We have seen productions (in many cases multiple productions) of most of the plays in the standard canon of modern western dramatic literature, where we define “modern” as beginning with Ibsen. Most of these productions have been at least competent, and many were sublime. We list here the best (or in some cases only) production we’ve seen of each play, which often involved hair-splitting decisions among nearly equal productions (and occasional ties). Since more contemporary plays and playwrights are well represented elsewhere on this site, we limit this list to playwrights born before 1933.
(playwrights listed in chronological order by birth date)
Henrik Ibsen: A Doll’s House (American Players Theatre 2019), Ghosts (Washington DC Shakespeare Theatre 2003, Mary-Arrchie 2015), Hedda Gabler (Writers 2014), The Wild Duck (Court 2009), An Enemy of the People (Stage Left 2011, Goodman 2018), The Lady from the Sea (Shaw Festival 2015), Rosmersholm (Shaw Festival 2006), John Gabriel Borkman (Stratford Festival 2016), Pillars of the Community (Strawdog 2018)
August Strindberg: Miss Julie (Hypocrites 2008), Creditors (Remy Bumppo 2013), The Dance of Death (Writers 2014)
Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband (Ghostlight Ensemble 2018), The Importance of Being Earnest (Court 2004), Lady Windermere’s Fan (Northlight 2004), A Woman of No Importance (Shaw Festival 2016)
George Bernard Shaw: Arms and the Man (Writers 2005, Shaw Festival 2006), Candida (Shaw Festival 2002), The Devil’s Disciple (Shaw Festival 2009), The Doctor’s Dilemma (American Players 2014), Heartbreak House (American Players 2018), Major Barbara (Remy Bumppo 2003), Man and Superman (Shaw Festival 2004), The Man of Destiny (American Players Theatre 2019), Misalliance (Writers 2002), Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Remy Bumppo 2007, Shaw Festival 2016), The Philanderer (American Players 2009), Pygmalion (StageLeft/BoHo 2013, Remy Bumppo 2016), Saint Joan (Shaw Festival 2007), Widower’s Houses (TimeLine 2007), You Never Can Tell (Shaw Festival 2005, Remy Bumppo 2012). This list of full productions does not include the many fine staged readings of Shaw’s plays we’ve enjoyed at ShawChicago.
Anton Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard (Shaw Festival 2010), Ivanov (Piven 2014), The Seagull (Goodman 2010), Three Sisters (Hypocrites 2015), Uncle Vanya (TUTA 2009, Goodman 2017)
Luigi Pirandello: Right You Are If You Think You Are (University of Illinois 1995), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Hypocrites 2012)
J. M. Synge: The Playboy of the Western World (Raven 2014)
Somerset Maugham: The Circle (Shaw Festival 2007), The Constant Wife (Griffin 2007), For Services Rendered (Griffin 2019)
Sean O’Casey: The Plough and the Stars (Shaw Festival 2003), Juno and the Paycock (Artistic Home 2008), The Shadow of a Gunman (Seanachai/ITC 2011)
Jean Genet: The Maids (Writers 2009), The Balcony (Station Theatre 2007)
Eugene O’Neill: Ah, Wilderness (Shaw Festival 2004), Desire Under the Elms (Hypocrites 2007), The Great God Brown (Millikin University 2006), The Hairy Ape (Oracle 2016), The Iceman Cometh (Goodman 2012), Long Day’s Journey into Night (Court 2016), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Writers 2018)
Maxwell Anderson: Both Your Houses (Remy Bumppo 2014), Winterset (Griffin 2016)
George S. Kaufman: The Royal Family (Steppenwolf 2002), Stage Door (Griffin 2010), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Drury Lane 2004), Once in a Lifetime (Strawdog 2016), You Can’t Take It with You (Milwaukee Rep 2004, Northlight 2015), Animal Crackers (Goodman 2009), The Solid Gold Cadillac (Open Eye 2009)
Robert E. Sherwood: The Petrified Forest (Artistic Home 2006, Strawdog 2012)
Philip Barry: Holiday (Remy Bumppo 2002), The Philadelphia Story (Remy Bumppo 2007, Shaw Festival 2014)
Thornton Wilder: Our Town (Hypocrites 2008), The Skin of Our Teeth (BackStage 2006), The Matchmaker (Goodman 2016)
Bertolt Brecht: The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Promethean 2013), Fear and Misery in the Third Reich (Haven 2018), The Good Soul of Szechuan (Strawdog 2010), The Life of Galileo (Remy Bumppo 2016), The Mother (Oracle 2013), Mother Courage and Her Children (Vitalist 2006), Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti (Station Theatre 1998), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Trap Door 2017), Round Heads and Pointed Heads (Red Tape Theatre 2018), Schweyk in the Second World War (Red 2012), The Wedding (TUTA 2010)
Noel Coward: Blithe Spirit (Stratford Festival 2013), Design for Living (Shaw Festival 2006), Fallen Angels (Indy Rep 2012), Hay Fever (Court 2001, Shaw Festival 2002), Private Lives (Indy Rep 2004, Chicago Shakespeare 2010, American Players 2015)
John Van Druten: Bell, Book, and Candle (University of Illinois 1995), London Wall (Griffin 2016)
Lillian Hellman: Another Part of the Forest (Writers 2006), The Autumn Garden (Shaw Festival 2005), The Children’s Hour (TimeLine 2006), The Little Foxes (Goodman 2015), Watch on the Rhine (Artistic Home 2014)
Samuel Beckett: Endgame (Hypocrites 2015), Krapp’s Last Tape (Goodman 2010), Waiting for Godot (Redtwist 2009)
Clifford Odets: Awake and Sing (TimeLine 2002), Golden Boy (Raven 2003, Griffin 2014), Paradise Lost (Columbia College 2007), Rocket to the Moon (Writers 2002), Waiting for Lefty (American Blues 2011), Clash by Night (Artistic Home 2006), The Big Knife (Raven 2012)
Sidney Kingsley: Dead End (Griffin 2006), Detective Story (Shaw Festival 2002)
William Saroyan: The Time of Your Life (Artistic Home 2015). We also saw a once-in-a-lifetime staged reading by the Chicago Inclusion Project in 2015, directed by Chay Yew, whose cast included a diverse who’s who of Chicago theatre.
Eugene Ionesco: The Bald Soprano (Hypocrites 2007), The Lesson (University of Illinois 2010), Rhinoceros (Station Theatre 2010)
Terence Rattigan: After the Dance (Shaw Festival 2008), Flare Path (Griffin 2013), French Without Tears (Shaw Festival 2012)
Tennessee Williams: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Hypocrites 2006), The Glass Menagerie (Mary-Arrchie 2013), A Streetcar Named Desire (Writers 2010), Suddenly Last Summer (Shattered Globe 2007), Summer and Smoke (Shaw Festival 2007), Sweet Bird of Youth (Artistic Home 2010), The Rose Tattoo (Shattered Globe 2015), Night of the Iguana (American Players 2007). We have also seen fine productions of many of his lesser known works, including Candles to the Sun (Eclipse 2008), The Day on Which a Man Dies (National Pastime 2009), A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (Shaw Festival 2014), The Mutilated (A Red Orchid 2016), Not About Nightingales (Raven 2017), and Vieux Carre (Raven 2014)
William Inge: Bus Stop (Den 2011), Come Back Little Sheba (Shattered Globe 2006), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (American Theater Company 2006), Picnic (Writers 2008, American Theater Company 2017), A Loss of Roses (Raven 2016)
Arthur Miller: All My Sons (TimeLine 2009), Death of a Salesman (Hypocrites 2005, American Players 2016), The Price (Shattered Globe 2007), A View from the Bridge (American Players 2017), Incident at Vichy (Redtwist 2015), The Crucible (Steppenwolf 2007 and 2017), After the Fall (Eclipse 2010)
Horton Foote: The Trip to Bountiful (Goodman 2008), Dividing the Estate (Raven 2015), The Old Friends (Raven 2016)
Peter Shaffer: Amadeus (Chicago Shakespeare 2008), Equus (Redtwist 2010), Lettice and Lovage (Court 2006)
Edward Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Steppenwolf 2011, Redtwist 2015), A Delicate Balance (Remy Bumppo 2004), The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (Goodman 2003), Seascape (Remy Bumppo 2012), Three Tall Women (Court 2011)
Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun (TimeLine 2013), The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Goodman 2016)
John Osborne: Look Back in Anger (Redtwist 2014), The Entertainer (Shaw Festival 2009)
Harold Pinter: Betrayal (Raven Theatre 2016), The Birthday Party (Signal 2008), The Caretaker (Writers 2012), The Dumbwaiter (Signal 2006, TUTA 2012), The Homecoming (Stratford Festival 2011), The Hothouse (A Red Orchid 2006), Old Times (Strawdog 2011), The Room (A Red Orchid 2016)
Athol Fugard: The Island (Remy Bumppo 2010), ‘Master Harold’ … and the boys (TimeLine 2010, Shaw Festival 2016), The Road to Mecca (Renaissance Milwaukee 2013), Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Court 2010), Blood Knot (American Players 2018)
