# Is Lanford Wilson still relevant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418 "2014-07-05T18:57:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/1 "2014-07-05T18:57:01Z")
Two years ago, someone said “Happy fifth of July!” to me. “OMG!” I said. “I saw that! Not with the original cast, but I saw it!” Blank looks all around. I explained that **Fifth of July** was a stage play, by a guy named Lanford Wilson, it was part of a series of plays about this messed-up family…Still blank looks, until a young woman with some dramatic aspirations asked, “So this was in the '80s — is he still relevant? Should I know his works?” I had to say I didn’t know. And on Wiki’ing him, I see that he is now dead. I’m not providing a link, because if no one knows the name without looking it up, that is probably an indicator that he is no longer relevant. I’m still curious, though (should have asked this two years ago): Are any of his plays still being produced? Are they important to know, for someone who wants to be an actor, or playwright, or anything in theater? Or is he seen as stuck in the 1980s (or 1970s, for that matter; I remember FoJ having a reek of the 1970s to it)? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/2 "2014-07-05T21:15:56Z")
He’s still considered an important playwright. There was a revival of **Talley’s Folly** in NYC last year and I saw a version of **The Hot L Baltimore** at our local community theater in 2009.\* **Fifth Of July** was last revived in NYC in 2003 and is currently being performed in the Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain, CT. So it looks like his works are still in repertory and being produced. \*I wouldn’t expect that to be community theater material, because the end of the first act requires full female nudity to work. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/3 "2014-07-06T00:22:04Z")
I’m pretty sure one of the local universities has done a production of one of his plays within the last year, although looking over the titles, none of them rings any bells so I’m not sure which play it was. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/4 "2014-07-06T00:25:21Z")
Huh. I majored in theatre, graduated 5 years ago. I recognize the title Hot L Baltimore, but not the playwright’s name. But I’m sure that can be said of many playwrights. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/5 "2014-07-06T02:37:21Z")
Since I’ve never heard of him, I’m gonna be a Philistine and go with “no.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/6 "2014-07-06T06:04:35Z")
Okay, so somewhat relevant. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/7 "2014-07-06T19:17:19Z")
He’s relevant to me. “Fith of July” traveled in my backpack for years while I was in college. I would take it out and read it in quiet times. Now that I am the age of the major haracters, I understand it even more. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/8 "2014-07-06T19:45:18Z")
The thing is that theater has a pretty limited audience, and outside of major cities, you’re dependent on your local college and community theaters to know what’s around. If you don’t go to the theater, you don’t hear of him, and if the theaters in your area don’t choose to perform his work (and this can be said of many playwrights), then you don’t hear of it. Wilson probably also has the problem of confusion with August Wilson, who won two Pulitzer Prizes. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/9 "2014-07-06T20:37:18Z")
I only knew Hot L Baltimore as a short-lived but enjoyable Norman Lear TV production, and the rest was unfamiliar. But if he’s still being staged, I’d say relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/10 "2014-07-06T20:52:39Z")
I don’t know of any recent productions locally of _Burn This,_ which may be my favorite play of all time. I DID see that there was a production when it was first written that had John Malkovich and Joan Allen. That would have been interesting. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/11 "2014-07-06T22:10:31Z")
I never saw\*\*\* Fifth of July \*\*\*on Broadway, but I remember that both Christopher Reeve and Richard “John Boy” Thomas played the lead role at one time or another. Did the OP see either of them? I remember that Reeve personally insisted that one line be removed: he played a gay paraplegic, and at one point, he was supposed to call himself “Superfaggot.” I think we can all guess why Reeve wanted that line out! The only Lanford Wilson play I ever actually saw was _ **Angels Fall,** _ a play about a group of people stranded at a Southwestern mission, awaiting word whether a nearby nuclear accident is going to prove fatal. The play itself was dull as dishwater, but Barnard Hughes was superb in it as a priest. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/12 "2014-07-07T01:52:46Z")
It was Richard Thomas I saw! Never watched his TV show, so no preconceived notions. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/13 "2014-07-07T02:05:04Z")
Definitely relevant to me, since _Talley’s Folly_ is my favorite play. Googling for Lanford Wilson revivals finds quite a few over the past three years. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/14 "2014-07-07T02:16:35Z")
I think I need to dig out the videotape and rewatch 5th of July tomorrow while I clean my room. It would fit the mood I am in. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lanford-wilson-still-relevant/692418/15 "2014-07-07T04:20:52Z")
We did _The Rimers Of Eldritch_ in high school back in the 1980s.