But the opportunity for success on the scale of a Broadway hit has never come his way, as it rarely does for virtually any serious playwright anymore.

Unlike "serious" playwrights and theater directors in Britain who often work in television, their French counterparts would not lower themselves to do so.

Mr. Linney is a serious playwright, not given to trickiness or to propaganda.

Need I remind him that many serious playwrights write their strongest plays after they turn 50?

He ascribes a muscularity to the human heart that few serious playwrights do these days.

As a serious playwright, Mr. Allen is still learning his craft and finding his voice.

And how many serious playwrights churned out an independent pop song?

But Mr. Pintauro is a serious playwright, so there must be more.

He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the height of the Apartheid era.

For one thing, condescension toward a serious playwright.