The Playwrights' Sidewalk Outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre

The Playwrights' Sidewalk

A corporate acquaintance now finds herself facing the dreaded commute to Jersey City, NJ. She has been trying out various subway connections to the Path and recently found herself strolling up Christopher Street and having a bit of fun checking out the shops and restaurants. She also noticed a rare treat in NYC - the Playwrights' Sidewalk outside The Lucille Lortell Theatre in the West Village.



The walk was unveiled in October 1998 and is a permanent monument to playwrights whose works have been performed Off Broadway at the Lucille Lortell and other theaters. I think that it is the only walk honoring playwrights in the country.

Recently, I went to see Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Happy at the Lucille Lortell and arrived early just to retake a closer look at the names on the gum encrusted walk.  Here are the names of the 50 or so featured playwrights in no particular order. 

Playwrights on the Playwrights' Sidewalk:

• Charles Ludlam
  Horton Foote
  Romulus Linney
  Christopher Durang
  Mbongeni Ngema
  Michael Weller
  John Arden
  Tom Jones
  Harvey Schmidt
  Lanford Wilson
  Archibald MacLeish
  A.R. Gurney
  Mart Crowley
  John Guare
  David Mamet
  Sam Shepard
  Murray Schisgal
  Marsha Norman
  William M. Hoffman
  William Inge
  Arthur Miller
  Bertolt Brecht
  Sean O'Casey
  Caryl Churchill
  Samuel Beckett
  Ring Lardner
  Jean Genet
  

• Eugene O'Neill
  Terrence McNally
  Athol Fugard
  Michael Cristofer
  Wendy Wasserstein
  Marc Blitzstein
  Edward Albee
  Tennessee Williams
  Norman Mailer
  Percy Mtwa
  Eugene Ionesco
  Yukio Mishima
  Langston Hughes
  Lee Blessing
  Derek Walcott
  Paula Vogel
  Larry Kramer
  Arthur Kopit
  Israel Horovitz
  Charles Busch
  Paul Zindel
  Douglas Carter Beane
  Adrienne Kennedy
  John Patrick Shanley
  Tony Kushner
  Norman Rosten