World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

John Guare

ジョン・ゲア

John Guare

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1938-02-05 （Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City → Long Island → Waterford, Virginia

Career

Occupations
playwright, screenwriter
Active Years
1964-
Affiliations
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Theater Review (Co-Executive Editor), Dramatists Guild (council member), Yale School of Drama (teaching in Playwriting)
Memberships
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (elected member), American Theater Hall of Fame (inductee), Dramatists Guild (council member)

Education

Georgetown University
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Yale School of Drama
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) / Playwriting
Degree: MFA
Year of Graduation: 1962
Country: United States
Graduated in 1962 with an MFA in Playwriting

Awards

Obie Award
1968
Work: Muzeeka
Category: Distinguished Play
Organization: Obie Awards (Village Voice)
Result: 受賞
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
1971
Work: The House of Blue Leaves
Category: Best American Play
Organization: New York Drama Critics' Circle
Result: 受賞
Obie Award
1971
Work: The House of Blue Leaves
Category: Best American Play
Organization: Obie Awards (Village Voice)
Result: 受賞
Tony Award
1972
Work: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Category: Best Book of a Musical
Organization: American Theatre Wing / The Broadway League
Result: 受賞（共著）
Tony Awards
1986
Work: The House of Blue Leaves (revival)
Organization: American Theatre Wing / The Broadway League
Result: 4部門受賞（1986年リンカーンセンターでの復活）
Olivier Award
1991
Work: Six Degrees of Separation
Category: Best Play
Organization: Society of London Theatre
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Drama (finalist)
2011
Work: A Free Man of Color
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: ファイナリスト
Academy Award (nomination)
1981
Work: Atlantic City
Category: 脚本（ノミネーション）
Organization: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Result: ノミネート
Award of Merit, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
1981
Work: Body of work
Organization: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞
Gold Medal, American Academy of Arts and Letters
2004
Work: Body of work
Organization: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞
Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame
1993
Work: Career achievements
Organization: American Theater Hall of Fame
Result: 選出
PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Master American Dramatist
2003
Work: Body of work
Organization: PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater
Result: 受賞
Obie Award for Sustained Achievement
2005
Work: Sustained achievement
Organization: Obie Awards (Village Voice)
Result: 受賞
Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award
2014
Work: Lifetime achievement
Organization: Dramatists Guild of America
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The House of Blue Leaves

1971 black comedy / domestic drama

A domestic drama alternating between wild comedy and poignant despair, following characters whose aspirations and delusions collide. Highly acclaimed since its 1971 premiere.

fame and illusionfamily breakdownhollowness of American society

Six Degrees of Separation

1990 comedy of manners / social drama

An intricately plotted comedy of manners about a young con man who claims to be Sidney Poitier's son and infiltrates an upper-class family, blurring truth and fiction. Adapted into a 1993 film.

identitysocial classboundary between fiction and reality
Adaptations
  • [Film] Six Degrees of Separation / Fred Schepisi (1993)

A Free Man of Color

2010 historical drama

An audacious play spanning a large historical canvas dealing with race, power, and liberty. It was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

race and powerhistory and identity

Bibliography

  • The House of Blue Leaves (1971)
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971) - book for musical
  • Taking Off (1971) - screenplay
  • Rich and Famous (1974)
  • Landscape of the Body (1977)
  • Marco Polo Sings a Solo (1977)
  • Bosoms and Neglect (1979)
  • Atlantic City (1980) - screenplay
  • Lydie Breeze (1982)
  • Gardenia (1982)
  • Women and Water (1985)
  • The Race to Urga (1986)
  • Six Degrees of Separation (1990)
  • Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (1992)
  • Lake Hollywood (1999)
  • Chaucer in Rome (2001)
  • A Few Stout Individuals (2002)
  • A Free Man of Color (2010)
  • Erased/Elżbieta (2011)
  • Are You There, McPhee? (2012)
  • 3 Kinds of Exile (2013)
  • Between (short play, 2014)
  • Nantucket Sleigh Ride (revised version, 2019)

Adaptations

  • Six Degrees of Separation (1993 film adaptation)
  • Atlantic City (screenplay, 1980 film)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
black comedyabsurdist elementssatirical and intellectually playful voice
Recurring Motifs
fame and fabricationfamily and individual breakdownmyths and contradictions of American society

Legacy

John Guare is one of the leading American playwrights from the late 20th into the 21st century, acclaimed for his blend of social satire and black humor. Many of his works have been staged on Broadway and Off-Broadway and adapted to film, exerting a wide influence on contemporary theater.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

Archives

  • Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (John Guare Papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Broader recognition through the 1993 film adaptation of Six Degrees of Separation

Quotes

  • Guare practices a humor that is synonymous with lucidity, exploding genre and clichés, taking us to the core of human suffering: the awareness of corruption in our own bodies, death circling in. We try to fight it all by creating various mythologies, and it is Guare's peculiar aptitude for exposing these grandiose lies of ours that makes his work so magical.
    Source: Foreword by Louis Malle (1982)

Trivia

  • Married to historic preservationist Adele Chatfield-Taylor.
  • Splits time living between New York City, Long Island and Waterford, Virginia.
  • Six Degrees of Separation was adapted into a 1993 film starring Will Smith.