Famous Playwrights
Instructions: From Shakespeare to Arthur Miller, how well do you know the masters of the stage?
- 1.
Which playwright wrote 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible'?
ATennessee WilliamsBArthur MillerCEdward AlbeeDEugene O'Neill - 2.
Tennessee Williams is best known for which play about a faded Southern belle?
AA Streetcar Named DesireBCat on a Hot Tin RoofCOur TownDThe Glass Menagerie - 3.
How many plays are attributed to William Shakespeare?
AAbout 25BAbout 37CAbout 50DAbout 65 - 4.
Which Norwegian playwright wrote 'A Doll's House' and 'Hedda Gabler'?
AAnton ChekhovBAugust StrindbergCHenrik IbsenDBertolt Brecht - 5.
Which Russian playwright wrote 'The Cherry Orchard' and 'Three Sisters'?
ANikolai GogolBMaxim GorkyCAnton ChekhovDLeo Tolstoy - 6.
Who wrote 'Waiting for Godot,' a landmark of absurdist theater?
AJean-Paul SartreBHarold PinterCEugène IonescoDSamuel Beckett - 7.
Which ancient Greek playwright wrote 'Oedipus Rex' and 'Antigone'?
AAeschylusBEuripidesCAristophanesDSophocles - 8.
Oscar Wilde wrote which witty comedy about mistaken identities and the name Ernest?
AThe Importance of Being EarnestBAn Ideal HusbandCA Woman of No ImportanceDLady Windermere's Fan - 9.
Which German playwright developed 'epic theater' and wrote 'The Threepenny Opera'?
AFriedrich SchillerBBertolt BrechtCGerhart HauptmannDGeorg Büchner - 10.
Eugene O'Neill, America's first great playwright, won how many Pulitzer Prizes for Drama?
ATwoBThreeCFourDFive - 11.
Which French playwright wrote 'Tartuffe' and 'The Misanthrope' in the 17th century?
AVoltaireBJean RacineCMolièreDPierre Corneille - 12.
Which playwright wrote 'A Raisin in the Sun,' the first play by a Black woman produced on Broadway?
AToni MorrisonBLorraine HansberryCAlice WalkerDMaya Angelou - 13.
Which Shakespeare play features the line 'To be, or not to be, that is the question'?
AMacbethBKing LearCOthelloDHamlet - 14.
Which Irish playwright wrote 'Pygmalion,' later adapted into the musical 'My Fair Lady'?
ASean O'CaseyBOscar WildeCGeorge Bernard ShawDSamuel Beckett - 15.
Which playwright created 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'
ADavid MametBHarold PinterCTom StoppardDEdward Albee
Answer Key
Arthur Miller wrote 'Death of a Salesman' (1949) and 'The Crucible' (1953). He is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century.
'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1947) tells the story of Blanche DuBois, who arrives at her sister's home in New Orleans. The original Broadway production starred Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.
Shakespeare wrote approximately 37 plays (the exact number is debated), along with 154 sonnets and several longer poems. His works span comedies, tragedies, and histories.
Henrik Ibsen is often called the 'father of modern drama.' 'A Doll's House' (1879) shocked audiences with its portrayal of a woman leaving her husband and children to find herself.
Anton Chekhov revolutionized theater with his subtle, psychologically rich dramas. 'The Cherry Orchard' (1904) explores the decline of the Russian aristocracy and was his final play.
Samuel Beckett wrote 'Waiting for Godot' in French, first performed in 1953. The play depicts two men waiting endlessly for someone named Godot who never arrives, and is considered a masterpiece of the Theater of the Absurd.
Sophocles (c. 496-406 BC) wrote over 120 plays, of which only seven survive complete. 'Oedipus Rex' is often cited as the perfect example of Greek tragedy.
'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895) is a farcical comedy in which two men each pretend to be named Ernest to win the affections of two women. It is considered Wilde's masterpiece.
Bertolt Brecht developed 'epic theater,' which used techniques to distance the audience emotionally so they would think critically about social issues rather than just feel emotions.
Eugene O'Neill won four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936. His masterwork 'Long Day's Journey into Night' was published posthumously.
Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) was the master of French comedy. 'Tartuffe' (1664), which satirized religious hypocrisy, was initially banned by King Louis XIV under pressure from the church.
Lorraine Hansberry's 'A Raisin in the Sun' (1959) follows a Black family's struggles on Chicago's South Side. She was just 29 when it premiered, making her the youngest American playwright to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.
Prince Hamlet speaks this famous soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' (c. 1600). The play is Shakespeare's longest and one of the most performed works in world literature.
George Bernard Shaw wrote 'Pygmalion' in 1912 about a professor who transforms a Cockney flower girl into a lady. Shaw won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.
Edward Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1962) depicts a bitter evening of psychological warfare between a married couple and their guests. It won the Tony Award for Best Play.