Elizabeth Swados
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Swados is an American writer
, composer
, musician
, and theatre director. While some of her subject matter is humorous, such as her satirical
look at Ronald Reagan
, Rap Master Ronnie, and Doonesbury - both collaborations with Garry Trudeau
- much of her work deals with dark issues such as racism
, murder
, and mental illness
.
, Swados has been open about her turbulent life in her autobiography The Four of Us, A Family Memoir published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
in 1991.
Her father, Robert O. Swados is a very successful attorney who helped Seymour H. Knox III convert the local Buffalo Sabres
hockey club into a full National Hockey League
team. (His autobiography, Counsel in the Crease: A Big League Player in the Hockey Wars was published by Prometheus Books
in 2005.)
Her actress mother struggled with depression
, while her older brother (and only sibling) Lincoln developed schizophrenia
. Her mother committed suicide
in 1974, and Lincoln died in 1989.
Swados herself has suffered from depression from childhood on, a condition she explored in her book My Depression: A Picture Book.
Swados studied music at Bennington College
in Vermont
, receiving her Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1973. In 1980, the Hobart and William Smith College awarded her an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.
. Her first major success, Runaways
, was intended to be a community service piece with a short run. However, after appearing at The Public Theater, it transferred to Broadway
and became a hit. It garnered her Tony Award
nominations for Best Musical
, Best Direction of a Musical
, Best Book of a Musical
, Best Original Score
, and Best Choreography
. She was nominated for Drama Desk Award
s for Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music, and won an Obie Award
for her direction.
As a composer, Swados has also written music for film (Four Friends
) and television, and has performed at Carnegie Hall
. She has published three novels, three non-fiction books, and nine children's books. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship
, a Ford Fellowship, a Covenant Foundation Grant, a Special International PEN
Citation, a Cine Award, and a Mira Award, among others.
Swados teaches in the drama department at New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts and at The New School
's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts as a visiting artist. Her most recent books are My Depression, Sidney's Animal Rescue, and At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Vogue
, and O.
She has also collaborated with the Ym and Ymha of Washington Heights to present a musical called "Sosua, Dare to Dance Together." The project brought together Jewish and Dominican teens in the Washington Heights to perform a play that entailed the German Jews who had to immigrate to the Dominican Republic during the Holocaust. Its two main stars were John Gutierrez and Maya Moskowitz. It has won much acclaim throughout the Washington Heights community and around the city.
She has collaborated on film scripts with Milos Forman
, Marlon Brando
, and Sean Penn
.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and theatre director. While some of her subject matter is humorous, such as her satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
look at Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Rap Master Ronnie, and Doonesbury - both collaborations with Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
- much of her work deals with dark issues such as racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, and mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
.
Personal life
Born February 5, 1951 in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, Swados has been open about her turbulent life in her autobiography The Four of Us, A Family Memoir published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...
in 1991.
Her father, Robert O. Swados is a very successful attorney who helped Seymour H. Knox III convert the local Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
hockey club into a full National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
team. (His autobiography, Counsel in the Crease: A Big League Player in the Hockey Wars was published by Prometheus Books
Prometheus Books
Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz, who also founded the Council for Secular Humanism and co-founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is currently the chairman of all three organizations. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, including many...
in 2005.)
Her actress mother struggled with depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, while her older brother (and only sibling) Lincoln developed schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. Her mother committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1974, and Lincoln died in 1989.
Swados herself has suffered from depression from childhood on, a condition she explored in her book My Depression: A Picture Book.
Swados studied music at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, receiving her Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1973. In 1980, the Hobart and William Smith College awarded her an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.
Professional life
Although many of Swados' plays are musicals, her compositions draw from folk and world music genres rather than from standard musical theatreMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. Her first major success, Runaways
Runaways (musical)
Runaways is a musical which was written, composed and directed by Elizabeth Swados, about the lives of children who run away from home and live on the city streets...
, was intended to be a community service piece with a short run. However, after appearing at The Public Theater, it transferred to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and became a hit. It garnered her Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
, Best Direction of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...
, Best Book of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
, Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...
, and Best Choreography
Tony Award for Best Choreography
-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...
. She was nominated for Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s for Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music, and won an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for her direction.
As a composer, Swados has also written music for film (Four Friends
Four Friends (film)
Four Friends is a 1981 American drama film directed by Arthur Penn. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by Steve Tesich follows the path of the title characters from high school to college during the often turbulent 1960s and beyond.-Plot synopsis:...
) and television, and has performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. She has published three novels, three non-fiction books, and nine children's books. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
, a Ford Fellowship, a Covenant Foundation Grant, a Special International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
Citation, a Cine Award, and a Mira Award, among others.
Swados teaches in the drama department at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts and at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts as a visiting artist. Her most recent books are My Depression, Sidney's Animal Rescue, and At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, and O.
She has also collaborated with the Ym and Ymha of Washington Heights to present a musical called "Sosua, Dare to Dance Together." The project brought together Jewish and Dominican teens in the Washington Heights to perform a play that entailed the German Jews who had to immigrate to the Dominican Republic during the Holocaust. Its two main stars were John Gutierrez and Maya Moskowitz. It has won much acclaim throughout the Washington Heights community and around the city.
She has collaborated on film scripts with Milos Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, and Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
.
Additional credits
- Nightclub Cantata (1977)
- Dispatches, a Rock & Roll War (1979)
- Alice in Concert (1980)
- The Haggadah, a Passover Cantata (1980)
- Enter LifeEnter LifeEnter Life is an 8-minute animated film from 1982 about the earliest origin of life, or abiogensis on earth. Directed by Faith Hubley of Hubley Studios, the film traces a possible course of development, according to contemporary theory, of organic compounds, amino acids and early cellular...
(1982) - Lullabye and Goodnight (1982)
- "jerusalem" poetry by Yehuda Amichai (1984)
- The Red Sneaks (1989)
- Jonah (1990)
- Groundhog (1992)
- Conscience and Courage Cantata (1994)
- Jabu (2005)
- The Beauty Inside (2005)
- Missionaries in Concert (2005)
- Mental Missiles (2006)
- Spider Opera (2006)
- Kaspar Hauser (2007)