Van Itallie, Jean-Claude | Van Itallie, Jean-Claude 1936–
Van Itallie, Jean-Claude 1936–
Born in Brussels, Van Itallie is a French-speaking playwright now living in America. The best known of his experimental plays is America Hurrah. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 45-48.)
I think I would respond to Mr. van Itallie's work under any circumstances—he speaks, if these plays [in America Hurrah] are typical of him, more directly to my own particular obsessions than any other contemporary American playwright—but the important thing to note is that he does not function in isolation. The workshop and cabaret groups with which he has been associated have been collaborating with a surprising number of promising experimental dramatists, and one of these groups—the Open Theatre—has partly determined the development of his style…. With America Hurrah, the concept of theatrical unity finally becomes meaningful in this country, and the American theatre takes three giant steps...
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