SOURCE: Wilson, Lanford, and Jackson R. Bryer. “Lanford Wilson.” In The Playwright's Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Dramatists, edited by Jackson R. Bryer, pp. 277-96. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1995.

In the following interview, originally conducted on May 20, 1993, Wilson and Bryer discuss the craft of playwriting, critical reaction to Wilson's work, and his literary influences.

Lanford Wilson was born in 1937 in Lebanon, Missouri. After attending Southwest Missouri State College briefly and spending a year in San Diego and five years in Chicago, he came to New York in 1962. His initial plays, one-acts, were presented at the off-off-Broadway Caffe Cino. His first full-length play was Balm in Gilead (1965). It was followed by The Rimers of Eldritch (1966), The Gingham Dog (1968), Serenading Louie (1970), Lemon Sky (1970), The Hot l Baltimore (1973), The Mound Builders (1975), 5th of July, (1978; revised as Fifth of July [1979]), Talley's Folly (1979), A Tale Told (1981; revised as Talley & Son...