Elizabeth Swados
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Swados (born 1951) is an American writer, composer, musician, and director. Her work generally eschews conventional formats in favor of her own unique approaches. While some of her subject matter is humorous, such as her political satire of Ronald Reagan, Rap Master Ronnie (a collaboration 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, beginning with her difficult childhood in Buffalo, New York. Her actress mother struggled with depression, while her older brother (and only sibling) developed schizophrenia. During her early adulthood (in 1974), her mother committed suicide. Her brother also killed himself, in 1989 at age 46. Swados herself has suffered from depression from childhood on, which she explored in her book My Depression: A Picture Book. She credits her late brother with teaching her how to deal with her problems, saying, "My brother, who was my hero, taught me to draw, to sing -- that's how you survive."
Academically, 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.
[edit] Theatrical Work
Although many of Elizabeth Swados' plays are musicals, her compositions draw from folk and world music genres rather than from standard musical theater. Her first major success, Runaways, was intended to be a community service piece with a short run. However, after appearing at the Public Theater, the show was picked up on Broadway and became a surprise hit. It garnered her five 1978 Tony Award nominations, in the categories Best Musical, Book (Musical), Choreographer, Director (Musical), and Score. The Obie Awards honored her also, with a win for Direction.
For Swados, creating a theatrical piece often encompasses the entire production, involving writing, scoring the music, and directing. Through working with the actors, pieces change and evolve. Another reason she directs her own work is because she feels their unconventional, personal vision makes it difficult for other directors to interpret and stage. Her productions have helped break down boundaries in the theater by casting people of many ethnicities, sizes, ages, and vocal types.
The difficulties Swados encountered as a child has led her to work with disadvantaged children, getting them involved in the theater to give them a positive, creative outlet. She also teaches in the drama department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
She has written over 30 theatrical pieces, among them:
- The Trilogy (Medea, Electra, and The Trojan Women)
- Nightclub Cantata
- Runaways
- Alice in Concert (with Meryl Streep)
- Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy (with Garry Trudeau)
- Rap Master Ronnie (with Garry Trudeau),
- The Haggadah
- Jerusalem (with Yehudah Amichai)
- The 49 Years (with Estelle Parsons)
As a composer, Swados has also written music for film 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.
