The microecology of identity in the last plays of Lanford Wilson
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Critical assessments of Lanford Wilson's dramas are incomplete, with most studies ending about the time of Burn This (1987); furthermore, little is known about his social identity. This study identifies and interrogates the missing information about Wilson's life story and late career dramas: Redwood Curtain, Sympathetic Magic, and Book of Days. The themes that inform my analysis of Wilson's identity and dramaturgy are fathers and family, betrayal, sexuality, and addiction. Wilson was traumatized by his father's abandonment as a child, then traumatized again when his father rejected him for being gay. The works in this study reflect Wilson's trauma and betrayal, his alcoholism, and his homosexuality. By identifying and naming this missing information about Wilson, this study, the first dissertation to use the Lanford Wilson Theatre Collection at the University of Missouri, lays the groundwork for a comprehensive biographical narrative about his life and career.