Wendy Smith

Wendy Smith is a contributing editor of the Scholar and the author of Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931–1940.

The Naples Quartet

The novels of Elena Ferrante

By Wendy Smith | Wednesday September 2, 2015

Cold Truths

The Iceman Cometh and the destructiveness of dreams

By Wendy Smith | Monday June 8, 2015

The Director Who Named Names

Reconsidering the legacy of Elia Kazan

By Wendy Smith | Wednesday December 10, 2014

Cut, Cut, Cut

By Wendy Smith | Monday August 11, 2014

The Novels Don’t Change, But We Do

Rereading those works that matter to us proves that books read us even as we read them

By Wendy Smith | Friday December 6, 2013

Happily Ever After

The folk tales gathered by the Brothers Grimm not only enchant us; they record the hardships European families endured for centuries

By Wendy Smith | Friday December 7, 2012

Shakespeare in Bloom

By Wendy Smith | Thursday August 25, 2011

Rock of Ages

Forty years after their deaths, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin now seem part of the mainstream culture they rebelled against

By Wendy Smith | Wednesday September 1, 2010

Offbeat at the Apollo

Elvis Costello’s cable TV show, Spectacle, ranges across musical genres and centuries

By Wendy Smith | Tuesday December 1, 2009

The Meaning Behind the Lines

How Ibsen’s toughness and Chekhov’s tenderness transformed American playwriting and acting

By Wendy Smith | Friday June 5, 2009

Here We Are Again

By Wendy Smith | Tuesday September 8, 2026

A Midsummer Night’s Stream

By Wendy Smith | Thursday May 1, 2025

Rage, Muse

By Wendy Smith | Thursday August 1, 2024

The Sondheim Way

By Wendy Smith | Tuesday November 30, 2021

Encounters Of f the Page

By Wendy Smith | Monday December 2, 2019

A Century at the Muny

By Wendy Smith | Monday June 4, 2018

The Price Isn’t Right

By Wendy Smith | Tuesday September 5, 2017

All in the Family

By Wendy Smith | Tuesday September 6, 2016

As the Bard Turns

By Wendy Smith | Monday February 29, 2016

● NEWSLETTER

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up