William Finn (1952– )
Playwright, composer, and lyricist. His musicals include A New Brain (1998, book
coauthored with James Lapine), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
(2004, with Rachel Sheinkin, libretto).
Horton Foote (1916–2009)
Actor, playwright, screenwriter, and television dramatist. His notable plays
include The Trip to Bountiful (1953), Lily Dale (1986), and The Last of the Thorn-
tons (2000). His autobiography is titled Beginnings (2002).
María Irene Fornés (1930– )
Playwright and director. Her later plays include Enter the Night (1993), Summer
in Gossensass (1999), and Letters from Cuba (2000).
Charles Fuller (1939– )
African American playwright and screenwriter. His plays include The Brownsville
Raid (1976), Zooman and the Sign (1979), and a series of six plays written in the
1990s about blacks’ fight for rights after the Civil War.
Charles Gordone (1925–1995)
African American playwright, director, actor, and educator whose plays include
Baba Chops (1974), The Last Chord (1976), and Roan Brown and Cherry (1985).
Richard Greenberg (1958– )
Playwright whose works include Eastern Standard (1988), Hurrah at Last (1999),
and The Violet Room (2003).
John Guare (1938– )
Playwright and librettist whose first major success was The House of Blue Leaves
(1971). His later works include the plays Lydie Breeze (1982), Four Baboons Adoring
the Sun (1992), and Chaucer in Rome (2001), and the book and lyrics for the musical
Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971) and the book for Sweet Smell of Success (2002).
Marvin Hamlisch (1944– )
Composer of the Broadway musicals They’re Playing Our Song (1979), The Good-
bye Girl (1993), and Sweet Smell of Success (2002). His autobiography, The Way I
Was, was published in 1992.
Beth Henley (1952– )
Playwright and actress. Her works include The Wake of Jamie Foster (1982), The
Lucky Spot (1986), and Impossible Marriage (1998).
William M. Hoffman (1939– )
Playwright, opera librettist, television writer, and editor. His works include the
plays A Book of Etiquette (1978) and The Cherry Orchard, Part II (1983) and the
opera libretto The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), with score by John Corigliano.
Velina Hasu Houston (1957– )
Playwright, essayist, and poet of Japanese, Blackfoot Pikuni and African
American heritage, best known for her play Tea (produced, 1987; published,
2000).