Thorton Wilder

Although Thornton Wilder died in 1975, it was not until the new century that key archival holdings, notably records held by Wilder's attorneys, dramatic agents and family members, became available and could be consulted by those wishing to build up a full, accurate picture of Wilder’s life and work.

Two volumes have been written since the full archive has been open and the Wilder Family highly recommends them to directors, dramaturgs, actors and members of the production team. They are excellent resources, providing background and context for the Play:

• Thornton Wilder: A Life (2012) by Penelope Niven. The first definitive biography of Thornton Wilder, published by Harper Collins.
• The Selected Letters of Thornton Wider (2008) edited by Robin G. Wilder and Jackson R. Bryer. A sampling of some of Wilder’s thousands of letters together with important biographical material.

Additional approved resources are listed below, providing further information about Wilder’s work; the correct places to approach for reprint rights for photographs, extracts from Wilder’s novels, plays and letters; plus ways to connect with Wilder experts and fans across the world. Theatre teams will find they are a great help in creating interesting and accurate programme notes and press releases.

• Official website of Thornton Wilder – www.thorntonwilder.com. Contact: Rosey Strub rosey@thorntonwilder.com · Website of the Thornton Wilder Society – www.twildersociety.org
• The Barbara Hogenson Agency. Wilder’s Literary Agent able to grant reprint permissions for Wilder’s novels and plays. Contact: Barbara Hogenson bhogenson@aol.com · Beinecke Library at Yale University – www.beinecke.library.yale.edu. Holder of the Thornton Wilder archive, including many rare papers, letters and photographs. Contact: Melissa Barton, Curator, Prose and Drama Melissa.barton@yale.edu.
• Harper Collins Publishers – www.harpercollins.com. For published editions of Wilder’s novels and full length plays as well as the reference books listed above. Contact: Sofia Groopman, Assistant Editor Sofia.Groopman@harpercollins.com · Concord Theatricals www.concord.com. For acting editions of Wilder’s plays.

Thornton Niven Wilder Chronology

1897 Born in Madison, Wisconsin (April 17)

1906 Moves to Hong Kong in May and to Berkeley, California in October

1906-10 Emerson Public School in Berkeley

1910-11 China Inland Mission School, Chefoo, China (one year)

1912-13 Thacher School, Ojai, CA (one year). First play known to be produced: The Russian Princess

1915 Graduates from Berkeley High School; active in school dramatics

1915-17 Oberlin College; published regularly

1920 B.A. Yale College (3-month service in 1918 with U.S. Army in 1918); many publications

1920-21 American Academy in Rome (8-month residency)

1920s French teacher at Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey (’21-’25 & ’27-’28)

1924 First visit to the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire

1926 M.A. in French literature, Princeton University

The Trumpet Shall Sound produced off-Broadway (American Laboratory Theatre)

The Cabala (first novel)

1927 The Bridge of San Luis Rey (novel- Pulitzer Prize)

1928 The Angel That Troubled The Waters (first published collection of drama—playlets)

1930s Part-time faculty, University of Chicago (comparative literature and composition); lectures across the country; first Hollywood screen-writing assignment (1934); extensive foreign travel

1930 The Woman of Andros (novel)

Completion of home for his family and himself in Hamden, Connecticut

1931 The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays (six one-act plays)

1932 Lucrece opens on Broadway staring Katharine Cornell (translation of André Obey’s Le Viol de Lucrèce)

1935 Heaven’s My Destination (novel)

1937 A Doll’s House (adaptation/ trans.) opens on Broadway with Ruth Gordon

1938 Our Town (Pulitzer Prize) and The Merchant of Yonkers open on Broadway

1942 The Skin of Our Teeth opens on Broadway (Pulitzer Prize)

Screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Shadow of a Doubt

1942-45 Service with Army Air Force in North Africa and Italy (Lieut. Col. at discharge – Bronze Star and O.B.E.)

1948 The Ides of March (novel); performing in his plays in summer stock in this period

The Victors opens off-Broadway (translation of Sartre’s Morts sans sépulture)

1949 Major role in Goethe Convocation in Aspen; lectures widely.

1951-52 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard

1952 Gold Medal for Fiction, American Academy of Arts and Letters

1953 Cover of Time Magazine (January 12)

1955 The Matchmaker opens on Broadway staring Ruth Gordon

The Alcestiad produced at Edinburgh Festival with Irene Worth (as A Life in the Sun)

1957 German Peace Prize

1961 Libretto for The Long Christmas Dinner (music by Paul Hindemith—premieres in Mannheim, West Germany)

1962 “Plays for Bleecker Street” (Someone from Assisi, Infancy, and Childhood) premiere at NYC’s Circle in the Square

Libretto for The Alcestiad (music by Louise Talma—premieres in Frankfurt, West Germany)

1963 Presidential Medal of Freedom

1964 Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing opens on Broadway

1965 National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature

1967 The Eighth Day (National Book Award for Fiction)

1973 Theophilus North (novel)

1975 Dies in sleep in Hamden, CT on December 7. Buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut

For more information visit www.thorntonwilder.com and www.thorntonwildersociety.org.