Panic: A Play in Verse

by Archibald MacLeish

Panic is a 1935 verse play by Archibald MacLeish. One of the author's least-known works, it was written during the sixth year of the Great Depression. The drama is set during the bank panic of 1933 and concerns the fall of the world's richest man, a banker named McGafferty.

First presented March 14–16, 1935, at the Imperial Theatre in Manhattan, the production featured Orson Welles's first leading performance on the American stage. Panic was produced by John Houseman and Nathan Zarkin as the first project of their new Phoenix Theatre. Sets and lighting were designed by Jo Mielziner; Martha Graham directed the movements of the chorus.

Genres: Plays

102 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1935

About the author

American poet Archibald MacLeish won a Pulitzer Prize for Conquistador in 1932, served as librarian of Congress from 1939 and as assistant secretary of state from 1944 to 1945, and won again for Collected Poems 1917-1952 and the verse play J.B. (1958).

The modernist school associates this writer. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.