RIGGS, LYNN

(1899-1954)

A native of Claremore, Oklahoma, Lynn Riggs attended the University of Oklahoma before writing about his home state. His first play,Big Lake(1927), produced by theAmerican Laboratory Theatrewith a cast including Stella Adler, was a failure. Riggs's next play,Roadside(1930), despite direction by Arthur Hopkins and scene designs by Robert Edmond Jones, also failed. His reputation is largely based onGreen Grow the Lilacs* (1931), a Theatre Guild production featuring Helen Westley, June Walker, Lee Strasberg,* and Franchot Tone.* It provided the source material for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's* landmark musical,Oklahoma! (1943). Riggs's subsequent plays,Cherokee Night(1932),Russet Mantle(1936),Cream in the Well(1941),Borned in Texas(1950), andThe Year of Pilar(1952) had short runs.