Playwriting

He has died at age 73. Wilson won the Pulitzer Prize for his play, "Talley's Folly." He wrote 17 full length plays and 30 one acts. Titles include "The Hot L Baltimore," "Burn This," "Fifth of July" and "Redwood Curtain," which had just come out when Terry spoke to Wilson in 1992. Wilson was one of the founders of The Circle Repertory Company in New York. He was nominated for Tony Awards for "Angels Fall," "Talley's Folly" and "Fifth of July." (REBROADCAST. ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 3/13/92)

Laurents, best known for writing the books for the landmark musicals Gypsy and West Side Story, died Thursday. Fresh Air remembers the writer and director with excerpts from a 1990 interview.

Albee made his debut as a Broadway playwright in 1962 with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which went on to win a Tony Award. He died Friday at the age of 88. Originally broadcast in 1984.

Simon, who died Sunday, spoke to Fresh Air in 1996 about finding balance between his desire for leisure time and his need to write: "They were at odds," he says. "I'm my own odd couple."

McCraney's script was adapted into the Oscar-winning film. David Makes Man, now in season 2, begins with a Miami boy whose mother struggles with addiction, and has echoes of McCraney's own childhood.

Katori Hall didn't want to gloss over Turner's life in the Tony-nominated musical Tina. Instead, she says, it was important to be "brutally honest" about the pain and trauma Turner has survived.