Arthur L. Kopit

Steven Dedalus Burch (University of Alabama)

Ed. by Nick Selby, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 10 May 1937
Died 2 Apr 2021
Activity 1957-2021

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Theatre Director

Resources

Kopit's Works

Save to Bookshelf

A prominent American playwright of the second part of the twentieth century, of keen intelligence and theatrical energy and power, Arthur L. Kopit was born on 10 May 1937 in New York City. He grew up in Lawrence, Nassau County, New York on Long Island, the son of a jeweler. He began his playwriting career early as an undergraduate at Harvard University in 1957 with the production of

The Questioning of Nick

. It was at Harvard that Kopit found his voice with his most famous play,

Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad

, and for the next two decades his two most important works,

Indians

and

Wings

Kopit’s first play, a serious realistic one-act drama which won a college-wide playwriting contest, The Questioning of Nick is set in a police

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2948 words

Citation: Burch, Steven Dedalus. "Arthur L. Kopit". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 April 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2557, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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