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John Guare
John Guare , 1938–, American playwright, b. New York City; grad. Georgetown Univ. (B.A., 1960), Yale Univ. (M.F.A., 1963). Guare's freewheeling, satirical plays are the antithesis of "kitchen sink" naturalism, with darkly comic situations sometimes veering into violence. Frequently dealing with family relationships and people seeking escape from their daily lives, they flout dramatic conventions with such devices as monologues, asides, songs, and pantomime. Early works include the off-Broadway Muzeeka (1968) and the popular semiautobiographical The House of Blue Leaves (1971). He scored his biggest hit with Six Degrees of Separation (1990), a tragicomedy about the havoc wrought on an upper-class family by a charming young con artist; the play explores issues of manners, class, and race. Guare also wrote the screenplay for the 1993 screen version and for Louis Malle 's film Atlantic City (1980). Among Guare's other plays are Landscape of the Body (1977); a trilogy dealing with a 19th-century Nantucket family— Lydie Breeze (1982), Gardenia (1982), and Women and Water (1990)—and Lake Hollywood (1999).
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"John Guare." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "John Guare." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-GuareJ.html "John Guare." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-GuareJ.html |
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Guare, John
Guare, John (b. 1938), playwright. Nephew of a Hollywood casting director, he was born in New York and studied at the Yale School of Drama. He won an Obie Award for his one‐act play, Muzeeka (1968), but his first major success was The House of Blue Leaves (1971). Subsequent full‐length plays have included Rich and Famous (1976), Marco Polo Sings a Solo (1977), Landscape of the Body (1977), Bosoms and Neglect (1979), and Lydie Breeze (1982). Not until Six Degrees of Separation (1990) did he enjoy another major hit. Guare's later works include Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (1992), Lake Hollywood (1999), and Chaucer in Rome (2001); he also scripted the librettos for Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971) and Sweet Smell of Success (2002). Guare's work is difficult to categorize, mixing absurdist touches with a quirky kind of satire that relies on inflated language.
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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-GuareJohn.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-GuareJohn.html |
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Guare, John
Guare, John (1938–, playwright.)A graduate of the Yale Drama School, Guare has written two plays that gained him national recognition, both produced in Off‐Broadway theaters. These are The House of Blue Leaves, about a piano player who longs for the return to sanity of his wife “Bananas” (best play 1971, New York Drama Critics Circle), and Six Degrees of Separation (1990), about a young black man who cons his way into a wealthy white couple's graces by claiming to be the son of the film actor Sidney Poitier. Both plays are set in Guare's native New York City, as are several other of his works. In recent plays—Lydie Breeze (2001) and A Few Stout Individuals (2002)—Guare has set the drama in the nineteenth century (in Nantucket and New York City, respectively).
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-GuareJohn.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Guare, John." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-GuareJohn.html |
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