Talley's Folly, one of Lanford Wilson's most successful plays, was first performed in 1979. Set in 1944, this play is about the romance between a Midwestern spinster and a Jewish tax accountant.

Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead was written in 1965 and is set in New York City. It features characters who are considered outcasts: prostitutes, thieves, and the elderly.

Serenading Louie, Lanford Wilson's 1976 play, is about alienation, estrangement, and death. The focus is on two couples, neighbors who are enduring crises.

Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1903) explores what happens when something old and beautiful is destroyed to create something new.

The Time of Your Life (1939), written by William Saroyan, is a series of vignettes about people doing ordinary things.