Editing Lanford Wilson (section)

==Circle Repertory Company and later work (1969–2011) ==
[[File:Lee Taylor-Allen & Kenneth Boys.jpg|thumb|A scene from the 1986 New York revival of ''[[Home Free!]]'']]
In 1969, Wilson co-founded the [[Circle Repertory Company]] with [[Marshall W. Mason]], [[Tanya Berezin]], and Rob Thirkield. Many of Wilson's plays were first produced at the Circle Repertory and directed by Mason.<ref>Williams, p.&nbsp;25.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134855822/for-lanford-wilson-the-plays-were-always-personal|title=For Lanford Wilson, the plays were always personal|author=Lunden, Jeff|date=March 25, 2011|work=[[NPR]]}}</ref> Also in 1969, Wilson was hired for $5,000 to adapt [[Tennessee Williams]]' short story ''One Arm'', about a male hustler, into a screenplay. The day after he finished the screenplay, he was invited to a preview of ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'', and after seeing the film thought "there went that idea down the drain".<ref name="donshewey.com"/>

His first plays at Circle Repertory, ''The Great Nebula in Orion'', ''Ikke, Ikke, Nye, Nye, Nye'', and ''The Family Continues'', premiered in 1972.<ref>Williams, p.&nbsp;28.</ref>  ''[[The Hot l Baltimore]]'', about lowlifes who face eviction when the decaying hotel in which they live is to be demolished, opened in 1973 and was Circle Repertory's first commercial success. The play also won the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award and an [[Obie Award]].<ref name="Williams3134">Williams, pp.&nbsp;31–34.</ref> It then transferred off-Broadway to the [[Circle in the Square Theatre]] and ran for 1,166&nbsp;performances.<ref name="Barnett8586">Barnett, pp.&nbsp;85–86.</ref> ''The Hot l Baltimore'' was adapted into a [[Hot l Baltimore|short-lived television series]] by ABC in 1975, which Wilson pronounced "a disaster".<ref name=Williams3134/><ref name=Barnett8586/>

In 1974, Wilson acted in Circle Repertory's production of [[E. E. Cummings]]' ''[[Him (Cummings play)|Him]]'' under the direction of Marshal Oglesby.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Theatre of E. E. Cummings|year=2013|last=Cummings|first=E. E.|author-link=E. E. Cummings|publisher=[[Liveright]]|editor-last=Firmage|editor-first=George James|page=210|isbn=978-0871406545}}</ref> In 1975, Wilson's ''The Mound Builders'', which ''[[The New York Times]]'' described as Wilson's "most ambitious work", premiered at Circle Rep.<ref>Barnett, p.&nbsp;94.</ref> The play concerned an ill-fated archeological dig in the Midwest, and, thematically, contemplated the futility of man's achievements.<ref>Barnett, p. 100–101.</ref> Circle Repertory then produced Wilson's ''[[Serenading Louie]]'' in 1976. The play had been unsuccessfully performed in 1970 by the Washington Theater Club, and Wilson revised it for Circle Repertory's production, which is generally regarded as its official premiere.<ref>Barnett, p.&nbsp;68.</ref>

Sexual identity is among the themes that Wilson explored in his plays.<ref name="NYTimes1" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Lanford Wilson, ''Burn This'' playwright, dies at 73 |url=https://variety.com/2011/scene/people-news/lanford-wilson-burn-this-playwright-dies-at-73-1118034376/ |work=Variety |date=March 24, 2011}}</ref> The theme appears in ''The Madness of Lady Bright'', ''Lemon Sky'', ''Fifth of July'', and ''[[Burn This]]''. In ''Fifth of July'', a Broadway hit in 1980–1982, members of the Talley family decide whether to sell the family farmhouse in Missouri. The story centers on Ken Talley, a disabled Vietnam veteran, and his lover Jed, who are living in the house.<ref>Barnett, pp.&nbsp;109–110.</ref> Wilson was nominated for the [[Tony Award for Best Play]] for ''Fifth of July''.<ref name="Kennedy">{{cite web|url=http://www.backstage.com/bso/content_display/news-and-features/e3i9343b011681a9d0d67eead562686e1c6|title=Tony award-winning playwright Lanford Wilson dies|last=Kennedy|first=Mark|date=March 24, 2011|work=[[Backstage (magazine)|Backstage]]|access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> After ''Fifth of July'', Wilson wrote ''[[Talley's Folly]]'' (1979), a two-person play depicting the Midwesterner Sally Talley and Jewish Matt Friedman falling in love and become engaged despite the objections of Sally's narrow-minded family.<ref>Busby, p.&nbsp;39.</ref><ref>Martine, James J. "Charlotte's Daughters: Changing Gender Roles and Family Structures in Lanford Wilson" in {{harvnb|Bryer|1994|pp=37–63}}</ref> ''[[Talley & Son]]'' premiered as ''A Tale Told'' in 1981 but was rewritten and renamed when it opened in 1985.<ref>Barnett, p.&nbsp;141.</ref> Both are prequels set 30 years prior to ''Fifth of July''.<ref>Barnett, pp. 107–108.</ref> ''[[Talley's Folly]]'' was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] in 1980 and received a nomination for the [[Tony Award for Best Play]].<ref>Barnett, p.&nbsp;118.</ref> Around this time, [[Norman Mailer]] asked Wilson to adapt ''[[The Executioner's Song]]'' for a television movie, but Wilson declined.<ref name="donshewey.com" />

''[[Angels Fall]]'' opened on Broadway in 1983, earning Wilson his third nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4203|title=Angels Fall|website=IBDB|access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' review said, "Mr.&nbsp;Wilson is one of the few artists in our theater who can truly make America sing."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/18/theater/play-angels-fall-landford-wilson-s-apocalypse.html|title=Angels Fall, Lanford Wilson's apocalypse|last=Rich|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Rich|date=October 18, 1982|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> In ''[[Burn This]]'', a young gay dancer named Robbie and his lover Dom have died in a boating accident before the play begins. Robbie's roommates, his dance partner Anna and the gay, confident Larry, must come to terms with Robbie's death. Anna learns to be independent and self-confident, pursuing her interest in choreography, beginning a relationship with Robbie's grieving brother Pale, and ending her dispassionate relationship with her longtime boyfriend.<ref>Jacobi, Martin J. "'The Monster Within' in Lanford Wilson's ''Burn This''" in {{harvnb|Bryer|1994|pp=131–149}}</ref>

In addition to writing plays, Wilson wrote the [[Libretto|libretti]] for several operas. He collaborated with composer [[Lee Hoiby]] for ''Summer and Smoke'' (1971) and adapted his own play, ''This is the Rill Speaking'', in 1992.<ref name="Kennedy" /><ref name="ON">{{cite news|url=http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=19386|title=Lee Hoiby, 85, American opera composer, has died|date=March 28, 2011|newspaper=[[Opera News]]|access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref> ''Summer and Smoke'' is an adaptation of  [[Tennessee Williams]]' [[Summer and Smoke|play of the same name]]. Williams gave Hoiby permission to compose an opera based on the play, and Hoiby asked Wilson to adapt the play into a libretto.<ref name="Barnett106">Barnett, p.&nbsp;106.</ref> ''This is the Rill Speaking'' is a one-act [[chamber opera]] that Wilson adapted from his own play of the same name.<ref name="ON" /> In 1984, Wilson wrote a new translation of [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]'' for the Hartford Stage Company.<ref name="Londre">Hardison Londré, Felicia. "From Provincial Yearnings to Urban Danger: Lanford Wilson's ''Three Sisters'' and ''Burn This''" in {{harvnb|Bryer|1994|pp=119–130}}</ref> Wilson attempted to make his translation sound like everyday speech, as he believed that existing translations were linguistically accurate but not inherently theatrical.<ref name="Londre" /> Reviews of the Hartford production and a subsequent production by the [[Steppenwolf Theatre Company|Steppenwolf Theater Company]] praised Wilson's idiomatic dialogue.<ref name="Londre" />

He also became active with the Bay Street Theatre in [[Sag Harbor, New York|Sag Harbor]], where some of his new short plays were produced, including the 1996 world premiere of his comedy ''Virgil Is Still the Frogboy'', commissioned by the Bay Street Theatre and underwritten by ''Vanity Fair'' magazine. The title refers to a famous [[graffiti]] spray-painted on a railroad bridge that had puzzled people in the [[The Hamptons|Hamptons]] for years. Directed by Marshall W. Mason, the production starred [[Arija Bareikis|Arija Bareiikis]], [[Bobby Cannavale]], [[Jennifer Dundas]], Thomas McCarthy, and [[Josh Pais]], running from August&nbsp;14 to September&nbsp;9, 1996.<ref name="weber">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/18/nyregion/residents-gripe-that-their-hideaway-has-become-too-much-like-beverly-hills.html|title=Residents gripe that their hideaway has become too much like Beverly Hills|author=Weber, Bruce|date=August 18, 1986|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWsghsyguxoC&q=originally|title=A Sense of Place; Or, Virgil is Still the Frogboy: A play in two acts|author=Wilson, Lanford|publisher=Dramatist Play Service|year=1999|isbn=9780822215929|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>