The Transcendent Years: Circle Rep Theater & the 60s

by Marshall Mason

For the first time since Clurman’s classic THE FERVENT YEARS, a great theater comes to life along with the tumultuous age that engendered it. Founding Artistic Director Marshall W. Mason dramatically reveals the inside story of the creation of Circle Repertory Company, the most important American theater since The Group of the 1930’s. The Transcendent Years takes a theater lover backstage to witness the discovery of some of the foremost actors of our time, and shares the process of how Circle Rep playwrights Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Marsha Norman, David Mamet, Jules Feiffer, Paula Vogel, Craig Lucas and William M. Hoffman wrote plays for them to perform. Meticulously documented, The Transcendent Years puts the birth of Circle Rep into the context of the world-shaking changes of the 1960’s, the evolutionary era that became the foundation of the 21st century and that provided the impetus for creating timeless art.

712 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 13, 2016

Reviews

[Tim Pinckney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some amazing, delicious off-Broadway history here. Mason is a national treasure. Loved reading so much about Lanford Wilson, a real hero of mine.
It is a true history of every play ever done at Circle Rep. I think the book would have benefited from a stronger edit but for a nerd like me, it was a good read.