Theatre: The Lively Art, is a comprehensive introductory theatre text that combines an introduction to the audience's experience of theatre, an investigation of its elements, and a survey of the important developments in its history. Written by Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb, this best-selling text is appropriate for introductory theatre courses at any level..

Ed Wilson attended Vanderbilt, the University of Edinburgh, and Yale University where he received the first Doctor of Fine Arts degree awarded by Yale. He has taught at Vanderbilt, Yale, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Most recently he has been Executive Director of the Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author or co-author of three of the most widely used college theater textbooks in the U. S. The eleventh edition of his pioneer book, The Theatre Experience, was published in 2008 by McGraw-Hill. The seventh edition of his text Theater: The Lively Art(co-authored with Alvin Goldfarb) will be published by McGraw Hill in the summer of 2009. The fifth edition of his theater history, Living Theatre: Histories of Theatre, (also co-authored with Alvin Goldfarb) published in December 2006. He is also the editor of Shaw on Shakespeare, recently re-issued by Applause Books. .

.He has produced plays on and off Broadway and served one season as the resident director of the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. He also produced a feature film, The Nashville Sound, recently made available on DVD. He is the author of two original plays, a farce, The Bettinger Prize, and a play about Ponce de Leon, Waterfall. He wrote the book and lyrics for a musical version of Great Expectations. All three have been given a series of successful readings in New York City and elsewhere. Great Expectations was given a full production for three weeks in February and March, 2006, at the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. He conceived the idea of a musical revue of the songs of Jerome Kern which had a well-received try-out production in the fall of 2004 at Catholic University in Washington, D. C. .

.Ed has served a number of times on the Tony Nominating Committee and the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury, most recently on the Pulitzer Jury in 2003. For twenty two years he was the theater critic of the Wall Street Journal. A long time member of the New York Drama Critics Circle, he was president of the Circle for several years. He is on the board of the John Golden Fund and was also for many years on the Board of the Theater Development Fund, of which he served as President. .

.Alvin Goldfarb is President and Professor of Theatre at Western Illinois University. Dr. Goldfarb also served as vice president and provost, dean of Fine Arts, and chair of Theatre at Illinois State University. Dr. Goldfarb holds a Ph.D. in theater history from the City University of New York and a master's degree from Hunter College. .He is the coauthor of Living Theatre:A History and coeditor of The Anthology of Living Theater with Edwin Wilson. Dr. Goldfarb is also the coeditor, with Rebecca Rovit, of Theatrical Performance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs, which was a National Jewish Book Award finalist. He has published numerous articles and reviews in scholarly journals and anthologies. ..Dr. Goldfarb served as a member of the Illinois Arts Council and president of the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education. He has received service awards from the latter organization as well as from the American College Theater Festival. Dr. Goldfarb also received an Alumni Achievement Award from the City University of New York Graduate Center's Alumni Association..