Playbill reports:
Playwright Mart Crowley, best known for The Boys in the Band, died March 7 at the age of 84. The writer spent his career dedicated to creating works that often shed light on the queer experience, seen by audiences in theatre and on television.
The Boys in the Band originally debuted Off-Broadway in 1968, and was turned into a film in 1970 by William Friedkin. The drama, considered a groundbreaking piece of LGBTQ+ theatre in the 20th century, follows a group of gay men who convene in a New York City apartment for a friend’s birthday party.
RIP Mart Crowley, who wrote Boys In The Band. He was justly acclaimed, ignorantly attacked and finally given his due. He dissected and celebrated gay lives, and as a person, he was funny, generous and brave. He got there first, and the theater is in his debt pic.twitter.com/eQoJyjGPp2
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) March 9, 2020
“What I am Michael is a 32 year-old, ugly, pock marked Jew fairy, and if it takes me a little while to pull myself together, and if I smoke a little grass before I get up the nerve to show my face to the world, it’s nobody’s god damned business but my own.” RIP Matt Crowley pic.twitter.com/yGAyOQXsCH
— Bruce Ward (@bdwardbos) March 9, 2020