Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patrionate of Cardinal Richelieu, who was trying to promote classical tragedy along formal lines, but later quarrelled with him, especially over his best-known play, Le Cid, about a medieval Spanish warrior, which was denounced by the newly formed Académie française for breaching the unities. He continued to write well-received tragedies for nearly forty years.
Tony Kushner and his play, "The Illusion", at the Court Theatre in
Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award for Production of a Play (Large).
David Ives and his play, "The Liar," at the Writers' Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Large Play Production.