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The Tenth Man
A Comedy-Drama In Three Acts
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Paddy Chayefsky
75 books70 followersSidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay.
He was considered one of the most renowned dramatists of the so-called Golden Age of Television. His intimate, realistic scripts provided a naturalistic style of television drama for the 1950s, and he was regarded as the central figure in the "kitchen sink realism" movement of American television.
Following his critically acclaimed teleplays, Chayefsky continued to succeed as a playwright and novelist. As a screenwriter, he received three Academy Awards for Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976). Marty was based on his own television drama about a relationship between two lonely people finding love. Network was his scathing satire of the television industry and The Hospital was considered satiric.
Chayefsky's early stories were notable for their dialogue, their depiction of second-generation Americans and their sentiment and humor. They were frequently influenced by the author's childhood in the Bronx. The protagonists were generally middle-class tradesmen struggling with personal problems: loneliness, pressures to conform or their own emotions.
Chayefsky died in New York City of cancer in August 1981 at the age of 58.
He was considered one of the most renowned dramatists of the so-called Golden Age of Television. His intimate, realistic scripts provided a naturalistic style of television drama for the 1950s, and he was regarded as the central figure in the "kitchen sink realism" movement of American television.
Following his critically acclaimed teleplays, Chayefsky continued to succeed as a playwright and novelist. As a screenwriter, he received three Academy Awards for Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976). Marty was based on his own television drama about a relationship between two lonely people finding love. Network was his scathing satire of the television industry and The Hospital was considered satiric.
Chayefsky's early stories were notable for their dialogue, their depiction of second-generation Americans and their sentiment and humor. They were frequently influenced by the author's childhood in the Bronx. The protagonists were generally middle-class tradesmen struggling with personal problems: loneliness, pressures to conform or their own emotions.
Chayefsky died in New York City of cancer in August 1981 at the age of 58.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 9, 2015
I really enjoyed this play. I want to seek out more Paddy Chayefsky to read. This play isn’t appropriate for the community theater group I participate in, out in the country, where I am the only the only Jew, but for a JCC or synagogue theater group it might be a great choice. Also, the cast is twelve men and one eighteen year old girl. Men are being sought in this play for minyans, first for a morning service, then to remove a dybbuk. It's funny and sweet and the dialogue is great!
June 25, 2023
The Tenth Man is a three-act comedy first performed in 1959. The entire play takes place in a synagogue in Mineola, Long Island. It opens with a group of older men, Russian immigrants, looking for a tenth man to make up the quorum for the morning prayers. They manage to conscript a young, assimilated and hungover lawyer, Arthur Landau, who knows nothing about his religious traditions. Meanwhile, another of their group, Foreman, arrives with his mentally ill granddaughter Evelyn, whom he is convinced is possessed by a dybbuk. The situation plays out with many comic misunderstandings and ends with a romance between Arthur and Evelyn. A slight but enjoyable play.
December 29, 2023
I looked forward to this “comedy” play, so many of the ones I’ve read are dramas! This was so boring I couldn’t even finish the 100 pages it totals. I do want to see the Oscar-winning film Network written by the same person (although not a comedy). Where are the comedy plays ?!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews