Play Guide [356k PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

The Great GatsbyFITZGERALDFitzgerald’s family perceived his intelligence and talentearly in his youth. He attended the St. Paul Academy andwas first published at the age of 13 – a detective story he’dwritten for his school newspaper. At age 15, his familysent him to the prestigious Newman School, a Catholicpreparatory school in New Jersey. During his time there hemet Father Sigourney Fay, who recognized and encouragedhis exceptional brilliance as a writer. After his graduationfrom the Newman School in 1913, Fitzgerald remained inNew Jersey to continue his literary development at PrincetonUniversity. While there he worked industriously to honehis craft, writing articles for the Princeton Tiger, a humormagazine, writing scripts and lyrics for the Triangle ClubZelda Sayre Fitzgerald, at age 17. musicals, and authoring stories for the Nassau LiteraryMagazine, a Princeton publication. However, his intense focus on his development asa writer drew his attention away from his other studies. He was placed on academicprobation, and dropped out of the university in 1917 to join the United States Army asthe U.S. prepared to enter World War I. Afraid that he would not return from the war, inthe time leading up to reporting for duty Fitzgerald frantically drafted his first novel, TheRomantic Egotist. Though it was rejected by Charles Scribners’ Sons publishing company,its originality was carefully noted and Fitzgerald was encouraged to continue submittinghis literary creations.Did You Know?The opening lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are some of the mostfamous in all of English literature. The Great Gatsby begins:“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice thatI’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that allthe people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’”Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 8