An American playwright from Kansas who had a string of memorable Broadway productions including ComeBack Little Sheba, Bus Stop, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and Picnic, which earned a Pulitzer Prize.

• William Inge

• Tyrone Gutherine

• Tom Stoppard

• Thornton Wilder

An English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival and the Guthrie Theater.

• Lorraine Hansberry

• William Inge

• Tyrone Guthrie

• Langford Wilson

A Czech-born Brittish playwright who has won an Academy Award and four Tony Awards. Known for writing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as well as the film, Shakespeare in Love.

• Thornton Wilder

• Tom Stoppard

• Samuel Beckett

• Oscar Wilde

An American playwright who won three Pulitzer Prize awards. Known for writing Our Town and The Skin of our Teeth.

• Noel Coward

• Samuel Beckett

• Oscar Wilde

• Thornton Wilder

An Irish novelist, playwright and theatre director, who is best known for writing bleak, tragicomic, black comedy with gallows humor. Famous plays include Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and Happy Days.

• Samuel Beckett

• Oscar Wild

• Noel Coward

• Tom Stoppard

An Irish poet and playwright who became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Best known for writing The Importance of Being Earnest.

• Marsha Norman

• Noel Coward

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Oscar Wilde

An English playwright known for plays such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, and Blithe Spirit.

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Langford Wilson

• Marsha Norman

• Noel Coward

An American playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for the play, 'night Mother, and the Tony Award for the book and lyrics of The Secret Garden. Also wrote the libretto for The Color Purple and the book for The Bridges of Madison County.

• Marsha Norman

• Tyronne Gutherie

• Lorraine Hansberry

• William Inge

An African-American playwright who is known for writing A Raisin in the Sun.

• Langford Wilson

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Oscar Wilde

• Marsha Norman

An American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. Was one of the first playwrights to move from Off-Off-Broadway to Off-Broadway, then Broadway and beyond. Received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Talley's Folley.

• Langford Wilson

• Oscar Wilde

• Noel Coward

• Tom Stoppard