Focus on Playwrights

"Susan Johann's 2016 book of photographs, Focus on Playwrights . . . has already attained a time capsule quality: some of her subjects— Edward Albee, Arthur Miller— died either before or not long after publication . . . many of the photos in Focus are augmented by Johann's in-depth, perceptive interviews with writers, creating fully rounded portraits that not only provide insight into the imaginations that spawn masterpieces, but also into the current state of the playwriting art."—Creative Loafing

"Old school' is not a term Susan Johann uses for her work, but it seems fitting for this veteran portrait photographer, whose iconic images of playwrights typically intimate, often contemplative, occasionally playful black-and-white portraits have for more than 20 years crystallized these writer's personalities in the pages of American Theatre and countless other publications with an elegance that brings to mind the names Alvedon, Beaton, Leibovitz."—American Theatre

"Focus on Playwrights is Susan Johann's magnificent collection of the great and greatest playwrights of our time. Johann's portraits are remarkable and important works of art. They capture the spirit and soul of her subjects. Clearly, they trusted her, her camera and even her tape recorder! This book, like no other, captures a unique and historic literary history."—Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, American documentary filmmaker and portrait photographer

"It's not possible to read this book and not fall hard again with your favorite playwright, who is bound to be represented herein. Johann's mastery of her art is as mysterious and inarguable as the mastery these play making magicians exercise in capturing the human soul in their work."—Tim Sanford, artistic director, Playwrights Horizons

"Here's your chance to square off face-to-face with the prime movers of the American theatreits playwrights. Johann's perceptive, persuasive black-and-white images, mainly of faces, feel admiring and intimate, as do the impressionistic texts and mini-interviews that accompany them. The photographer is in constant search of significance . . . as are her subjects."—Jim O'Quinn, founding editor, American Theatre

"Focus on Playwrights is a study in fascination. Susan Johann, captivated by playwrights, has captured them in response: eyes, faces, hands. Then, as though her camera lens weren't enough, she's exposed their thoughts in equally vivid interviews. These portraits are wild with life, because, as the enraptured Johann makes us see, playwrights are wild with it."—Todd London, Floyd U. Jones Family Endowed Chair, School of Drama, University of Washington