Lawrence Langner (May 30, 1890 – 1962) was a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and producer who also pursued a career as a patent attorney.

Life

Born near

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

and working most of his life in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he started his theatrical career as one of the founders of the

Washington Square Players The Washington Square Players (WSP) was a theatre troupe and production company that existed from 1915 to 1918 in Manhattan, New York City. It started as a semi-amateur Little Theatre then matured into a Repertory theatre with its own touring ...

troupe in 1914. He was also involved in

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

and founded the National Inventors Council. In 1919 he founded the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

, where he supervised over 200 productions. He was also founder and Chairman of the American Shakespeare Festival, and with his wife, Armina Marshall, he created and operated the

Westport Country Playhouse Westport Country Playhouse is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality ...

. Besides theatre, Lawrence Langner wrote several books, including an autobiography, titled ''Magic Curtain''. He was awarded the 1958

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

for best play production (together with his wife and partners, Theresa Helburn and

Dore Schary Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 – July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed one feature film, ''Act One (film), Act One'', th ...

) for '' Sunrise at Campobello''.

Best known works

* ''The Pursuit of Happiness'' * ''Sunrise at Campobello'' * ''Magic Curtain'' (autobiography) * ''The Importance of Wearing Clothes''

References

Ladas & Parry (Intellectual Property Firm) - A Brief History
* Langner, Lawrence (1961). ''The Magic Curtain: The Story of a Life in Two Fields, Theatre and Invention'' (1st ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc. * Scott Langston, "Exodus in Early Twentieth Century America: Charles Reynolds Brown and Lawrence Langner," in Michael Lieb, Emma Mason and Jonathan Roberts (eds), ''The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible'' (Oxford, OUP, 2011), 433–446.

External links

*
Lawrence Langner papers, 1915-1962
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

* Lawrence Langner Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Langner, Lawrence 1890 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American lawyers American theatre directors People from Westport, Connecticut Writers from Swansea Welsh emigrants to the United States American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers