Hogan's Goat

Hogan's Goat (1965), a play by William Alfred. [St. Clement's Church, 607 perf.] Matt Stanton (Ralph Waite) determines to take on the incumbent, Edward Quinn (Tom Ahearne), in a contest for the mayoralty of Brooklyn in 1890. But Stanton is consumed by ambition and subordinates everything to his attempt to rise to power. He finally alienates his wife, Kathleen (Faye Dunaway), and when she dies in a fall down the stairs as she goes to leave him, her death destroys his overreaching hopes. Otis L. Guernsey Jr. called this blank‐verse drama “the very best play of 1965–66,” adding, “its examination of a human being's drive to emerge from the ruck in defiance of all rules and risks is extremely pertinent to our modern population‐swelling, status‐seeking, amoral society.” The drama was a surprise hit for the American Place Theatre.