The English department engaged to produce three volumes of the works of playwright Terrence McNally have completed the first volume, which will appear later this year from Grove Press.
In 2013, Dr. Frontain received the first installment of what would come to a $24,000 grant from McNally’s publisher, which has supported the work of three graduate students over two years. Selected Plays will contain eight plays with introductions by McNally, while Vol. 3 of McNally’s Collected Plays will be published by Smith and Kraus. Dr. Frontain and his current graduate assistant Darby Burdine expect to complete the remaining volume, which is an edition of McNally’s essays on the theater, in summer.
UCA graduate student Eliza Killey (right) chats backstage with four-time Tony Award winning playwright Terrence McNally (center) and six-time Emmy Award winning actor Tyne Daly (left) following a preview performance of McNally’s new play, Mothers and Sons. The production, which stars Daly, is McNally’s twentieth Broadway play. While pursuing her M. A. in English at UCA, Killey has worked on the team producing three volumes of McNally’s plays and prose.
McNally is one of America’s most honored playwrights. The winner of four Tony Awards (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion!), he has most recently been represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-nominated Mothers and Sons, and by the record-breaking revival of It’s Only a Play. Previews will begin in March for his new musical with John Kander and Fred Ebb titled The Visit and starring Chita Rivera, which opens April 23.