Ролли Линн Риггс: Американ драматургі және ақын өмірі мен шығармашылығы

American dramatist

Rollie Lynn Riggs (August 31, 1899 – June 30, 1954) was an American author, poet, playwright and screenwriter. His 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs was adapted into the landmark musical Oklahoma!.

Riggs was born on a farm near Claremore, Oklahoma, (then Indian Territory). Cherokee, and when he was two years old, his mother secured his Cherokee allotment for him. He was able to draw on his allotment to help support his writing. He was educated at the Eastern University Preparatory School in Claremore, Oklahoma, starting in 1912. Riggs graduated from high school in 1917, and travelled to Chicago and New York City. He worked for the Adams Express Company in Chicago, wrote for the Wall Street Journal, sold books at Macy's and swept out Wall Street offices. Returning to Oklahoma in 1919, he wrote for the Oil and Gas Journal. Travelling to Los Angeles, Riggs worked as an extra in the theatre, and a copyeditor at the Los Angeles Times, which published his first poem. Riggs entered the University of Oklahoma in 1920, and taught English there from 1922–1923. However, Riggs became ill with tuberculosis during his senior year and did not graduate. After serving in the military 1942–1944 he worked on an historical drama for Western Reserve University, published the short story "Eben, The Hound, and the Hare" (1952), and worked on the novel The Affair at Easter, set in Oklahoma. He moved to Shelter Island, New York after he started receiving a steady income when Green Grow the Lilacs was adapted into Oklahoma! in 1943. Riggs was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943, and in 1965 he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Riggs died on June 30, 1954 of stomach cancer in New York City. He was buried in Claremore, Oklahoma, where at his funeral the governor had a state flag laid over his coffin. This marked the first instance of this state honor in Oklahoma. Claremore, Oklahoma is home to the Lynn Riggs Memorial. His home in Santa Fe at 770 Acequia Madre Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building in the Camino del Monte Sol Historic District. He is further memorialized by the Lynn Riggs Black Box Theater, located in Oklahoma and named in his honor.