Audrey Wood (born Audrey Violet Wood, February 28, 1905 – December 27, 1985) ^[1] was an American literary and theatrical agent. Wood was influential in the careers of several of the most recognized dramatic playwrights of the mid-Twentieth century, including Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Robert Anderson and Arthur Kopit, and others. ^{[2] [3]} She is credited by many literary critics and biographers as an influential source of support, encouragement and, in some instances, physical and emotional care for the authors and playwrights she worked with.

Her role is mentioned in many writers' biographies and, in time her importance in their work may become more apparent, as academics and critics look more deeply at her involvement in their process and their lives. ^[4]

Early years

Childhood

Education

Career

Wood's agency, Liebling-Wood, Inc. opened its doors at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on April 23, 1937 in partnership with her husband, William Liebling. ^[5] Wood's clients were chiefly playwrights, while Liebling was know for his list of actors; both partners established strong reputations for representing artists in their respective fields who rose to prominence on the stage and screen.

Prominent Clients

One of Wood's early clients was Tennessee Williams who produced many of his most well-regarded stage plays while represented by Wood. In 1939, Wood helped Williams obtain a $1,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in recognition of his play Battle of Angels (1940). Based on their correspondence, scholar Albert J. Devlin has characterized Wood as Williams' "primary and most trusted reader for at least the first two decades of their association." ^[6]

Influence on Her Clients' Work

Rough notes here, and inviting comment or suggestions on how to handle these elements accurately, without unwarranted or overly definitive statements. It seems undeniable she had some influential role, but : There are numerous sources in the Williams literature alone that add further layers and will require a balancesources and opinions are varied in the details and inferences made (edit in process)

Looking to describe the major incidents where there's academic concensus. This will obviously need to be tightly edited and abridged for this context regarding discussion of Wood's influence on Williams and other playwrights.

Williams apparently blamed Wood for discouraging or censoring him in some cases, for instance in the early drafts of Camino Real, ^{[7] [8]} but scholars seem to agree the realities were more nuanced than one might conclude relying on only the representations in Williams part of the correspondence or on Wood's responses.

Probably best in a final draft to point out the complexities and to provide references to the correspondence, which is preserved in various collections devoted to all the parties involved. Many of Wood's papers related to Williams and her other major literary clients are archived at University of Texas, Austin in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. ^[9]

Devlin 1998 also refers to other archives that contain relevant correspondence from Wood's own collection of her own correspondence and copies of letters from Williams, source abbreviated as HRC (further reading needed to pin down archival resources).

Works Promoted by Wood

This is a partial table of plays, movies and other properties Wood was associated with:

Personal life

Evaluate for Notability. While her extraordinary involvement in the lives and well-being of several clients, particularly Williams and Inge is almost certainly significant, it may very well be best to cover this in the Career section or perhaps as a subsection?

Legacy

In 1984 a section of the Jack Lawrence Theater was re-named in her honor. Management had apparently wanted to name the space for Tennessee Williams, an attempt that was disputed by the Williams estate. ^[10] Note: Documentation on the theater suggests this may have been a short-lived theater space; further research needed to assess its seemingly brief history. (This may require blending with posthumous recognition in light of the fact that many of these honors came after she entered a coma in 1981, which she remained in until her death in 1985.)

Posthumous recognition

(See Legacy) Reference Max Wilk's play and performance notes. Play was based on Wood's memoir (written with Wilk), and performed in staged readings as an appreciation of Wood and her involvement in regional theater and the development process that Wilk and others were involved in.

Additional Sources (pending review):

Draft: Notes, Discussion, Feedback

(All material in this section to be removed when or before draft is in a state to be moved to Audrey Wood (literary agent) article.)

Drafting a stub for a bio on Audrey Wood

Find appropriate template and assemble a basic bio for her. Work out proper disambiguation with the living author of the same name.

General notes:

(1905-1985) more to follow. This in not even a draft yet.

Audrey Wood (1905-1985) served as a literary and theatrical agent to American playwrights Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Robert Anderson and Arthur Kopit, among others. ^[11]

In 1984 a section of the Jack Lawrence Theater was named in her honor. Management had wanted to name the space for Tennessee Williams, an attempt that was disputed by the Williams estate. ^[12]

model(s) for reference

Call this temp text for use in drafting. Ebbixx ( talk) 03:10, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

End of temp. section. Delete from here up to the Draft section header, once draft is polished.

Footnotes

References

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• Short online bio appears @ http://americantheatrewing.org/biography/detail/audrey_wood
• Devlin, Albert J. "The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams: Prospects for Research" in The Tennessee Williams Annual Review: Premiere Issue 1998 Publisher (1998). Located at http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/1998/3devlin.pdf
• Murphy, Brenda. Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan: A Collaboration in the Theatre. Cambridge University Press (1992). ISBN  9780521400954
• Wood, Audrey with Max Wilk. Represented by Audrey Wood. Doubleday (1981). ISBN  9780385152013
• Audrey Wood: An Inventory of Her Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center @ http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00247.xml

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