Before motion pictures, plays were the most popular medium of long-form storytelling for live audiences. From ancient Greece to the Renaissance, plays and playwrights have captured the hearts and minds of the masses. Names like Homer and Shakespeare will ring out throughout the ages for their literary prowess.
Like any other great nation, America has produced its fair share of memorable stories through this art form. From the sixteenth century to the modern day, American playwrights have offered a rich tapestry of humor, horror, romance, and mystery on and off Broadway. With that in mind, let’s review the ten best American-written plays, a diverse collection that will pique your interest.
Related: 10 Weird Sci-Fi and Fantasy Musicals You Won’t Believe Existed
10 The Crucible–Arthur Miller
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Written in 1953, The Crucible centers around the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century and is only marginally fictional. Written during “The Red Scare,” Miller’s story is an allegory for McCarthyism. It was first performed at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway on January 22, 1953, starring E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, and Madeleine Sherwood. The play initially received mixed reviews from both the audience and critics, yet still won the Best Play Tony that year.
By 1956, The Crucible was already considered a classic and a central work in the canon of American literature. That same year, however, Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (aka the witch hunt of the day) in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. It somehow remains relevant in every era.[1]
9 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof–Tennesse Williams
Tennessee Williams may be the most well-known playwright in American history, and while Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may not be his most famous piece, it’s arguably the most important. Written in 1955, this three-act play examines the relationships of the Pollitt family. This play features motifs such as social mores, greed, superficiality, mendacity, decay, sexual desire, repression, and death. The dialogue throughout is often written using nonstandard spelling intended to represent accents of the Southern United States.
“Like many of Williams’s works, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof concerns itself with the elaboration of a certain fantasy of broken manliness, in this case, a manliness left stifled by the homosexual desire it must keep in abeyance.” Williams draws from his own experiences with homosexuality and alcoholism, making this play ahead of its time and still wholly valid today.[2]
8 Wicked–Winnie Holzman
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is a loose adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is in turn based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation.
The original Broadway production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award. “After two decades as one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage, Wicked makes its long-awaited journey to the big screen as a spectacular, generation-defining cinematic event this holiday season.”
In a classic literary trope, this story takes an empathetic look at a well-known villain, painting her as a victim and then a hero. Wicked’s success has continued to grow, with potential sequels in the works; it continues to draw large crowds nationwide, thanks to its universal themes that appeal to a broad audience.[3]
7 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?–Edward Albee
First staged in October 1962, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. It is frequently revived on the modern stage. The film adaptation was released in 1966, written by Ernest Lehman, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis.
The plot is that of a bitter, aging couple who, with the help of alcohol, “use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain toward each other throughout a distressing night.” This play is still a standard in English and Literature classes in high schools and colleges nationwide. The themes involved seemed to resonate with Americans of all ages.[4]
6 A Raisin in the Sun–Lorraine Hansberry
A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” (also known as “A Dream Deferred”). The story is about a Black family’s experiences in south Chicago as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of their father.
It deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. The play’s central theme is the question, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” The New York Drama Critics’ Circle named it the best play of 1959. In recent years, publications such as The Independent and Time Out have listed it among the best plays ever written.[5]
5 Rent–Jonathan Larson
Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jonathan Larson. Loosely based on the 1896 opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in the thriving days of the Bohemian culture of Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rent has become a pop cultural phenomenon, with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audiences of all ages. Rent represents the best of theater, brimming with passion, sorrow, and joy while tackling important issues. It has remained one of the most popular performance pieces nationwide for decades and has spawned film and TV adaptations that are as cherished as the original cast presentation.[6]
4 Long Day’s Journey into Night–Eugene O’Neill
Long Day’s Journey into Night is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O’Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the 20th century. It opened on Broadway in November 1956, winning the Tony Award for Best Play. O’Neill received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama posthumously for the play. The work is openly autobiographical.
The “long day” in the title refers to the play’s setting, which takes place during one day. “O’Neill recounts a fateful summer evening at the Tyrone family’s seaside home, where members of the clan battle their addictions (to alcohol and morphine) as well as one another.” O’Neill is widely considered one of the greatest American poets, but his plays are often overlooked. This piece is his farewell to the public with whom he had a love/hate relationship throughout his life and career.[7]
3 Fences–August Wilson
Fences is a 1985 play by the American playwright August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle.” Like all the “Pittsburgh” plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.
The play was first developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 1983 National Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1985. James Earl Jones played the main character, Troy, on stage, and in the motion picture adaptation, the character was played by Denzel Washington, opposite Viola Davis as Rose. Wilson became a nationally recognized playwright in 1987 when his play Fences won four Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[8]
2 Glengarry Glen Ross–David Mamet
Glengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts—from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation, and burglary—to sell real estate to unwitting prospective buyers.
It is based on Mamet’s experience, having previously worked in a similar office. The world premiere was at the National Theatre in London on September 21, 1983. The play opened on Broadway on March 25, 1984, at the John Golden Theatre and closed on February 17, 1985, after 378 performances. It was nominated for four Tony awards, including Best Play, Best Director, and two Best Featured Actor nominations for Robert Prosky and Joe Mantegna, who won the production’s one Tony.
“This scalding comedy is about small-time, cutthroat real estate salesmen trying to grind out a living by pushing plots of land on reluctant buyers in a never-ending scramble for their share of the American dream.”[9]
1 Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes–Tony Kushner
Angels in America is a 1991 American two-part play by Tony Kushner. The play’s two parts, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, may be presented separately or together as a seven-hour epic. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.
Part one of the play premiered in 1991, followed by part two in 1992, with its Broadway opening in 1993. It is a complex, often metaphorical, and at times symbolic examination of AIDS and homosexuality in the United States in the 1980s. Angels in America includes explicit sexual situations, nudity, and adult language and tackles adult themes.
“The play weaves together politics, religion, and human connection themes. It follows characters grappling with illness, identity, and societal change, all while being influenced by their encounters with celestial beings.” It is not nearly as well-known as the other entries on this list. However, it is arguably the best and most influential American written play ever.[10]