About the Play:

Selected Plays of Arthur Laurents features a collection of groundbreaking plays by Arthur Laurents. The book, which is the only collection of plays by Arthur Laurents, boasts a foreword by playwright Terrence McNally.

Arthur Laurents had an extensive career in radio and in Hollywood, but it was on Broadway where he had his biggest successes – particularly with two musicals many consider to be among the finest ever written. If he had done nothing more than write the book for the enduring stage musicals West Side Story and Gypsy, the legendary scribe would be assured a place in the pantheon of American theatre. But he did much more during a more than 70-year career that began with radio plays in college and continued through the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story he directed. Selected Plays of Arthur Laurents is a collection of seven of his most acclaimed and challenging plays. It begins with Home of the Brave, the play that launched his career. This wartime drama known for its frank treatment of anti-Semitism and war trauma remains as potent today as it was when it opened on Broadway in 1945. The collection continues through some of later work by Arthur Laurents, including 2 Lives, a witty, frequently poignant portrait of an elderly gay couple confronting mortality and coming to terms with their lives. Also included are The Enclave, Jolson Sings Again, My Good Name, Closing Bell, and Attacks on the Heart.

Spanning nearly 60 years and covering a wide variety of topical and emotional terrain, Selected Plays of Arthur Laurents is an important book from an American theatre legend.

What people say:

"He continues to give of himself – his probing mind, his impassioned heart – to new work. These new plays, many of which are included in this collection, and the ones still to come, will be as much a part of his legacy as the plays, musicals and films that preceded them." — Terrence McNally, from the Foreword

Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter. After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II, he turned to writing for Broadway, producing a body of work that includes the books for two true classics of musical theatre, Gypsy and West Side Story. His screenplays include Rope for Alfred Hitchcock, and one of Hollywood's most well-known romances, The Way We Were.