Lanford Wilson (1937—2011) was the author of Balm in Gilead, The Rimers of Eldritch, The Gingham Dog, Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie, The Hot L Baltimore, The Mound Builders, Angels Fall, Burn This, Redwood Curtain, Trinity, Fifth of July, Talley & Son, Talley’s Folly, Book of Days, Rain Dance, and some twenty one-act plays including Brontosaurus, The Great Nebula in Orion, and the paired A Poster of the Cosmos and The Moonshot Tape. He also wrote the libretto for Lee Hoiby's opera of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke and a new translation of Chekhov's Three Sisters. Awards include the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in Theatre Arts, The Institute of Arts and Letters Award, The Edward Albee Last Frontier Award, The John Steinbeck Award, The Drama-Logue Award (Los Angeles), two New York Drama Critic's Circle Awards for Best Play, two Obie Awards for Best Play, an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Talley’s Folly). Wilson was a founder (with Tanya Berezin, Rob Thirkield and Marshall W. Mason) of The Circle Repertory Company in New York City and was a resident playwright there from 1969-1995. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and made his home in Sag Harbor since 1970.