Several short plays by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning writer William Inge, never before publicly performed, will premiere April 22 at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival in his Kansas hometown.
The 28th annual William Inge Theatre Festival celebrates the legacy of great American playwrights and honors Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt April 22-25. They will receive the coveted Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award, joining the list of previous Inge Festival honorees such as Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Neil Simon, and Stephen Sondheim.
The world premiere Inge plays will be directed by Karen Carpenter, an accomplished professional theater artist of many varied pursuits. Carpenter has produced and directed for commercial and non-profit theater for over 20 years.
"Special collections throughout the country are full of unpublished material that has never seen the light of day," said Marcel LaFlamme, curator of the William Inge Collection and Director of the Learning Resource Center at Independence Community College. "Here at ICC, though, we're fortunate to have a close relationship with a premier arts organization that's interested in staging this unpublished work. Other special collections should be so lucky."
The Inge Collection, housed at ICC, is the repository of more than 400 original manuscripts written by William Inge. Born in 1913 in Independence, Kansas, Inge won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama ("Picnic"), the Oscar for Outstanding Screenplay ("Splendor in the Grass,") and had four consecutive hits on Broadway. He died in 1973. The William Inge Theatre Festival was founded in 1982 to honor his legacy and to celebrate great living American playwrights.
"The successful 2007 Broadway revival of ‘Come Back, Little Sheba,' no doubt reconfirmed William Inge as one of America's foremost playwrights," said Peter Ellenstein, Artistic Director of the William Inge Center for the Arts. "There is a new awareness of the humanity of the everyday characters William Inge so effectively creates, and the moving drama inherent in them.
"However, people who think they know William Inge's ‘style' will be intrigued and thrilled with these unpublished plays," Ellenstein said. "They are representative of a formidable range for which William Inge is not widely known."
A highlight is "Morning on the Beach." It is a nostalgic wistful comedy set at a summer resort. The regular customers and The Lifeguard staff intermingle and share their life's desires in an atmosphere of playfulness, but then the daughter of a crusty customer takes a shine to a young man. "This play is very optimistic, and celebrates life as a beautiful poem, a theme that resonates throughout the piece," said Ellenstein.
Inge reveals a full-force sense of humor in "Bad Breath." This hilarious farce is complete with timely entrances and exits. The story sends up commercialism, as a housewife relies on consumer products to attain perfection and rescue her family from mortifying social situations.
Inge is known for his moving portrayal of those outside the mainstream who struggle for acceptance. "Moved In" explores the successful assimilation of such "outsiders." The story begins as an African-American husband and wife receive some interesting news. The ending affirms that marvelous things can happen to proud, ordinary people.
"Moved In" is one of several short plays Inge wrote for "Complex," a collection of stories set in an apartment building, and the inspiration for the collection of plays. "A Silent Call" features some more familiar Inge characters: two unmarried female teachers are roommates. Their ordinary lives unravel when confronted with mysterious telephone calls.
