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May 24, 2022

Thornton Wilder: New Short Documentary Released

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Against the background of the cosmos, Thornton Wilder celebrated the individual human heart.

Wilder’s plays, novels and essays offer one of world literature’s finest treatments of our loves, hopes, struggles and dreams. On the 125th anniversary of his birth, we honor his compassion, his understanding and his radical imagination, which have opened doors for generations of artists to come.

In recognition of Wilder’s 125th anniversary, the Wilder family has released a new short documentary about the author. Entitled Thornton Wilder: It’s Time, the 18-minute video features archival photos, letters, video and interviews, along with commentary from playwright Paula Vogel, directors Lileana Blain-Cruz and Henry Wishcamper, and actors Hilary Asare and Mia Farrow, among others. Watch the video below:

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was a novelist and playwright whose works celebrate the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience. He is the only writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for both drama and fiction: for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and two plays, Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. His other novels include The Cabala, The Woman of Andros, Heaven’s My Destination, The Ides of March, The Eighth Day and Theophilus North. His other major dramas include The Matchmaker (adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly!) and The Alcestiad. The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Pullman Car Hiawatha and The Long Christmas Dinner are among his well-known shorter plays. He enjoyed enormous success as a translator, adaptor, actor, librettist and lecturer/teacher and his screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt remains a classic psycho-thriller to this day. Wilder’s many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. More information on Thornton Wilder and his family is available in Penelope Niven’s definitive biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life (2013) as well as on the Wilder Family website, www.thorntonwilder.com

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For more information about licensing a stage production of a Thornton Wilder play, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.

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