author
Kenneth Sawyer Goodman
1883–1918
A Chicago playwright tied to the city’s Little Theatre movement, he wrote energetic one-act plays and pageants before his life was cut short during World War I. His legacy lived on through the Goodman Theatre, created in his memory by his family.
1 Audiobook
The Game of Chess: A Play in One Act
by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman
About the author
Born in Chicago in 1883, Kenneth Sawyer Goodman was an American playwright who became part of the city’s early Little Theatre movement. Drawn more to the arts than to business, he wrote one-act plays, pageants, and other dramatic works during a lively period in Chicago cultural life.
Goodman collaborated with notable literary figures of his time, including Ben Hecht, and built a reputation as a serious young dramatist with strong ties to Chicago’s theater scene. Though he died in 1918 while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War I, his work and reputation left a lasting impression.
His name remains especially familiar because the Goodman Theatre in Chicago was established as a memorial to him by his parents. That tribute helped preserve his connection to the city’s stage long after his brief career ended.