Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. Swados received

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and

Best Choreography The MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and choreographer of the music video. From 1984 to 2007, the full name of the award was Best Choreography in a Video. The biggest winner ...

. She was nominated for

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

s for Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music, and won an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...

for her direction of '' Runaways'' in 1978. In 1980, the

Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges are Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to Geneva Academy established in 1797. Students can choose from 45 maj ...

awarded her an honorary doctorate in

Humane Letters Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the tim ...

Life

Swados was born February 5, 1951, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. Swados' autobiography, ''The Four of Us, A Family Memoir,'' was published by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

in 1991.Kirkus Review. 'The Four of Us'
KirkusReviews.com, May 20, 2010 (online), August 1, 1991 (review issue). Accessed January 6, 2016. Her father,

Robert O. Swados Robert Orville Swados (February 27, 1919 – November 23, 2012) was an attorney and businessman from Buffalo, New York, best known for his involvement as an attorney for the US/Canadian National Hockey League and being one of the founders of the Bu ...

, was a successful attorney who helped

Seymour H. Knox III Seymour Horace Knox III (March 9, 1926May 22, 1996) was a philanthropist and sports entrepreneur. He owned the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League from their foundation in 1970 to his death in 1996, and served as chairman of the team. ...

establish the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

. His autobiography, ''Counsel in the Crease: A Big League Player in the Hockey Wars'', was published by Prometheus Books in 2005. Her mother, an actress and poet, struggled with depression. Her older brother and only sibling, Lincoln, had

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

. Swados' mother committed suicide in 1974 and Lincoln died in 1989. Swados also had depression, which she discussed in her book, '' My Depression: A Picture Book'', which was published by

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpo ...

in 2014. Swados died from complications following surgery for

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voi ...

on January 5, 2016.Grimes, William (January 5, 2016).
Elizabeth Swados, Creator of Socially Conscious Musicals, Is Dead at 64
. ''The New York Times''. She was 64.

Career

Swados studied music and creative writing at Bennington College in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973. While at Bennington, she was introduced by professor

Franz Marijnen Franz Marijnen (4 April 1943 – 3 August 2022) was a Belgian theatre director. His early career, in the Netherlands and Belgium, was influenced by the work of the Polish theatre director and theorist Jerzy Grotowski. Marijnen then moved to t ...

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goo ...

and became involved with Stewart's

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

in New York City. Working with Ellen Stewart and Andrei Serban, and with

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

, Swados worked to develop a new sensory language of sound, rhythm, and movement that transcended traditional verbal speech. Swados' musical compositions for ''Fragments of a Greek Trilogy'' (''Medea, Electra'', and ''Trojan Women'') during the early 1970s at La MaMa and for Peter Brook's ''Conference of the Birds'' in the later 1970s laid the groundwork for musical innovation in both American and international theatre. She was profiled by filmmaker Linda Feferman in the 1977 short documentary ''The Girl with the Incredible Feeling'', a title drawn from a 1975 children's book which she wrote and illustrated. The documentary blends performance footage, home movies, testimonial, and an animated dramatization of the title book, narrated by actor Kenneth McMillan, with her illustrations animated by Carol Ehrlich. Although many of Swados' works were musicals, her work drew from folk and world music rather than exclusively from

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. Much of her work dealt with issues such as racism, murder, and mental illness. Her first Broadway success, '' Runaways'', was intended to be a community service piece with a short run. However, after appearing at The Public Theater,''Runaways''
Internet Off-Broadway Database. Accessed January 6, 2016. the show transferred to Broadway in May 1978."'Runaways' Broadway"
Playbillvault.com. Accessed January 6, 2016. Swados' first musical with

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series '' Alpha House' ...

, ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...

'', opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre in November 1983. In 1984, Swados composed the music for Garry Trudeau's satirical musical ''Rap Master Ronnie.'' In 1985, Swados' musical ''The Beautiful Lady'', concerning the life and works of six Russian poets who lived, composed and performed in St. Petersburg at the time of the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, won the first Helen Hayes "Best New Play" award. Swados also composed music for film ('' Four Friends,'' 1981"Swados Overview"
TCM.com, accessed January 6, 2016.) and television (''Seize the Day,'' 1987), and performed live at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

."Elizabeth A. Swados." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Accessed via ''Biography in Context'' database, July 3, 2016. Swados made guest appearances on eleven

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

s, four on ABC

Daytime Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemi ...

(''

Loving Loving may refer to: * Love, a range of human emotions * Loving (surname) * ''Loving v. Virginia'', a 1967 landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case Film and television * Loving (1970 film), ''Loving'' (1970 film), an American fi ...

'', ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

'', ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'', and ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest-running American soap opera in production, and the second in American history after '' ...

''), three on NBC

(''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'', '' Another World'', and '' Santa Barbara'') and four on CBS

(''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', '' The Bold and the Beautiful'', '' As the World Turns'', and ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

''). She published three novels, three non-fiction books, and nine children's books. Her later books included '' My Depression: A Picture Book'', ''Sidney's Animal Rescue'', and ''At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater''. ''My Depression: A Picture Book'' (2005), was made into an animated short film that was an official selection of the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in 2014. The film includes voices by Sigourney Weaver and

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

. In June 2016, Swados' final novel, ''Walking The Dog'', was posthumously published by

The Feminist Press The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...

. The narrative follows a former

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

painter and rich-girl

kleptomaniac Kleptomania is the inability to resist the urge to steal items, usually for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. First described in 1816, kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse control disorder. Some of the main ch ...

as she struggles to reintegrate into society following a botched heist which left her incarcerated for two decades. Swados was the recipient of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

, a Ford Fellowship, a Covenant Foundation Grant, an International PEN Citation, a Cine Award, and a Mira Award, among others. She taught in the drama department at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

's Tisch School of the Arts and at

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts as a visiting artist. Her articles were published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' O'', and numerous other publications. Shortly after Swados' death in 2016, the actress

Diane Lane Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at age 14 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film '' A Little Romance''. The two films that could have catapulted her to st ...

honored her by establishing a grant for arts educators. Print version appeared February 18, 2016, titled "Grants From Diane Lane Will Honor Swados". The two had a personal connection that dated back to the 1970s. Swados provided the music for Lane's acting debut in Andrei Serban's 1972 production of ''Medea'', and collaborated with the actress again on ''Runaways''. ''Runaways'' was revived in July 2016, after Swados' death, by the New York City Center as a part of its ''Encores! Off-Center'' season, a series that explores rarely-revived

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

shows. In 2020 Ghostlight Records released an album by the name of ''The Liz Swados Project'' featuring many of her alt-musical singer/composer heirs to honour her music.

Selected works

* ''Shekhina'' (1971; La MaMa; written by Leon Katz, directed by

Rina Yerushalmi Rina Yerushalmi (born March 1, 1939) is an Israeli theater director and choreographer. Yerushalmi received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2001 and the Israel Prize in Theatre in 2008, among other awards and recognit ...

, music by Swados) * ''La Celestina, Or, the Spanish Bawd'' (1971; La MaMa; adapted and directed by Steve Abrams, music by Swados) * ''Medea'' (1972; La MaMa; conceived and directed by Andrei Serban, music by Swados) * ''Fragments of a Trilogy/Trilogy/Trojan Women'' (1974; La MaMa; directed by Serban, music by Swados) * ''Crow'' (1974; La MaMa; based on

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

' poems; composed, conceived, and directed by Serban and Swados; performed by Earle Gister's drama students from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

) * ''Jilsa'' (1974; La MaMa; written by Oh Tae-Suk, directed by Duk-Hyung Yoo, music by Swados) * ''The Good Woman of Setzuan'' (1975; La MaMa; adapted from

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

; directed by Serban, music by Swados) * ''Jumpin's Salty'' (1975;

Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective The Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective was a group of professional women playwrights in New York active from 1971 to 1975. They wrote and produced feminist plays and were one of the first feminist theatre groups in the United States to do so ...

; music by Swados, lyrics by Eve Merriman) * ''Nightclub Cantata'' (1977;

Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...

; based on texts by Sylvia Plath,

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, and other poets) * '' Runaways'' (1978;

) * ''Dispatches, a Rock & Roll War'' (1979) * ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

'' (1980; La MaMa; written by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

; directed by Serban, music by Swados) * ''Alice in Concert'' (1980) * ''The Haggadah, a Passover Cantata'' (1980) * ''The Three Travels of Aladin with the Magic Lamp'' (1982; La MaMa; conceived and directed by Francoise Grund, music by Swados) * ''

Enter Life ''Enter Life'' is an 8-minute animated film from 1982 about the earliest origin of life, or abiogensis on earth. Directed by Faith Hubley of Hubley Studios, the film traces a possible course of development, according to contemporary theory, of o ...

'' (1982; animated film; directed by Faith Hubley, music by Swados) * ''Lullabye and Goodnight'' (1982) * ''Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy'' (1983; music by Swados, lyrics by Garry Trudeau) *'' The Killing Floor'' (1984; television film) * ''Rap Master Ronnie'' (1984; music by Swados, lyrics by Garry Trudeau) * ''Jerusalem'' (1983/1984; La MaMa; poetry by Yehuda Amichai; composed and adapted by Swados) * ''Mythos Oedipus'' (1985; La MaMa; directed by

, music by Swados) * ''Religious Revelry - Esther: A Vaudeville Megillah'' (1988; Mosaic Theatre at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

; narration based on

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...

lecture "Beauty and Commitment"; written, composed, and directed by Swados) * ''The Red Sneaks'' (1989) * ''Jonah'' (1990) * ''Groundhog'' (1992) * ''Conscience and Courage Cantata'' (1994) * ''Jabu'' (2005) * ''The Beauty Inside'' (2005) * ''Missionaries in Concert'' (2005) * ''Mental Missiles'' (2006) * ''Spider Opera'' (2006) * ''Kaspar Hauser: A Foundling's Opera'' (2009; Flea Theater) * ''The Great Divorce'' (2007) * ''Books Cook'' (2010;

Atlantic Theater Company Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their a ...

; conceived, composed, and directed by Swados) * ''Resilient Souls'' (2010) * ''Occupy Olympus'' (2013) * ''*mark'' (2014) * '' My Depression (The Up and Down and Up of It)'' (2014; animated film) * ''The Nomad'' (2015) * ''The Golem'' (2015)

Selected bibliography

*Swados. ''Listening Out Loud: Becoming a Composer''. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. *Swados. ''The Four of Us: The Story of a Family''. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1991. *Swados and Joe Cepeda. ''Hey You! C'mere!: A Poetry Slam''. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2002. *Swados and Anne Wilson. ''The Animal Rescue Store''. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2005. Children's Book Review: THE ANIMAL RESCUE STORE
by Elizabeth Swados, author, Anne Wilson, illustrator. Scholastic/Levine $16.95 (48p). *Swados. '' My Depression: A Picture Book''. New York: Hyperion, 2005. *Swados. ''Walking the Dog''. New York: The Feminist Press, 2016.

References

External links

Swados' page on La MaMa Archives Digital CollectionsElizabeth Swados' YouTube channel
*: They explore the idea that artistic genius is linked (in the popular imagination) with suffering, mental illness, and untimely death. An 89-minute video published by , August 14, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
Elizabeth Swados papers, 1972-2016
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Elizabeth Swados papers, additions, 1950-2014
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Swados' profile
on NYU Tisch Drama website.
Swados' profile
on BroadwayWorld. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swados, Elizabeth 1951 births 2016 deaths American women composers American musical theatre composers American musical theatre lyricists Broadway composers and lyricists Broadway theatre directors Place of death missing American people of Lithuanian descent Bennington College alumni Writers from Buffalo, New York Tisch School of the Arts faculty Women theatre directors