Ross Wetzsteon (–1998)
Author of Republic of Dreams : Greenwich Village: The American Bohemia, 1910-1960
About the Author
Ross Wetzsteon was a contributing editor at the Village Voice for thirty-two years. For twenty-eight years he was the chairman of the Voice's Obie Committee, which administered the Obie Awards, Off-Broadway theater's highest honor. He edited two drama collections, Fool for Love and Other Plays by show more Sam Shepard and The Best of Off-Broadway, and as a journalist and critic he wrote for many national publications, including The New York Times, New York magazine, and Conde Nast Traveler. Like many of the artists who populate Republic of Dreams, he came from somewhere else -- in his case, Montana -- but lived in Greenwich Village for all of his adult life. He died in 1998 show less
Works by Ross Wetzsteon
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Common Knowledge
- Date of death
- 1998-02-20
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Montana, USA
- Place of death
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Greenwich Village, New York, USA
- Occupations
- editor
journalist - Relationships
- Wetzsteon, Rachel (daughter)
- Organizations
- The Village Voice
Members
Reviews
The Obie winners : the best of Off-Broadway by Ross Wetzsteon
Ten break-through plays in the history of American theatre. Genet, Beckett, Shepard, Mamet, Wilson and McNally are now part of the world's literary tradition. The only reason I decided to give it 4 instead of 5 stars is that these plays were early works; many of the playwrights here went on to pen even more sophisticated works.
Good collection of OBIE winners from the 1980's. Wallace Shawn, David Mamet, Eric Bogosian, Christopher Durang, Samuel Beckett, Craig Lucas, Maria Irene Forbes, and Suzan-Lori Parks are the eight authors of the selected plays- some of them became Broadway playwrights as well as Oscar-nominated scriptwriters.
This book tells the stories of selected individuals, both famous and less well known, who have been a part of the cultural life of Greenwich Village. It is well written and full of interesting anecdotes and trivia. It captures trends in Village life over time. Most interesting are Wetzsteon's observations about the nature of Bohemianism, including its successes and often spectacular failures, as exemplified in the lives of his cast of characters. Apparently he planned a separate chapter on this topic but died before he could complete the book. It nonetheless stands on its own as an interesting set of vivid snapshots of artistic, literary and life-as-art culture.… (more)
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- Members
- 243
- Popularity
- #93,557
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
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- ISBNs
- 6