The most prolific American playwright in the '20s was Eugene O'Neill, who was responsible for introducing realism to the American stage. The realism movement created plays, which employed naturalistic stage scenery and dialogue. O'Neill was also known for writing plays from a personal point of view, as seen in "A Long Day's Journey Into Night," one of his most heralded works. Other O'Neill plays include "Strange Interlude," "Anna Christie," "The Hairy Ape" and "Beyond the Horizon." Elmer Rice, Robert Sherwood and Maxwell Anderson were other dramatists who participated in the American theater's realism movement. Rice's "Street Scene" was the recipient of the 1929 Pulitzer Prize.
The "Lost Generation" was a group of American authors who lamented the loss of American soldiers' lives during World War I. As a result, these authors rejected the care-free and indulgent American culture of the Roaring '20s. Many "Lost Generation" literary figures moved to Europe and expressed their disillusionment in prose. This group featured Ernest Hemingway, who wrote "A Farewell to Arms" and F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of "The Great Gatsby" and "This Side of Paradise."
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement of African-American writers during the 1920s and '30s. Most of Renaissance's most influential literary figures live in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Many African-Americans flocked to this neighborhood in the late 19th century. The empowerment of the African-American community and civil rights were the common themes of Harlem Renaissance literature and art. Notable authors of the Harlem Renaissance movement were Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman and Walter White. The movement also included poets Gwendolyn Bennett and James Weldon Johnson.
During the 1920s, the Broadway Theater District premiered 50 new musical comedies annually, fostering the careers of New York's lyricists and composers. In this era, most Broadway shows were revues and musical comedies. These shows had little narrative and a vast quantity of tunes. Lyricist Lorenz Hart collaborated with famed composer, Richard Rodgers, on "Garrick Gaieties," "Present Arms," and "A Connecticut Yankee." The Gershwin Brothers, Ira and George, wrote music and lyrics for "Lady Be Good" and "Funny Face." This decade also introduced "Showboat," one of Broadway's first musical plays. Musical plays incorporate the show's songs and dance sequences into the story's plot. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote music and lyrics for "Showboat."
In New York City, celebrated writers, such as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Heywood Broun, formed the Algonquin Round Table society. From 1919 to 1929, this society met daily for lunch at the Algonquin Restaurant and discussed the pressing issues of the day. Many of the Round Table's members were New York newspaper journalists, who posted the group's discussions in their articles. The group's members also collaborated on a musical revue, "No Siree!," which was produced on Broadway in 1922.