Return engagements: A new comedy

by Bernard Slade

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Bernard Slade was a Canadian playwright and screenwriter.

Slade began his career as an actor with the Garden Center Theater in Vineland, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, he relocated to Hollywood and began to work as a writer for television sitcoms, including Bewitched. When ABC gave him the opportunity to create a series, he devised Love on a Rooftop, similar in theme to Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, about a young couple living in a windowless walk-up apartment with access to a rooftop with a view of San Francisco.

The following year, Slade created The Flying Nun (adapted from Tere Rios' book, The Fifteenth Pelican), with Sally Field as a young novice whose habit's headgear enabled her to fly. He also was responsible for The Partridge Family, based on the real-life Cowsills, and Bridget Loves Bernie, inspired by the play Abie's Irish Rose.

Slade returned to the theater in 1975 with his play Same Time, Next Year, about a couple who are married to others but meet once-a-year for sex and conversation. The play was a major hit and ran for 1453 performances. Slade received the Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. In 1978, he followed with Tribute, the story of a man who learns to love his father, a successful actor who always had more time for his theatrical cohorts than his son. Slade was received an Oscar-nomination for his screen adaptation of Same Time, Next Year.

-From Wikipedia