Kingsley, Sidney (1906-1995), was an American dramatist. He became known for realistic plays that probe the complex problems of individuals interacting with social conditions.
Kingsley’s play Men in White (1933) won a Pulitzer Prize. It deals with the medical and moral problems of doctors. Dead End (1935) dramatizes the destructive effects of economic inequality. The Patriots (1943) studies the significance of the conflicts between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Detective Story (1949) and Darkness at Noon (1951) are Kingsley’s most complex studies of the individual conscience. The first concerns the individual in conflict with the law, and the second describes the individual in conflict with Communism. Kingsley was born Sidney Kieschner on Oct. 18, 1906, in New York City. He died on March 20, 1995.
