Act One

Moss Hart’s “Act One,” which Lincoln Center Theater presented in 2014 as a play written and directed by James Lapine, is one of the great American memoirs, a glorious memorial to a bygone age filled with all the wonder, drama, and heartbreak that surrounded Broadway in the early twentieth century. Hart’s story inspired a generation of theatergoers, dramatists, and readers everywhere as he eloquently chronicled his impoverished childhood and his long, determined struggle to reach the opening night of his first Broadway hit. “Act One” is the quintessential American success story.

Author Biography

MOSS HART, born in New York City in 1904, began his career as a playwright in 1925 and achieved his first major success in the 1930 collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Once in a Lifetime. With Kaufmann, he also wrote such American classics as The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Can’t Take it With You, winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize. Hart also gained universal recognition for his award-winning direction of many shows, including My Fair Lady and Camelot. He died in 1961.