Skip to navigation Skip to content

University of Missouri

Theater and the Performing Arts

Within the area of theater and the performing arts, Special Collections’ holdings include the personal and professional papers of Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, which are supplemented by a series of photographs negatives, and color slides of Lanford Wilson in his house and garden, taken in the 1980s and 1990s.  The collection also contains hundreds of published plays, librettos, and technical manuals from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as hundreds of 20th-century theater programs for productions of plays in New York, London, Washington D.C., and St. Louis dated from 1945 to the present.

How to Use the Collection

With a few exceptions, the collections can be accessed and requested through the library catalog. Finding aids for individual collections are linked on this website. Materials are available for use in the Special Collections Reading Room (room 401) during regular hours. Materials do not circulate. 

MU Library Catalog

Finding Aids for Theater and the Performing Arts

Diane Gorodnitzki Photographs of Lanford Wilson.

Scope and Contents Photographs, negatives, and color slides of Lanford Wilson in his house and garden, taken in the 1980s and 1990s…

Lanford Wilson Collection.

Biographical Sketch Lanford Wilson (1937-2011) was born in Lebanon, Missouri to Ralph and Violetta Tate Wilson. In 1942 his parents divorced, and he…

Theater Program Collection.

Orange theater program with drawing of Black woman in chair and holding a cigarette in left hand with two large eyes underneath

Scope and Contents The majority of the programs are for performances dated from 1945 to the present in New York, London, Washington D.C., and St.…

Selected Items

The PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for a master American Dramatist.

Lanford Wilson's award from the PEN /Laura Pels Foundation: black and white certificate with PEN logo in the middle.

Linfield College Theatre presents The Rimers of Eldritch [program].

A cream‑colored theatre program cover that reads, “Linfield College Theatre presents.” <br />

Program for a production of the Rimers of Eldritch at Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon, May 9-11 and 16-18, 1996.

Lanford Wilson's The Rimers of Eldritch [program].

Theatre program for Lanford Wilson’s “The Rimers of Eldrich” (sic) with a pale green silhouette of a church steeple. The design shows a pale green, semi-transparent silhouette of a church steeple or Gothic building.<br />

Program for a production of The Rimers of Eldritch directed by Stephen Jarrett at Trinity Theatre, Trinity Lutheran Church, New York, NY.

The Drama Department Presents The Rimers of Eldritch by Lanford Wilson.

Poster for The Rimers of Eldritch depicting a church in black over a red and grey background, with a tree to the right and some landscape.

Poster for a production of The Rimers of Eldritch at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, May 5-7, 1994.

'Rimers' Penetrating Study of Small Town America.

A sepia-toned newspaper clipping titled ‘Rimers: Peculiarly Stark — Of Small Town America’, laid out in column format.<br />

Review of The Rimers of Eldritch at UC Irvine Repertory.

The Rimers of Eldritch.

Clipped newspaper theatre review of ‘THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH’ by Martin Gottfried, with an portrait illustration of a man and woman.<br />

Review of The Rimers of Eldritch by Martin Gottfried.

A Look at New York. Former Missourian is Village Playwright.

Clipping of play review: Black text over white paper with smudging on the left half.

Clipping of a review of The Rimers of Eldritch.

[Certificate for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.]

Lanford Wilson's award of the Pulitzer Prize in Drama: Certificate on cream-colored paper with the seal of Columbia University on the lower left corner and a signature on the lower right corner.

Certificate for Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize in Drama, 1980.

Browse More Items