Elizabeth Swados (1951-2016) studied music and creative writing at Bennington College in Vermont, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973. While at Bennington, she was introduced by professor Franz Marijnen to Ellen Stewart and became involved with Stewart’s La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City.
Working with Ellen Stewart and Andrei Serban, and with Peter Brook, Swados worked to develop a new sensory language of sound, rhythm, and movement that transcended traditional verbal speech. Swados’ musical compositions for Fragments of a Greek Trilogy (Medea, Electra, and Trojan Women) during the early 1970s at La MaMa and for Peter Brook’s Conference of the Birds in the later 1970s laid the groundwork for musical innovation in both American and international theatre.
She was profiled by filmmaker Linda Feferman in the 1977 short documentary The Girl with the Incredible Feeling, a title drawn from a 1975 children’s book which she wrote and illustrated. The documentary blends performance footage, home movies, testimonial, and an animated dramatization of the title book, narrated by actor Kenneth McMillan, with her illustrations animated by Carol Ehrlich.
Although many of Swados’ works were musicals, her work drew from folk and world music rather than exclusively from musical theatre. Much of her work dealt with issues such as racism, murder, and mental illness.
Her first Broadway success, Runaways, was intended to be a community service piece with a short run. However, after appearing at The Public Theater, the show transferred to Broadway in May 1978. Swados’ first musical with Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury, opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre in November 1983. In 1984, Swados composed the music for Garry Trudeau’s satirical musical Rap Master Ronnie. In 1985, Swados’ musical The Beautiful Lady, concerning the life and works of six Russian poets who lived, composed and performed in St. Petersburg at the time of the Revolution, won the first Helen Hayes “Best New Play” award. Swados also composed music for film (Four Friends, 1981) and television (Seize the Day, 1987), and performed live at Carnegie Hall.
