Research an Important Playwright: Jeffrey Sweet

The Playwright I am reviewing for this blog assignment is Jeffrey Sweet. He is an American born playwright who has also been journalist, songwriter, and theatre historian. I chose him because he has written a lot of different plays, has won a couple awards, and does more than just write plays.

Jeffrey Sweet was born on May 3, 1950 in Boston and is the son of a writer and a violinist. He spent most of his childhood in Evanston Illinois, and graduated high school from there. He then attended NYU and graduated in 1971 with a degree in Film.

After college Sweet’s career took off. He went to the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, and is now a resident member there. Thirteen of his plays have debuted in Chicago. Some of his plays include The Action Against Sol Schumann, After the Fact, American Enterprise, Berlin ‘45, Bluff, Class Dismissed, Court Martial at Fort Devens, Flyovers, Hitch, Narrow Escape, Parental Guidance, Responsible Parties, Stops Along the way, The Value of Names, What About Luv?, and With and Without. All of these plays debuted at different places all over the country, including one in Pittsburgh and thirteen at the Victory Gardens Theater. He also won awards from many of his plays. Awards include a couple playwrighting prizes from the American Theater Critics Association, and the Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award for best new script. He is also a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild.

Jeffrey has written two books on playwrighting and wrote an oral history of Chicago’s Second City Troup. His plays tend to fall into two different groups. Either ones that are inspired by historical and or political subjects, and those that are from personal impulses. I think all of this is important, meaning the book writing and oral history and play categories, because he does a wide variety of things to help people and help the nation. What better way is there for Americans to realize what is going on politically or what happened historically than to see it in a play? And it good that he gets his personal stories out there.

Another thing that sweet has done that I think is important is he has written hundreds of hours of television, and made radio productions and adaptations for some of his plays. I think this is important because this is the “theater” most Americans are exposed to , and he can get his messages out that way. Credits for Television include working for the soap opera One Life To Live. His work with this show received a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Emmy nomination. Sweet also contributes weekly with a column in the magazine Dramatics.

I think Jeffrey Sweet is a very interesting character and that is the main reason I picked him. He has done so much when it comes to theater and writing it is almost hard to believe. According to my research he has written 34 plays, and I believe all of them have been produced in some theater at some point in time. Also He has written music, adapted plays to be musicals, added lyrics, and written the book on a couple other plays. This amount of work is impressive to me, however if you add in his television and radio work it is even more impressing.

Another reason I chose him is because a lot of his plays fit the kind of style of things I like. A lot of his plays do deal with historical and or political issues and that interests me. I have always liked history and had an interest in politics, so I can relate to a lot of his plays. I would be very interested in seeing one of his plays. If I was able to pick which one I could se I would choose either Court Martial at Fort Devens or Flyovers. Both seem interesting to me because they involve a lot of conflict, and I’m guessing they involve a lot of action. Court Martial at Fort Devens would probably be my main pick however because I like military related things, and it looks to be an excellent story and is based on a true story.

It will be interesting to see if Jeffrey Sweet comes out with new work in the future, and if so if given the opportunity I would go and watch one of his productions. Hopefully I will notice his work on TV and or the radio so I can even more appreciate him.