Rice, Elmer (1892-1967), was an American dramatist who championed moral, social, and personal freedom. His many plays reflect his belief that it is better to love than to hate, to question than to accept, to be free than to be bound.
Rice is best known for two plays. The Adding Machine (1923) is an expressionistic satire on the growing mechanization of humanity. Rice used distorted settings and nonrealistic acting to show the tortured mind of the chief character, Mr. Zero. Street Scene (1929), a Pulitzer Prize winner, gives a naturalistic picture of life in a crowded big-city apartment house. Rice’s other plays include Counsellor-at-Law (1931); We, the People (1933); and Dream Girl (1945). Rice also wrote novels and an autobiography, Minority Report (1963).
Rice was born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein on Sept. 28, 1892, in New York City. He studied law, but became a playwright after his On Trial (1914) became a hit. Rice died on May 8, 1967.
