From the Archives: Playwright Lanford Wilson

This 1979 portrait of Lanford Wilson was taken during pre-production of his plays “Talley’s Folly” and “The Fifth of July.” The two plays launched the 1979-80 season at the Mark Taper Forum.

Sylvie Drake wrote in the Aug. 12, 1979, Los Angeles Times:

Only in the Byzantine geography of Bible Belt Missouri could Lebanon lie east of Cartage, southwest of Troy and northeast of Sparta. Nor has this Ozark haven of what playwright Lanford Wilson calls “mountains, lakes, creeks and green, green, green” spawned anything much more legendary that the Dogpatch Chronicles.

But Lebanon, MO., has a surprising native son in Wilson, whose “Talley’s Folly” and “The Fifth of July,” currently in previews at the Mark Taper Forum, are related plays performed in repertory and scheduled to launch the Taper’s 1979-80 season on Aug. 23 and 26 respectively. …

“Talley’s Folly” was Wilson’s most successful play. It was part of the “Talley trilogy” that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980. The other two plays in the trilogy was “Fifth of July” and “Talley & Son.”

For more check out Lanford Wilson’ 2011 Los Angeles Times obit.

This photo appeared in the Aug. 12, 1979, Los Angeles Times.