Famous Playwrights

• Aeschylus

  "The father of Greek tragedy"

• Baraka, Amiri

  Author of the 1964 play Dutchman

• Behn, Aphra

  17th century English writer

• Childress, Alice

  The author of A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich

• Foote, Horton

  Oscar-winning screenwriter of To Kill A Mockingbird

• Hansberry, Lorraine

  The author of A Raisin in the Sun

• Havel, Václav

  The dissident who became the first president of the Czech Republic

• Ibsen, Henrik

  The Norwegian "Father of Modern Drama" 

• Leigh, Mike

  The filmmaker who did Secrets and Lies and Vera Drake

• Lonergan, Kenneth

  The director of 'You Can Count on Me'

• Lorca, Federico Garcia

  Spanish dramatist/poet who wrote Poet in New York

• Mamet, David

  The playwright who wrote Glengarry Glen Ross

• McDonagh, Martin

  The playwright who made the film The Banshees of Inisherin

• Miller, Arthur

  The author of Death of a Salesman

• Odets, Clifford

  The author of the play Waiting for Lefty

• O'Neill, Eugene

  The author of the play Long Day's Journey Into Night

• Perry, Tyler

  Madea in his film Diary of a Mad Black Woman

• Pinter, Harold

  The Nobel-winning author of The Homecoming

• Pirandello, Luigi

  The author of Six Characters in Search of An Author

• Rebeck, Theresa

  The playwright who created the TV show Smash

• Seneca

  Stoic philospher and playwright of the first century

• Shepard, Sam

  The actor/playwright who wrote 'Fool for Love' and 'True West'

• Sherwood, Robert E.

   The playwright who wrote the movie The Best Years of Our Lives

• Simon, Neil

   The Broadway legend who wrote The Odd Couple

• Smith, Dodie

  The author of The Hundred and One Dalmations

• Sophocles

  Greek dramatist who wrote Oedipus Tyrannus

• Williams, Tennessee

  Pulitzer-winning author of A Streetcar Named Desire

• Wilson, August

  Pulitzer-winning author of Fences and The Piano Lesson

• Yeats, William Butler

  Irish poet and playwright

See: Index by Occupation