People Who Led to My Plays [Paperback]

Adrienne Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

A revealing collection of words, memories and pictures-an autobiographical scrapbook--by an outstanding contemporary playwright.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the bittersweet recollections of a young black growing up in Ohio in the 1940s, aspiring to be a famous writer, this scrapbook suffers from its deliberately fragmented format. Kennedy, whose Funnyhouse of a Negro won a 1964 Obie Award, seems to be adapting here the nonlinear style of her avant-garde plays. Hundreds of very short, titled entries ("Junior High," "My Father," "Paul Robeson," "Frank Sinatra") add up to a jumbled self-portrait of a writer slowly finding her direction. She also presents a compendium of creative artists, famous people, friends and relatives who in any way influenced her work. We get scores of brief entries on Bette Davis, Marlon Brando, Beethoven, Richard Wright, Jackson Pollock, Chopin, Duke Ellington, Socrates and dozens more. Readers with an abiding interest in Kennedy's dramatic output may find this encyclopedic approach worth the effort.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559361255
• ISBN-13: 978-1559361255
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honesty Anecdotes, May 17, 2001

By 

Melinda Scott (Glendale, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People Who Led to My Plays (Paperback)

"People Who Led to My Plays" by Adrienne Kennedy is one of the most engaging autobiographical works I have ever read. Kennedy walks her reader through her life up to when she wrote her first play "Funnyhouse of a Negro," and lists the many things that have influenced who she is and what she writes. Whether you're reading Kennedy's plays or not, this work will not only move you, but make you think about what has influenced and shaped your life. If you are studying Kennedy, this book is crucial to understanding her plays -- it is as though you are reading her life diaries. Her passion for experiences and the honesty with which she relates both the good and bad in life made me love reading every anecdote.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating form and thought provoking content, April 29, 2009

By 

amazonian (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: People Who Led to My Plays (Paperback)

This is an excellent book! If you have read any of Adrienne Kennedy's plays, you will appreciate the content. Other than reading the plays over and over, I believe this book is the most helpful in understanding her work and the sources for her inspiration. As an autobiography of sorts, it reads more like a journal, with her memories written throughout in the form of short sentences, pictures, and phrases. The form itself is fascinating- fragmented, like her plays. This book is so much more than it's content, which of course provides the insight you seek if you want to know about the people (and places and events...) that led to her plays. It is more because of the unique form- you can see how Ms. Kennedy shapes her stories through her collage of memories.