Who is Elmer Rice?
Elmer Rice was an American playwright, best known for his play Street Scene. He lived from 1892 to 1967, and over the course of his 74 years won a number of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1929. He was a prolific playwright, creating more than 50 pieces for the stage over a 50 year period, and he was a famous man in his time. Although all but the most well-read theatre buffs have likely only heard of Elmer Rice in passing, if at all, in his day he was considered one of the most famous and influential playwrights. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Elmer Rice would have been considered on a par with luminaries like Eugene O’Neill, with his plays being produced by professional theatres virtually unread. Rice was born in Manhattan, with the last name Reizenstein, which he later changed to minimize the awkwardness of it always being misspelled. From an early age he was interested in theatre, performing Shakespeare during his primary education, and attending shows in New York wi
