Step back into the heyday of Broadway—the 1950s when times were swell and personalities larger than life…times when the works of Arthur Miller, Moss Hart, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, Elia Kazan, Abe Burrows, Joshua Logan, and Paddy Chayefsky were all the rage, as they still are.

This book offers a rare opportunity to "listen" to these seasoned pros and many more. It takes the form of a collection of transcripts of ten "Craft Discussions" sponsored by the New Dramatists, a group formed by Michaela O'Harra with help from Howard Lindsay to nurture and further the development of American playwrights. Beginning in 1949, on evenings full of humor, warmth, and wisdom, highly regarded theatre professionals led discussions about productions in which they were currently engaged. Together, their words constitute a unique manual for making great theatre.

Learn the answers to probing questions from interviewers and audience members directed to

• Howard Lindsay on the basics of playwriting
• Abe Burrows on the reasons for writing a musical comedy
• Arthur Miller on the tragic hero and the common man
• a brutally candid Paddy Chayefsky on the flaws in his latest smash hit
• Pulitzer-prize winner Joseph Kramm on rewriting and its problems
• Elia Kazan on the working relationship with the playwright
• Howard Bay on what authors should know about scenic design
• Moss Hart on the lessons learned from directing My Fair Lady
• Mary Drayton on the often hilarious agonies of getting a play produced
• Joshua Logan on the creation of his hit Mister Roberts and the influence of Stanislavsky and Japanese Kabuki theatre on his staging.

With bios and handsome full-page photos capturing the flavor of the times and those personalities who made them so memorable, Broadway's Fabulous Fifties is a goldmine to anyone who writes, directs, produces, acts, or simply loves the theatre.

This book was compiled and edited by the New Dramatists Alumni Publications Committee: John von Hartz, chair; Louis C. Adelman, Anna Marie Barlow, Charles Best, Bonnie Bluh, and Joel Wyman.