Critical acclaim for The Shadow Box, which captured the 1977 Tony award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, focused on Michael Cristofer as a talented and promising young playwright. Cristofer was born on 22 January 1946 to Mary Muccioli and Joseph Peter Procaccino in White Horse, New Jersey, near Trenton, and spent most of his youth in White Horse and Princeton. He studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., for three years (1962-1965) before dropping out to start his acting career. After living in a commune in San Francisco and translating pornography in Mexico, Cristofer continued his search for acting opportunities. He changed his name for personal and professional reasons: "I needed to change the way I looked at myself, and I suppose having a name like [Procaccino] prevented me from getting some acting jobs."

Cristofer performed with the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. (1967-1968); ACT...