John Guare ( ; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation.
Early life
John Guare was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman, Stephen. "THEATER; In Guare's Art, Zero Degrees of Separation" The New York Times, April 11, 1999 In 1949, his father suffered a heart attack and subsequently moved the family to Ellenville, New York, while he recovered. His father's relatives lived there, making it an idyllic experience for him. Guare did not regularly attend school in Ellenville because the school's daily practices were not in keeping with the recommendations of the Catholic Church, causing his father to suspect the school had communist leanings. Instead of attending school, Guare was assigned home study and took exams intermittently, which allowed him time to go to the movies and see all the hits of the time. This had a lasting influence on Guare and his career.
He attended Georgetown University and the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 1962 with a M.F.A in Playwriting. Under the direction of Georgetown's Donn B. Murphy, his play The Toadstool Boy, about a country singer's quest for fame, won first place in the District of Columbia Recreation Department's One-Act-Play competition.Plunka, Gene A., "Chapter 1", The Black Comedy of John Guare, University of Delaware Press, 2002, , pp 26–27, 29 In 1960, the Mask and Bauble presented The Thirties Girl, a musical for which Guare did the book, much of the music and the lyrics, again under Murphy's tutelage. Set in 1920s Hollywood, it deals with the dethronement of a reigning diva by a fresh-faced starlet.
Career Guare's early plays, mostly comic one-acts exhibiting a flair for the absurd, include To Wally Pantoni, We Leave a Credenza, produced at Caffe Cino in 1965 and Muzeeka (1968).Muzeeka lortel.org, accessed November 14, 2015
Cop-Out premiered on Broadway at the Cort Theatre on April 7, 1969, and closed on April 12, 1969, as part of two one-act plays, including Home Fires. Cop-Out starred Linda Lavin and Ron Leibman."'Cop-out' Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed November 15, 2015Simonson, Robert. "FRINGE WATCH: John Guare's 'Cop-Out' Gets Rare Staging" Playbill, August 1, 2000
The House of Blue Leaves, a domestic black comedy, premiered Off-Broadway in 1971 at the Truck and Warehouse Theatre. It was revived off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1986 before transferring to Broadway later in 1986."'The House of Blue Leaves' Broadway 1986" playbillvault.com, accessed November 16, 2015 The play was revived on Broadway in 2011, starring Ben Stiller, whose mother, Anne Meara, had appeared in the 1971 production.Gans, Andrew. "'House of Blue Leaves' Revival, With Ben Stiller and Edie Falco, Begins on Broadway April 4" playbill.com, April 4, 2011 According to Marilyn Stasio writing in Variety the play "sets the bar for smart comic lunacy."Stasio, Marilyn. "Review: 'The House of Blue Leaves'" Variety, April 25, 2011
Chaucer in Rome, "said to be a sequel of sorts to ... The House of Blue Leaves and includ[ing] the son of one of the earlier play's characters"Simonson, Robert. "Guare's 'Chaucer in Rome' Opens at Lincoln Center Theater, June 7" Playbill, June 7, 2001 received its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 1999Simonson, Robert. "John Guare's 'Chaucer in Rome' Ends Williamstown Run Aug. 8" Playbill, August 6, 1999 and was produced Off-Broadway in 2001 at Lincoln Center Theater's Newhouse Theater." Chaucer in Rome Listing" lct.org, accessed June 30, 2015
Later plays include Marco Polo Sings a Solo, produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in January to March 1977, with a cast that featured Joel Grey, Anne Jackson, Madeline Kahn, and Sigourney Weaver. Bosoms and Neglect was produced on Broadway in 1979, and revived off-Broadway in 1998 by the Signature Theatre Company. Moon Over Miami was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1987 and then at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven in February 1989.Curry, Jane Kathleen. John Guare: A Research and Production Sourcebook, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, , p. 3, 178
Guare's cycle of plays on nineteenth-century America are: Gardenia (1982)Rich, Frank. "Stage. Guare's 'Gardenia' Antedates His 'Lydie'" New York Times, April 29, 1982 Lydie Breeze (1982)Rich, Frank. "Stage: Guare's 'Lydie Breeze'" New York Times, February 26, 1982 and Women and Water (1985).Gussow, Mel. "Stage. Guare Chronicle 'Women and Water'" New York Times, December 8, 1985 The so-called Lydie Breeze series, also called the "Nantucket" series, "follows a group of idealistic 19th century characters and their attempts to create a utopian society. "Haun, Harry; Lefkowitz, David; and Simonson, Ribert. "NY's Signature Opens OB Season with a Guare Solo, Sept. 27-Oct. 25" Playbill, September 26, 1998
Six Degrees of Separation was originally produced off-Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in June 1990."'Six Degrees of Separation' 1990" lortel.org, accessed November 16, 2015 Six Degrees of Separation is an intricately plotted comedy of manners about an African-American confidence man who poses as the son of film star Sidney Poitier. It has been the most highly praised and widely produced of Guare's full-length plays. It was made into a film in 1993, starring Stockard Channing and Will Smith."'Six Degrees Of Separation' Film Overview" tcm.com, accessed November 16, 2015
Four Baboons Adoring the Sun was presented on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater from February 22, 1992, to April 19, 1992, and was nominated for the 1992 Tony Award, Best Play.
Lake Hollywood (1999) and A Few Stout Individuals (2002) both received their world premieres at the Signature Theatre. A Few Stout Individuals is set in nineteenth century America, with a cast of characters that includes Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, soprano Adelina Patti and the Emperor and Empress of Japan.Jones, Kenneth. "John Guare's Latest, 'A Few Stout Individuals', Opens Off-Bway May 12" Playbill, May 12, 2002
Guare has also been involved with musical theatre. His libretto with Mel Shapiro for the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona was a success when it premiered in 1971 and was revived in 2005 at the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park. It won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical as well as the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. He wrote the songs for Landscape of the Body. Brantley, Ben. "Gold Lamé Dreams Dashed by Polyester Reality in 'Landscape of the Body'" New York Times, April 17, 2006 Guare wrote narration for Psyche, a tone poem by César Franck, which premiered at Avery Fisher Hall in October 1997, conducted by Kurt Masur with the New York Philharmonic.TommasIni, Anthoiny. "Classical Music. Spelling Out The Musical Tale of 'Psyche'" New York Times, October 5, 1997
Guare made uncredited revisions to the book for the 1999 Broadway revival of the Cole Porter musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate.Jones, Kenneth. "The Stars Fill the Sky: 'Kiss Me, Kate' Revival Opens on Bway Nov. 18" Playbill, November 18, 1999 He wrote the book for the musical Sweet Smell of Success, which premiered on Broadway in 2002, for which he received a 2002 Tony Award nomination, Book of a Musical."'Sweet Smell of Success' Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed November 14, 2015
His play A Free Man of Color was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer citation called it "an audacious play spread across a large historical canvas, dealing with serious subjects while retaining a playful intellectual buoyancy.""Pulitzer Prize for Drama" pulitzer.org, accessed November 15, 2015
Guare wrote the screenplay for Louis Malle's film Atlantic City (1980), for which he was nominated for an Oscar.Atlantic City tcm.com, accessed November 14, 2015
Other activities Guare was an original member in 1965 of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, ConnecticutCattaneo, Anne. "John Guare, The Art of Theater No. 9. Interview" The Paris Review, Winter 1992, accessed November 14, 2015 and Resident Playwright at the New York Shakespeare Festival, during which time he wrote Landscape of the Body, Rich and Famous, and Marco Polo Sings a Solo.
He is a council member of the Dramatists Guild."Membership Profile Information. John Guare" dramatistsguild.com, accessed November 16, 2015
He is Co-Executive Editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review,"Magazine: LCT Review" lct.org, accessed November 15, 2015 which he founded in 1987."Events, Upcoming January 11, 2016" thesegalcenter.org, accessed November 15, 2015 He co-produces the New Plays Reading Room Series at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts and teaches in the Playwriting department at the Yale School of Drama.
Critical acclaim In his foreword to a collection of Guare's plays, Louis Malle wrote:
Guare practices a humor that is synonymous with lucidity, exploding genre and clichés, taking us to the core of human suffering: the awareness of corruption in our own bodies, death circling in. We try to fight it all by creating various mythologies, and it is Guare's peculiar aptitude for exposing these grandiose lies of ours that makes his work so magical.John Guare. Three Exposures. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. . Page viii.
Gregory Mosher, formerly the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, said that Guare, "along with David Mamet, Sam Shepard and a handful of other dramatists, reshaped the face of contemporary American theater over the past quarter century."Herman, Jan. "Writer's Gift Measured by 'Degrees'" Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1996
Works
All plays for the stage unless otherwise noted.
1966: Cop-Out (one-act)John Guare Collected Works Volume One (Smith & Kraus Lyme NH 1996) 1967: Home Fires (curtain raised for Cop Out)John Guare Collected Works Volume One (Smith & Kraus Lyme NH 1996) 1971: The House of Blue Leaves 1971: Two Gentlemen of Verona 1971: Taking Off (screenplay) 1973: Marco Polo Sings a SoloJohn Guare Collected Works Volume One (Smith & Kraus Lyme NH 1996) – Off-Broadway revival 1977Sommer, Elyse. "A CurtainUp Review. 'Marco Polo Sings a Solo'" curtainup.com, September 28, 1998"'Marco Polo Sings a Solo' 1977" lortel.org 1974: Rich and FamousJohn Guare Collected Works Volume One (Smith & Kraus Lyme NH 1996) 1977: Landscape of the Body 1979: Bosoms and Neglect 1980: Atlantic City (screenplay) 1981: In Fireworks Lie Secret Codes 1982: Lydie Breeze 1982: Gardenia 1985: Women and Water 1986: The Race to Urga 1987: Moon Under Miami (revived as Moon Over Miami in 1989 and as Moon Under Miami in 1995)John Guare Collected Works Volume One (Smith & Kraus Lyme NH 1996) 1990: Six Degrees of Separation 1992: Four Baboons Adoring the Sun – Broadway (Vivian Beaumont Theatre)"'Four Baboons Adoring the Sun' Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed November 15, 2015 1999: Lake Hollywood – Off-BroadwaySommer, Elyse. "A CurtainUp Review. 'Lake Hollywood'" CurtainUp, May 6, 1999 2001: Chaucer in Rome 2002: A Few Stout Individuals 2010: A Free Man of Color – Broadway (Vivian Beaumont Theater)"'A Free Man of Color' Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed November 15, 2015 2011: Erased/Elżbieta 2012: Are You There, McPhee? – McCarter TheatreGans, Andrew. "'Private Lives' Paul Gross Will Star in World Premiere of John Guare's' Are You There, McPhee?'" Playbill, April 12, 2012 2013: 3 Kinds of Exile – Off-BroadwayHetrick, Adam. "John Guare Makes Acting Debut in His New Play '3 Kinds of Exile', Beginning May 15 at the Atlantic" Playbill, May 15, 2013 2014: Between (short play) 2019: Nantucket Sleigh Ride - Off-Broadway (Lincoln Center Newhouse) (revised version of Are You There, McPhee?)Fierberg, Ruthie. " 'Nantucket Sleigh Ride' Opens Off-Broadway March 18" playbill, March 18, 2019
Awards and honors