Alley Theatre in Texas puts on Thornton Wilder’s last, unfinished play, ‘The Emporium’

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — For Kirk Lynn, it was like a scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He was in a library at Yale, gingerly opening three bankers boxes. Inside were hundreds of pages of an unknown and unfinished play by Thornton Wilder. He says his face “just emotionally melted off.” Lynn is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. He went through the 360 handwritten pages and, with the blessing of the Wilder estate, finished the play, “The Emporium.” The work will make its debut at Alley Theatre in Houston from May 10 to June 2.