Unexpected Productions’ A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol is coming up, a show in which both the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present are played in styles (one playwright and one movie genre). It’s one of my favorite show, and it gives me a chance to dive quickly into a style without worrying about narrative, since the narrative is on rails.
It has also given me a lot of data on what playwrights audiences in Seattle ask for. In fifteen years, here are all the playwrights I’ve ever gotten. Whenever Seattle improvisers say they’d like to learn more about playwrights, I give them this list as a place to start. It’s worth noting that audiences have been exposed to a lot more white male playwrights than not, but I’ve seen some trends away from that more recently, which gives me hope!
- Edward Albee
- Aristophanes
- Samuel Beckett
- Bertolde Brecht
- Albert Camus
- Anton Chekhov
- Agatha Christie
- Caryl Churchill
- Noel Coward
- Christopher Durang
- Gilbert and Sullivan
- Graham Greene
- Henrik Ibsen
- Eugène Ionesco
- David Mamet
- Christopher Marlowe
- Arthur Miller
- Lin Manuel Miranda
- Molière
- Clifford O’Detts
- Eugene O’Neill
- Harold Pinter
- Jean Racine
- Rogers and Hammerstein
- William Shakespeare
- George Bernard Shaw
- Neil Simon
- Stephen Sondheim
- Tom Stoppard
- Sophocles
- Paula Vogel
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Oscar Wilde
- Thorton Wilder
- Tennessee Williams
- August Wilson
Tony Beeman has lived in Seattle as a writer, performer, director and software developer since 1998. In addition to performing, directing and serving as Artistic Associate at Unexpected Productions in Pike Place Market, Tony performs regularly with 4&20 Improv, Seattle Experimental Theater, and Improv Anonymous. His Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is INFP.
[…] Yesterday, I posted playwrights which I’ve gotten over the last fifteen years. […]