The second volume of Smith and Kraus' publication of the complete works of Pulitzer publication of the complete works of Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson. Plays are Balm in Gilead, Rimers of Eldritch, Gingham Dog, Lemon Sky, and The Sand Castle. Noted playwrite Wilson (Collected Plays. Vol. 1: 21 Short Plays, LJ 1/94), a native son of the Ozark town of Lebanon, Missouri, has much to say about American places?from Midwest ghost towns, to Southern California, to New York's Greenwich Village?and the people who inhabit them. We meet pimps and prostitutes (male and female), dysfunctional families, an interracial couple in the process of breaking up, and others living on the fringes of society. Many of the situations and events are autobiographical, as Wilson speaks to us about America and its dying dreams of freedom, equality, and prosperity for all. All five of these plays?Balm in Gilead, Rimers of Eldritch, The Gingham Dog, Lemon Sky, and The Sand Castle?have been presented off Broadway to critical acclaim. This thought-provoking collection belongs in every high school, academic, and public library with a modern drama collection. Highly recommended.?Howard E. Miller, formerly with Alliance Blue Cross & Blue Shield Lib., St. Louis Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the beginning, Lanford Wilson has had a fabulous ear for American dialogue--not merely American speech, but the way Americans converse in fragmentary, machine-gun bursts or in long, lonely, digressive monologues that everyone else only half listens to. It didn't matter whether Wilson was creating a quiet or noisy moment: he could conjure the mood in a line or two or even in just a pause. This gift and the knack for recognizable but unstereotypical characterization helped Wilson step easily from scruffy, small-cast one-acts to longer works requiring more actors, space, and rehearsal. In his first produced long play, the 24-character slice of New York's lower depths Balm in Gilead (1965), Wilson handled dialogue like a master, overlapping junkie rants and hustler complaints with a confidence that belied his youth. This collection includes five early long plays, from Balm in Gilead to Lemon Sky (1970). While Wilson introduces each autobiographically, a reverential essay by Village Voice critic Michael Feingold introduces them all. Jack Helbig Lanford Wilson received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award for Talley's Folly as well as Obies for The Hot L. Balitmore and The Mound Builders. He received Tony nominations for Talley's Folly, 5th of July, and Angels Fall. Wilson makes his home in Sag Harbor, New York. Used Book in Good Condition