May 3, 1913- I have never performed in a play by William Inge, although I have studied & admired his work. I have it on good authority that my terrier Junior wants the chance to play the title role in Come Back, Little Sheba in my theatre company The Backyard Players summer production of that American classic to be performed at the 12th annual block party on July 4th. It will be playing in repertory the rest of the season along with a production of that 2 character musical about married life I Do, I Do, in which I will be playing both roles, & the musical version of Grey Gardens featuring an all-raccoon cast. It is certainly shaping up to be an astounding theatrical summer on my block.
Inge is our American Anton Chekhov. On the surface he creates common conversation about the smallness of people’s lives, but the characters go very deep. Human pain permeates Inge’s dramas. His major works: Come Back, Little Sheba (1950), Picnic (1953), Bus Stop (1957), & Dark At The Top Of The Stairs (1959) all became successful films featuring top Hollywood stars. Middle-America born & raised, Inge’s wrote plays that reveal rustic small-town Americans struggling with sexual repression, alcoholism, gossip & religiosity. These themes haunted Inge his entire life.
Inge won the Pulitzer for Picnic in 1953 & in 1961 he received an Academy Award for the screenplay of the Splendor In The Grass, a heartbreaking depiction of teenage angst & confusion in the midst of adult pettiness & despair, starring an improbably beautiful, young Natalie Wood & Warren Beatty.
In the 1950s, Inge had quite the run of hits. Even his buddy & mentor, Tennessee Williams, was envious of his success. Yet, he would still spend his lifetime seeking the validation of the citizens of Independence, Kansas where he grew-up & who scorned him for being gay.
Inge was talented & tortured, not that unusual for a gay man of his era. His long struggle with booze, depression, & the profound shame over his homosexuality plagued him before, during, & after his decade of great success.
In 1973, insecure & sometimes unstable, but still famous & considered one of our nation’s best & most successful playwrights, Inge ran out of reasons to continue a life in the closet. He went into the garage of his Hollywood home, shut the door, & behind the wheel of his brand new automobile, he turned the ignition key. He was 60 years old. His final play, The Last Pad, featuring Nick Nolte, was Inge’s only play that openly addressed homosexuality. It opened in LA just 3 days after his death.
“Death makes us all innocent & weaves all our private hurts & griefs & wrongs into the fabric of time, & makes them a part of eternity.”
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