She was a marvelous playwright who wrote vital, important female characters and vital, important male characters. Like many writers, she drew on personal experiences. But she was also a gifted observer of the human condition.

Every time a sentence about great American writers is written, it will include August's name. He defined the Yale Rep's relationship to groundbreaking American theater.

Every time a sentence about great American writers is written, it will include August's name, ... He defined the Yale Rep's relationship to groundbreaking American theater.

She contributed to the American theater in a lot of other ways than being a gifted playwright.

[Rauch, along with his partner Christopher Liam Moore, will be leaving Cornerstone in March.] I realized that because of the opportunities at Yale and elsewhere ... I wanted to do other kinds of work. It was a painful decision, because I'll never find another artistic home as supportive as that one.

We all mourn the work that he won't get to go on and do, but there is consolation in the way his legacy will continue to inform the American experience for generations to come, and the Rep was a part of that.