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People Who Led to My Plays Paperback – September 1, 1996

by Adrienne Kennedy (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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In this remarkable memoir, Adrienne Kennedy charts her life from growing up in Cleveland in the 1930s and 40s in a middle-class black family through marriage and motherhood and her eventual move to New York City in the 50s. Out of a sequence of deceptively spare statements emerges a complex portrait of the artist as a young woman as she examines the people and events that compelled her to be a writer.
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  1. Print length
    144 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Theatre Communications Group
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 1996
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 0.4 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1559361255
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1559361255
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"People Who Led to My Plays has served as a model for me in considering how one’s artistic practice is rooted and thrives in the soil of the past and how an artist uses history (with a small and a large “h”) as the raw material for one’s practice, molding and transforming and bringing it into the present. I thank you for your extraordinary work in unpacking black life on the stage and showing us how truly rich and strange it is." --Glenn Ligon

"I have been reading and teaching People Who Led to My Plays since its first publication in 1987. At once collage, diary, memoir and annotated scrapbook, it felt miraculous then and still does. With fearless imagination and formal daring, Adrienne Kennedy has given us A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman and an American literary classic." --Margo Jefferson

"Adrienne Kennedy has introduced a new form of black autobiography, one that, like her plays, will be widely imitated. Like most great artists in whose work different cultures and styles converge, she is unique." --Ishmael Reed

"Just as her brilliant plays changed what was possible on the stage, Adrienne Kennedy's autobiography transformed the form. Written with a poet's insight and a dramatist's sense of form, Kennedy's autobiography is a classic--one that not only illuminates her singular work, but the world and politics that made her." --Hilton Als





"People Who Led to My Plays has served as a model for me in considering how one’s artistic practice is rooted and thrives in the soil of the past and how an artist uses history (with a small and a large “h”) as the raw material for one’s practice, molding and transforming and bringing it into the present. I thank you for your extraordinary work in unpacking black life on the stage and showing us how truly rich and strange it is." --Glenn Ligon

"I have been reading and teaching People Who Led to My Plays since its first publication in 1987. At once collage, diary, memoir and annotated scrapbook, it felt miraculous then and still does. With fearless imagination and formal daring, Adrienne Kennedy has given us A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman and an American literary classic." --Margo Jefferson

"Adrienne Kennedy has introduced a new form of black autobiography, one that, like her plays, will be widely imitated. Like most great artists in whose work different cultures and styles converge, she is unique." --Ishmael Reed

"Just as her brilliant plays changed what was possible on the stage, Adrienne Kennedy's autobiography transformed the form. Written with a poet's insight and a dramatist's sense of form, Kennedy's autobiography is a classic--one that not only illuminates her singular work, but the world and politics that made her." --Hilton Als

About the Author

Adrienne Kennedy has been an important figure in the American theatre since the early 1960s, influencing generations of playwrights. She is a three-time Obie-award winning playwright, including Funnyhouse of a Negro in 1964 and June and Jean in Concert in 1996. Among Kennedy's many honors are the American Academy of Arts and Letters award and the Guggenheim fellowship. She has been commissioned to write works for the Public Theater, Jerome Robbins, the Royal Court Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and Juilliard. In 1995-1996, Signature Theatre Company dedicated its entire season to presenting her works. Kennedy has been a visiting professor at Yale University, Princeton, Brown University, the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University. Kennedy attended Ohio State University and received an honorary doctorate in 2003 in recognition of the 50th anniversary of her graduation.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Theatre Communications Group (September 1, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1559361255
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1559361255
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.4 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Adrienne Kennedy

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • amazonian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating form and thought provoking content
    Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    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.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Rebecca C
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    If you know any of Kennedy's works, especially her early stuff, this is absolutely invaluable.
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  • emily a. myrick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, unconventional memoir
    Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Such a wonderful examination of a lifetime of inspirations. I absolutely loved this book.
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  • Camille
    1.0 out of 5 stars Let me bore you with miniscule elements of no interest regarding my life.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Superficial to put it superficially. Of no purpose or value I could discern.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Melinda Scott
    5.0 out of 5 stars Honesty Anecdotes
    Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2001
    "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.
    4 people found this helpful
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