Memorize these and you could recognize 16.3% of all Theater clues.
| # | Answer | Appearances | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eugene O'Neill | 22 | The leading character in his play "The Hairy Ape" is crushed to death by an ape |
| 2 | Neil Simon | 14 | 1961's "Come Blow Your Horn" was this playwright's 1st Broadway hit |
| 3 | Tennessee Williams | 13 | He had Tallulah Bankhead in mind when he wrote the part of Blanche DuBois |
| 4 | Henrik Ibsen | 13 | He wrote "A Doll's House" in Amalfi & Rome in the summer of 1879 |
| 5 | Arthur Miller | 12 | He dedicated his semi-autobiographical play "After the Fall" to his current wife, Ingeborg Morath |
| 6 | kabuki | 10 | This popular form of Japanese dance drama traces its origins to Bunrako puppet theatre and Noh |
| 7 | George Bernard Shaw | 9 | His 1905 play "Man and Superman" is subtitled "A Comedy and a Philosophy" |
| 8 | Our Town | 8 | Thornton Wilder "cut corners" presenting Grover's Corners in this classic play |
| 9 | Harold Pinter | 8 | Author of "The Caretaker", this Englishman admits American gangster films influenced him |
| 10 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 7 | "Musical beds is the faculty sport" in this questioning Albee play |
| 11 | Waiting for Godot | 7 | Vladimir & Estragon wait and wait, but (spoiler alert!) the title character of this Samuel Beckett play never shows up |
| 12 | The Mousetrap | 7 | This Agatha Christie play opens with the music of "3 Blind Mice" followed by a piercing scream |
| 13 | Death of a Salesman | 7 | We never do learn what kind of product Willy Loman sells in this classic play, which opened on Broadway in 1949 |
| 14 | Cyrano de Bergerac | 7 | A poll once showed that the literary hero most Frenchmen would like to be was this nosy poet |
| 15 | Shakespeare | 7 | In 1995 3 actors presented "The Compleat Works of" this playwright "Abridged" in just 105 minutes |
| 16 | Anton Chekhov | 7 | This Russian playwright died in July, 1904, less than 6 months after his "The Cherry Orchard" premiered |
| 17 | Lillian Hellman | 6 | Hammett's suggestion of a Scottish court case for a plot became her "Children's Hour" |
| 18 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | 6 | The 2nd & last Pulitzer Prize Tennessee Williams won was for this "feline" drama |
| 19 | A Raisin in the Sun | 6 | This 1959 Black family portrait was 1st Broadway play written by a Black woman |
| 20 | A Man for All Seasons | 6 | Paul Scofield starred in the original production of this play & won an Oscar for the film version |
| 21 | Clifford Odets | 6 | The one-act "Waiting for Lefty" was this playwright's first theatrical success |
| 22 | William Inge | 6 | Author of "Picnic", his 1st play was produced thru encouragement of Tennessee Williams |
| 23 | Uncle Vanya | 5 | Chekhov uncle whose last line is "Oh, if you only knew how my heart aches!" |
| 24 | The Glass Menagerie | 5 | This play is divided into "parts", not acts, with the 2nd titled "The Gentleman Calls" |
| 25 | Sam Shepard | 5 | He directed the original production of his own play "Fool for Love" & starred in the film version |
| 26 | Noel Coward | 5 | The characters in his play "Hay Fever" were inspired by actress Laurette Taylor & her family |
| 27 | Moscow | 5 | "The 3 Sisters" dream of moving to this city, where Chekov graduated from medical school |
| 28 | Equus | 5 | Richard Burton & Peter Firth recreated their stage roles for this film |
| 29 | Dublin | 5 | In 1904, the famed Abbey Theatre opened on Abbey Street in this city |
| 30 | Chicago | 5 | Gwen Verdon & Chita Rivera played murderesses in this musical named for a Midwest city |
| 31 | August Wilson | 5 | His acclaimed "Pittsburgh Cycle" explores the Black experience in 10 plays, including "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" & "Fences" |
| 32 | A Streetcar Named Desire | 5 | The Thomas Hart Benton painting seenheredepicts the original cast of this T. Williams play: |
| 33 | Desire Under the Elms | 5 | Abbie Cabot tempts her stepson Eben beneath the trees in this O'Neill tragedy |
| 34 | Thornton Wilder | 5 | In 1938 this playwright's "Our Town" had some Pulitzer with the voters |
| 35 | The Sopranos | 4 | In Season 1 of this series, Tony's mom Livia put a hit out on him; nice, huh? |
| 36 | The King and I | 4 | Broadway musical famous for the line "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera" |
| 37 | The Crucible | 4 | This Arthur Miller play, set in the 17th c., was originally titled "Those Familiar Spirits" |
| 38 | San Francisco | 4 | Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life" is set in the waterfront district of this California city |
| 39 | Picnic | 4 | In 1962 William Inge reworked this Pulitzer Prize-winning play of his & called it "Summer Brave" |
| 40 | Peter Pan | 4 | J.M. Barrie fantasy that opens with Nana the dog turning down bedcovers & running bath water |
| 41 | Oscar Wilde | 4 | In 1978 Vincent Price starred in a 1-man show as this "Earnest" playwright |
| 42 | Moliere | 4 | After his "Tartuffe" played before Louis XIV, it was promptly banned for three years |
| 43 | Hedda Gabler | 4 | The title character of this Ibsen play is more properly known as Mrs. Jorgen Tesman |
| 44 | Harvey | 4 | It's the only Pulitzer Prize play with an invisible animal as the title character |
| 45 | Eliza Doolittle | 4 | Her 1st words in "Pygmalion" are "Nah then, Freddy: Look wh' y' gowin deah" |
| 46 | Dallas | 4 | "Fall of the House of Ewing" |
| 47 | Blithe Spirit | 4 | In this Noel Coward comedy, Madame Arcati uses I. Berlin's "Always" to go into a trance |
| 48 | A Doll's House | 4 | The last sound in this play is Nora Helmer's slamming of the downstairs door |
| 49 | Wendy Wasserstein | 4 | Frances McDormand, Jane Alexander & Madeline Kahn starred in her play "The Sisters Rosensweig" |