(Applause Books). The Great American Playwrights on the Screen is a complete, up-to-date record of movie and television productions of classic and contemporary works of the great playwrights. Rich in historical value and detail, this reference book not only tracks Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners, but also unearths unheralded treasures and forgotten performances by great actors and the great directors they served. To show the ongoing influences and legacies of the great plays, Roberts compares and contrasts the adapted versions, and includes colorful reviews by prominent critics of tv and film (beginning with those of the silent era). The profound expansion of television into American homes in the 1950s brought a flood of adapted plays to the small screen, and resulted in the rebirth of the careers of many significant playwrights. The Great American Playwrights on the Screen provides fans with a video and DVD guide to the adapted works of the playwrights, and shows which versions are available for home viewing and in which media (VHS, Beta, Laser, DVD, Letterbox). Simultaneously, this book is a unique, one-stop source for academics, students of the theatre arts, actors, directors and producers. Organized in an easy-to-use A-Z format, the book features over 200 playwrights including Arthur Miller, Marsha Norman, Eugene O''Neill, Aaron Sorkin, Neil Simon, Wendy Wasserstein, and Tennessee Williams. In addition, The Great American Playwrights on the Screen resurrects the memories of television productions of plays at a critical time, when many of them including Emmy Award winners and nominees are deteriorating in vaults.