Joseph Otto Kesselring (21 July 1902 – 5 November 1967) was an American writer and playwright known best for his play Arsenic and Old Lace, written in 1939 and originally entitled Bodies in Our Cellar.
Born to German parents in New York City in 1902, he spent much of his life in and around the theater. In 1922, at the age of 20, Joseph Kesselring began teaching vocal music and directed stage productions at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. After two years of teaching, Kesselring left teaching and returned to the vaudeville stage. He began working as a freelance playwright in 1933, completing 12 original plays, of which four were produced on Broadway: Wisdom in Women (1935), Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), Four Twelves are 48 (1951), and Mother of that Wisdom (1963).
Kesselring died in Kingston, New York.
In 1980, the National Arts Club created the Joseph Kesselring Prize for up-and-coming playwrights. Among the notable playwrights to have won this prize are Tony Kushner, Anna Deavere Smith, David Auburn, and Rajiv Joseph[1]. The prize was funded by Kesselring's widow, Charlotte.
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