Sunday, March 27, 2011

Playwright Lanford Wilson Dead

Today I just happened to come across an obituary for the playwright, Lanford Wilson, buried in the back of the Metro section of the Washington Post. I just happened to be flipping through the pages and almost missed the article completely. He died at the age of 73 on Wednesday, March 23rd also known as the day that Elizabeth Taylor died. It was the standard obituary notice giving the highlights of his life and briefly discussing his playwrighting accomplishments. It just seemed so unfair that this man described in the obituary as "one of the most important playwrights of the late 20th century" should get a measly 3 columns in the back of the Metro section. I'm sure by now millions of columns and billions of words have been devoted to Elizabeth Taylor. I don't want to diminish her importance; in fact, I completely agree that she should have articles devoted to her. It just seems that had Lanford Wilson died at any other time he would have been front page news. I guess it just goes to show that you should never die on the same day (or even the same week) as someone more famous than you.

1 comment:

Jessica D'Arcy said...

My theater produced Talley's Folly back in November - such a beautiful show. I was sad to hear he passed away - and shocked, just like you - to hear it addressed as an "honorable mention".