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Search - List of Books by Jeffrey Sweet

Jeffrey Sweet (born May 3, 1950) is an American writer, journalist, songwriter and theatre historian. Sweet's father was the late James Sweet, a science writer for the University of Chicago who aided Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren in drafting two anti-McCarthy speeches; his mother is violinist Vivian Sweet.

Sweet has been a playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, critic, journalist, teacher, theatre historian, and sometime songwriter and director. He is a resident member of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater, where thirteen of his plays...including Flyovers, The Action Against Sol Schumann, The Value of Names, Berlin '45, With and Without, Court-Martial at Fort Devens, and Bluff have been produced. His most recent play, Class Dismissed, opened there in March, 2009 under the direction of artistic director Dennis Zacek.

His involvement with musical theatre includes writing the book to a musical version of Murray Schisgal's play Luv with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and music by Howard Marren. Originally produced off-Broadway under the title Love, it won Outer Critics Circle prizes for best book and best score. It was subsequently revived off-Broadway at the York Theatre in New York, directed by Patricia Birch, under the title What About Luv? and was later produced in London and Tokyo. He also collaborated with Melissa Manchester on a musical called I Sent a Letter to My Love based on the novel by Bernice Rubens. Sweet is also the author of Something Wonderful Right Away (an oral history of Chicago's The Second City troupe), The Dramatist's Toolkit and Solving Your Script (two texts on dramatic writing).

Sweet's plays fall into two groups...those inspired by historical-political subjects and those springing from more personal impulses. The most produced of the former is The Value of Names, a story set against the backdrop of the aftermath of the blacklist. In it, a young actress finds herself facing the prospect of working with the director who named her father to HUAC during the McCarthy era. Though its premiere was in 1983 (at the Actors Theatre of Louisville), Names has been revived a number of times in the past few years, most notably in a series of productions starring Jack Klugman (the most recent at the Falcon Theatre was nominated for "best play" in the Ovation Awards of Los Angeles; it was a remounting of the 2006 production directed by James Glossman at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ). Other actors who have played in it include Howard Morris, Ed Asner, Garry Marshall, Hector Elizondo, Shelley Berman, Byrne Piven, Warren Mitchell, Allen Swift, Robin Groves, Helen Hunt, Sally Murphy and Larry Block.

Flyovers, which premiered at Victory Gardens in 1998, represents a more personal project. The story of a film critic who returns to the small town in Ohio where he grew up and encounters threats he thought he left behind years ago, the play anticipated the confrontation between red state and blue state cultures. The original production, directed by Dennis Zacek, starred William Petersen, Amy Morton, Marc Vann and Linda Reiter. Gary Cole and Teddi Sidall took over for Petersen and Morton when the run was extended. The play won a Joseph Geofferson Award for its script, and it was recently published in Victory Gardens Theater Presents Seven New Plays From the Playwrights Ensemble, an anthology from Northwestern University Press. A showcase production in New York in 2009, produced by Artistic New Directions, 78th Street Theatre Lab and Jeff Landsmann, starred Richard Kind, Michele Pawk, Kevin Geer and Donna Bullock. Northwestern University Press also published an anthology containing nine of his scripts in under the title The Value of Names and Other Plays by Jeffrey Sweet; Chicago Tribune theatre critic emeritus Richard Christiansen wrote the foreword.

Sweet has also written for other media, including hundreds of hours of television as well as radio adaptations of some of his plays. His work for the soap opera One Life to Live resulted in a Writers Guild of America Award for writing for a daytime serial in 1992 and an Emmy nomination. Under the title of "creative consultant," he also co-wrote the adaptation of Hugh Whitemore's Pack of Lies for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The script, officially credited to the pseudonym Ralph Gallup, was nominated for an Emmy, and the show won a Peabody Award.

Sweet serves as a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild, is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and is an alumnus of New Dramatists. He contributes a regular column to the magazine, Dramatics.
This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jeffrey Sweet", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 20
What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing
2017 - What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780300211443
ISBN-10: 0300211449
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The O'Neill The Transformation of Modern American Theater
The Value of Names
2009 - The Value of Names [Library Edition Audio CDs - L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collections] (Audio CD)
ISBN-13: 9781580816540
ISBN-10: 1580816541
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The Value of Names and Other Plays
2008 - The Value of Names and Other Plays (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780810123953
ISBN-10: 0810123959
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Something Wonderful Right Away An Oral History of the Second City and The Compass Players
Solving Your Script  Tools and Techniques for the Playwright
2001 - Solving Your Script Tools and Techniques for the Playwright (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780325000534
ISBN-10: 0325000530
Genres: Arts & Photography, Reference
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Routed
1998 - Routed (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822209737
ISBN-10: 082220973X
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The Dramatist's Toolkit The Craft of the Working Playwright
1993 - The Dramatist's Toolkit the Craft of the Working Playwright (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780435086299
ISBN-10: 0435086294
Genre: Reference
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
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Bluff
Bluff (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780573601170
ISBN-10: 0573601178
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After the fact
After the Fact (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780573620287
ISBN-10: 0573620288
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Porch A drama
Porch a Drama (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780573624285
ISBN-10: 0573624283
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Responsible Parties
Responsible Parties (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822209454
ISBN-10: 0822209454
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Stops Along the Way
Stops Along the Way (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822210856
ISBN-10: 0822210851
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Ties
Ties (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822211495
ISBN-10: 0822211491
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The Value of Names
The Value of Names (Paperback)Paperback, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9780822212003
ISBN-10: 0822212005
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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With and Without
With and Without (Paperback)Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9780822215585
ISBN-10: 0822215586
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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The Value of Names
The Value of Names (Paperback)Paperback, Audio Cassette
ISBN-13: 9780822216445
ISBN-10: 0822216442
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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Action Against Sol Schumann
Action Against Sol Schumann (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822219491
ISBN-10: 0822219492
Genre: Literature & Fiction
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