Road to Nirvana

by Arthur Kopit

Arthur Kopit's plays reflect diversity: the hilarious Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad, followed by Indians, a deeply felt social satire filled with humor and featuring a pompous Buffalo Bill, who both romanticizes and exploits the Native Americans. Wings, a sensitive and beautiful work, is about an older woman who has suffered a massive stroke. End of the World turns to humor to comment on the Bomb and the preposterous rationalization that to some justifies dropping it. Road to Nirvana, the author's most biting, daring play, surprises, and suggests, once again, the breadth and diversity of his imagination.

Genres: Plays

125 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Arthur Lee Kopit (born May 10, 1937, New York City) is an American playwright. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist (Indians and Wings) and a three-time Tony Award nominee: Best Play, Indians, 1970; Best Play, Wings, 1979; and Best Book of a Musical, for Nine, 1982. He won the Vernon Rice Award (now known as the Drama Desk Award) in 1962 for his play Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad and was nominated for another Drama Desk Award in 1979 for his play Wings.[1]

Nine returned to Broadway in 2003 with Antonio Banderas as Guido and won two Tony Awards, including best revival; in 2009 Rob Marshall directed the film Nine based on Kopit's script, the principle cast consisting of Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Fergie (singer).

Kopit attended Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Nassau County, New York.

Kopit attended Harvard University. His first plays were staged while still an undergraduate at Harvard University. Later, Kopit taught at Wesleyan University, Yale University, and the City College of New York. In 2005, Kopit donated his papers to the Fales Library at NYU.