of the Follies, a place of long-vanished beauty masterminded by one of the most inventive, ruthless, street-smart, and exacting men ever to fill a theatre on the Great White Way: Florenz Ziegfeld. Hardcover, $36.50. Robertson Davies: A Portrait in Mosaic Val Ross After spending a year as a journalism fellow at Massey College, Val Ross decided to track down the people who knew Robertson Davies in order to collect their memories of the man. From the chorus of well over a hundred different voices come an oral biography that is surprising, witty, charming, sad, alarming and inspiring. Thes individual stories are skillfully and unobtrusively arranged to produce a fascinatinf portrait in mosaic. Hardcover, 385 pp. $36.99. Put On A Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir Charles Strouse In Put On A Happy Face, the man behind the hit shows Annie Get Your Gun and Bye Bye Birdie pulls back the curtain for a behind the scenes tour of his remarkable life and achievements. With a sparkling wit, Charles offers an inside glimpse of Broadway, Hollywood and beyond. With prose tuned to capture both soaring highs and operatic lows, the composer whose music has delighted audiences for decades now adds words to his repetoire. Hardcover, 326 pp. Olivier Anthony Holden In this biography of Laurence Olivier, Anthony Holden creates a witty and penetrating portrait of one of the greatest screen actors of all time. In addition to exposing new revelations that have come to light since Olivier's death, Holden investigatesa the truth behind rumours of Olivier's alleged homosexual affairs with the likes of Marlon Brando and Danny Kaye, for a lonf time covered up by Olivier's family. Hardcover, 515 pp. $35.95. Richard Burton: Prince of Players Michael Munn Here is the full story of Richard Burton's life and remarkable career, revealed by a writer who knew him from 1968 up to the time they were together on Burton's last film in 1984. Hardcover, 260 pp. $39.95.   The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close Kim "Howard" Johnson For nearly a half century, Del Close - cocreator of the Harold, director for the Second City, San Fancisco's the Committee, and the ImprovOlympic, and "house metaphysician" for Saturday Night Live - influenced improvisational theatre's greatest comedic talents. Del was never one to let the truth of his life stand in the way of a good story - and yet the truth is even more fascinating than the fiction. Hardcover, 422 pp. $29.95. Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie Rachel Corrie Let Me Stand Alone reveals the late activist Rachel Corrie's striking gifts as a poet and writer as she tells her story in her own words, from her precocious reflections as a young girl to her final emails. Her writing brings to life all that it means to come of age--a dawning sense of self, a thirst for one's own ideals, and an evolving connection to others near and far. Hardcover, 311 pp. $23.95. David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre Ira Nadel Breaking through David Mamet's notoriously private persona, Ira Nadel delivers a revealing and insightful biography of the celebrated playwright, director, and essayist. With verve and precision, Nadel delves deep into Mamet's complicated family life, his life before the theatre, and his early career. By using Mamet's plays and other writing as a guide, Nadel is able to find clarity in Mamet's extraordinary life. Hardcover, $29.95. The Secret Life of Houdini William Kalush & Larry Sloman Handcuff King. Escape Artist. International Superstar. Since his death eighty years ago, Harry Houdini's life has been chronicled in books, in film, and on television. Now, in this groundbreaking biography, renowned magic expert William Kalush and bestselling writer Larry Sloman team up to find the man behind the myth. Drawing from millions of pages of research, they describe in vivid detail the passions that drove Houdini to perform ever-more-dangerous feats, his secret life as a spy, and a pernicious plot to subvert his legacy. Softcover, 591 pp. $19.99. Tales of a Theatrical Guru Danny Newman In Tales of a Theatrical Guru, legendary showman Danny Newman brings together thirty-three profiles of key arts people he's known during his amazing career. Ranging from hilarious to somber, these fascinating vignettes and anecdotes provide a backstage pass to insider stories from the dynamo who's kept the American arts thriving and a complete picture of a world that few have ever seen so intimately. Hardcover, 260 pp. $38.00. Enchantress of Nations: Pauline Viardot: Soprano, Muse and Lover Michael Steen Enchantress of Nations is a portrait of Pauline Viardot, one of music's most magnetic, colourful and brilliant female stars - but also a picturesque biography of tumultuous, artistic, ever-changing 19th-century Europe. Hardcover, 539 pp. $40.00. Back to top

Theatre Biographies are listed alphabetically by last name. • New & Featured • A to C • D to H • I to M • N to S • T to Z Film Biographies Television Biographies Theatre Studies Canadian Theatre Studies Criticism/Theory/History Musical Theatre Theatre Biographies National Theatre Studies Playwrights Playwrighting Theatre Reference Actors & Acting Plays Shakespeare Technical Theatre Drama in Education

Frank Loesser Thomas L. Riis Immensely prolific and a personally magnetic man, Loesser was a major figure during the Broadway golden age that included Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Bernstein. Here, Thomas L. Riis, in a deeply informed and lively discussion of Loesser's life and musical career, presents a critical look at one of the mmost important -- though often overshadowed -- Broadway composers. Hardcover, 329 pp. $47.95. Taking Stock: The Theatre of Max Stafford-Clark Philip Roberts & Max Stafford-Clark Max Stafford-Clark's career as a theatre director is one of the longest, richest, and most influential of any of his peers at work in the British theatre today. It also has a striking homogeneity and integrity. This book offers an inside account, mostly in the first person, of the making of some of the most influential theatre productions of the last four decades. Softcover, 266 pp. $37.00. The Letters of Noel Coward Edited by Barry Day The first and definitive collection of letters (most of them previously unpublished) both from and to the incomparable Noel Coward, a unique and irresistible portrait of a society and age. Profoundly savvy, witty, loving, bitchy, and often surprisingly moving, The Letters of Noel Coward give us "Destiny's Tot" at his crackling best. Hardcover, 780 pp. $47.00 $40.00. The Real Life of Laurence Olivier Roger Lewis In this classic biography of Laurence Olivier, Roger Lewis goes beyond the magical illusions the actor created to tell the truth about the man's sexuality, ambition, revenges, power, preoccupations and achievements. Olivier's life and work become a love story - the tale of the relationship with Vivien Leigh, who was destroyed by the extent of her passion for him, as he himself was cast into a frenzy of guilt and disillusionment. Softcover, 347 pp. $25.95. Jerzy Grotowski James Slowiak & Jairo Cuesta Jerzy Grotowski was a master director, teacher and theorist whose work extends beyond the conventional limits of performance. This book combines an overview of Grotowski's life and the distinct phases of his work; an analysis of his key ideas; a consideration of his role as director of the renowned Polish Laboratory Theatre, and a series of practical exercises offering an introduction to the principles underlying Grotowski's working methods. Softcover, 182 pp. $24.95. Robert Wilson Maria Shevtsova Routledge Performance Practitioners is a series of introductory guides to the key theatre-makers of the last century. Robert Wilson is an American-European director who is also a performer, installation artist, writer, designer of light and much more besides--a crossover polymath who dissolves both generic and geographical boundaries and is a precursor of globalization in the arts. Softcover, 172 pp. $29.99. The Undertaker's Daughter: The Colourful Life of a Theatre Director Yvonne Brewster Yvonne Brewster is one of the founders and leading lights of Britain's Black Theatre Movement. She has directed plays by writers as varied in period and background as Derek Walcott, Shakespeare, and Wole Soyinka, in theatres all over the world: from Britain, to Australia, to the U.S.A. Softcover, 257 pp. $24.95. Everybody's Daughter: Nobody's Child Jane Lapotaire A memoir written by one of Britain's most outstanding actors, Everybody's Daughter, Nobody's Child is a vivid chronicle of childhood, evoking the England of the fifties and the confusions of growing up illegitimate. Softcover, 369 pp. $18.00. Etienne Decroux Thomas Leabhart Etienne Decroux is a book that combines an overview of Decroux's life and work; an analysis of Decroux's Words on Mime - the first book to be written about this art - and a series of practical exercises offering an introduction to corporeal mime technique. Softcover, 144 pp. $29.95. Ariane Mnouchkine Judith G. Miller Ariane Mnouchkine, the most significant living French theatre director, has devised over the last forty years a form of research and creation with her theatre collective, Le Theatre du Soleil, that is both engaged with contemporary history and committed to reinvigorating theatre by foregrounding the centrality of the actor. Softcover, 157 pp. $36.50. Tennessee Williams Notebooks Margaret Bradham Thornton These notebooks, here published for the first time, present by turns a passionate, whimsical, movingly lyrical, self-reflective, and completely uninhibited record of the life of this monumental American genius from 1936 to 1981. In these pages Williams wrote out his most private thoughts; reflected on his plays, stories, and poems; and gave accounts of his social, professional, and sexual encounters. Meticulously edited and annotated by Margaret Bradham Thornton, these notebooks form what is possibly the most spontaneous self-portrait by any writer in American history. Hardcover, 828 pp. $52.95. Beckett Remembering Remembering Beckett James Knowlson & Elizabeth Knowlson In the first part of this book, Beckett, a notably reclusive man, talks candidly with his official biographer, James Knowlson, about his family, his youth, his school years in Dublin, his early life in Paris as lecteur at the famed Ecole Normale Superieure, his friendship with James Joyce, his work in the French resistance movement during the Nazi occupation, his precipitous flight from Paris when his involvement was discovered by the Gestapo, his clandestine years in the Vaucluse region of southern France, his postwar volunteer work with the Irish Red Cross Hospital in Saint-Lo, and his return to Paris in the late 1940s to resume his literary life. The second part of this book offer the other side of the coin, as friends and colleagues share their memories of Beckett. Hardcover, 313 pp. $39.95. The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein Martin Duberman Lincoln Kerstein's contributions to the nation's life, as both an intellectual force and advocate of the arts, were unparalleled. Among much else, Kirstein helped create Lincoln Center in New York, and the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. But behind this remarkably accomplished and renowned public face lay a complex, contradictory, often tortured human being. Martin Duberman renders accessible a towering figure of great complexity and achievemment. Hardcover, $47.00. Pictorial Illusionism: The Theatre of Steele MacKaye J.A. Sokalski In the first full-length critical study of the work of Steele MacKaye--director, actor, inventor, painter, theorist, and writer--J.A. Sokalski draws on a wealth of primary sources to examine the aims and methods of Steele's unified theory of pictorial illusionism. Hardccover, 315 pp. $55.00. Back to top

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Last modified January 5, 2010. Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.